[George W. Bush]

Actually - I lost a great deal of respect for FT when he skipped the Value Voters Debate. But after hearing the questions - I understood why FT and Rudy McRomney stayed away - they are totally scared of the truth on REAL issues.

Trying to get the frontrunners to answer straightforward questions isn't easy. They spend more time avoiding questions or swirling around them nervously than they do answering them.

Fred may do a little better than the others but maybe he'll start to stand out more when he does find a debate he's willing to attend.

And they had only a little to gain, and a WHOLE LOT to lose. Sure wish they had been there.

They believe (probably correctly) that they don't have to attend and that they will defeat all who did attend in the primaries, leaving the Values Voters to decide to vote for the GOP nominee or the CP. And 95% will pick any GOP candidate.

Anyway, that has to be what their campaign managers are telling them.

[fetal heart beats by 21st day]

I am assuming that Smiley intends to treat the candidates as equals, instead of the princess treatment the MSM-annointed guys are used to.

Then they would be seen as just equal contenders, instead of THE princesses.

[jmeagan]

I just want to remind everyone that there will be a live web feed of Ron Paul’s event today. It begins at 3 P.M. central time. Details can be found at his web site.