Posted on 12/13/2011 1:54:23 PM PST by yoe
Two GOP presidential hopefuls traded their debate podiums for a conference table Monday in a debate straight from the 19th century.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman took part Monday afternoon in a traditional Lincoln-Douglas-style debate at Saint Anselm College in Manchester.
The one-on-one session, the first of its kind during the New Hampshire primary campaign, allowed the candidates to address foreign policy issues in greater detail, giving them five minutes for each response.
By contrast, traditional debates allow candidates no more than 90 seconds to detail their positions.
“One of the great weaknesses of the campaign up till now, of the debates up till now, has been the absence of a serious discussion about the nature of the world,” Gingrich said Monday as he took the stage for the debate, modeled after the 1858 sessions between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas.
“This is a rare opportunity,” Huntsman added later in the afternoon. “As opposed to all these (other debates), when you’re asking who’s up or down, who wins or loses, we actually got a little information out there.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nashuatelegraph.com ...
Well, at least they agree about Global Warming and Amnesty, but somehow I think they are not going to highlight those issues to the “radical rightwingers”.
Great-—not a must read.
That Gingrich is willing to debate an also-ran speaks well for him.
Well, it’s significant that this debate was held in New Hampshire, because those folks love candidates who show them extra attention. NEwt being willing to debate Huntsman in that format, in NH, is going to help him in that state.
Newt is also a very good tactician, and I think he was trying to siphon off some Romney votes to Huntsman... I hope it works..
That Gingrich is willing to debate an also-ran speaks well for him.
++++++++++
There is some Newt method to the nominal madness of giving Huntsman a bit of a boost. That boost will be coming at Romney’s expense not Newt’s.
“Newt is also a very good tactician, and I think he was trying to siphon off some Romney votes to Huntsman... I hope it works..”
The latest poll out of New Hampshire shows Newt gaining ground on Mitt. If Newt wins New Hampshire I believe that will open up the field to the likes of Bachmann, Perry and Rick.
Go Newt
He's not my first choice but that is one of the main reasons he's head & shoulders above Romney.
Definitely not a "must-read". Mildly interesting and a debate format I'd like to see expanded. But not a "must read". We should be careful about adding that to headlines -- it also messes up the search.
That was my reaction as well.
Same as the debate with Cain was to have the votes go his way if Cain dropped out.
It’s a win win for Newt.
He shows no fear and that intimidates his foe's. He can think a couple of moves ahead and is playing chess while his foe's are playing checkers. Out of this bunch, I'm voting Newt. I know he has warts, but they all do. I want what I saw back in the 90's. He was pretty much thrown out for impeaching Clinton. The government shut down was because of a veto by Clinton and newt took the blame. Obama is trying the same thing now with the Keystone pipeline. He will veto the tax cut and blame Republicans and I don't think he can pass that off as the repubs fault. Newt stuck to his guns back in the 90's and won the day, but he took the blame.
Was this thing televised? Because no one seems to have seen it.
It was on the computer (?) a Freeper posted it yesterday...
I only saw an article.
Here's the C-SPAN video archive - Huntsman-Gingrich debate
It is worth a look if there's interest in foreign policy, particularly the Middle East and China.
This is getting very old.
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