I was lucky enough to attend a presidential candidate debate back in 2008. It was surreal. Tonight's debate didn't have the same buzz. Maybe it's because we still have over 200 days until voters head to the polls like I mentioned earlier, or maybe it's because the candidates could not have been more boring. Well, maybe not all the candidates. But with 7 on the stage, there should have been, at least some, fireworks; and other than a sparkler here or there, it was a dark night up in New Hampshire.
First and for most I have to comment on the set up. Questions were asked from the audience, John King-the moderator, and via town halls being held all over the state. Each candidate had 30 seconds to answer which was, maybe once, actually adhered to. This seems like a good idea to keep questions moving quickly, however, it ended up just adding John King's continuous grunting and stammering to interrupt the candidates as they rambled past their 30 seconds.
Additionally, I must say something about the totally ridiculous "This or That" section. This was CNN's way of exiting to commercial breaks and welcoming back the audience from the same breaks, and included only questions that pitted one thing against another for the candidate to chose between. LAME. Some examples were asking Congresswoman Bachmann if she preferred Elvis or Johnny Cash. (She answered both, nice and safe) and businessman Herman Cain if he liked deep dish pizza or thin crust (answer: deep dish) Come on CNN. This is a PRESDIENTIAL debate, act like it. One tweet I saw during this part read, "if he answered, "this is a stupid F****** question" he'd have the nomination in the bag." That pretty much sums up my opinion on "This or That."
So on to candidates..... I figure there are a number of ways I can go about giving my thoughts. I can go over all the different issues, or each question, or candidate... I choose to just give you my thoughts on each candidate....and I'm going to go in the order in which they appeared on stage....
Rick Santorum: This guy is an SNL character waiting to happen, except he won't ever be relevant enough to joke about him on the show. He talks from the back of his mouth if you can even imagine what that looks and sounds like. He has some standard conservative answers to general questions but absolutely zero sizzle. I'm not sure who convinced this guy to run for President, but he doesn't have a shot in hell.
Michele Bachmann: This lady HIT IT OUT OF THE PARK. She started out a little awkward when she decided (after the introductions, and during the first question) to announce her campaign for the presidency. Before hand she had simply formed the exploratory committee. It was strange timing, and I sort of dismissed her right then. Boy was I wrong. Bachmann got stronger in every answer she gave. She hit Obama hard and didn't dance around any of her answers. I was seriously impressed and will be paying much closer attention to her campaign.
Newt Gingrich: I'm not sure if it was his plan or not, but he seemed to be laying low throughout the debate. His answers were noticeably shorter than all the other candidates (this is rare for him) and he never got too worked up over any particular topic. I've seen Gingrich give a pretty good speech. (Texas State Republican Convention 2008 in Houston) He was very energized in his "Drill here, Drill now" moment and it was exceptional. The Newt from that speech was not on stage tonight. I will say he did have sound answers on immigration.
Mitt Romney: The obvious front runner, apparent not only in his center stage position, but also in his ability to take charge of the conversation. He looked and sounded very presidential; not that anything out of his mouth was gold, cause it wasn't. Mitt reminds me of a phrase my boyfriend uses a lot, "It makes sense if you don't think about it." This guy will go the distance where the primary is concerned (i.e. he won't be dropping out) but probably only because he is a good fundraiser and has personal wealth to supplement a lagging campaign.
Ron Paul: Ok, I hope my mother does not kill me, but Paul did well. Not well enough to be a significant candidate for president but way better than I've seen him in the past. Although, it's most likely because he was answering normal, rational (well rational outside of the "this or that" section) questions. He was not ranting about black helicopters or conspiracies. That side of Ron Paul will keep him in third party numbers throughout this election cycle.
Tim Pawlenty: Man did this guy choke. Somewhere Nick Ayers is pissed. After launching some heavy hitting videos and a strong appearance on the political Sunday morning news outlets, TPaw tanked. This past weekend he chose to use the term "ObamneyCare" when referring to ObamaCare because the President admittedly modeled his national plan after Romney's state plan. In tonight's debate he avoided the term as though Mitt was the middle school bully he didn't wasn’t to face in person. WEAK. Nothing would have been more impressive than for one of the candidates, like TPaw- who showed some potential, to really go after Romney on his home court. FAIL.
Herman Cain: This guy is a joke. I heard in the first debate down in South Carolina (I didn't watch) that he came out guns blazing, but either someone lied or a different man was on stage tonight. Something about his grandmother when talking about Libya, mentioning his grand kids when asked about jobs, and flip-flopping on TARP is gonna keep this guy in the race for another 5 minutes and that’s it. Did I mention he has zero experience and made his career owning a Pizza company? Yah.
Overall I'd say the obvious winners are Bachmann and Romney. Bachmann really set a much louder and stronger tone than I ever imagined from her, and Romney avoided any formidable attack.
I think the most important thing to take away from this debate is that we are still at square one. Bachmann is going to put up a good fight and Romney can beat most of the people on that stage, even if Newt and Santorum stay in for the long haul to January, but mark my words, none of them can beat President Obama or his bank account. What this means is, we need to pay attention to those still not in the race. There are some very strong contenders who are still on the sidelines, and several of them, could be real game changers. If you add Giuliani, Palin, Huntsman or Perry to that stage tonight, not only is it a completely different conversation with different winners and losers in the primary, but the outlook on November 2012 changes too.... and it's brighter.
That's my opinion, take it or leave....
xoxo Sara Marie
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