The Political Inquirer

The Republican’s finally got their share of Youtube questions in the latest CNN debate, which went relatively smooth all things considered, though a scandal did come up immediately over a few questioners, one part of the Clinton campaign, and a few others supporting Obama or Edwards, which caused some anger. The debate itself was probably the best one to date, perhaps because the pressure is on with time running out, and this might be one of the last big chances for candidates to get their messages out. I watched the entire thing, and will now comment on who I think went up because of the debate, and who went down, as unbiased as I can, though I can’t say I’m completely objective on the subject of politics.

Tom Tancredo

The Congressman from Colorado had a pretty good night. Not much talking time as usual, but it seems he is now expecting that kind of treatment. To me, he had that sort of “I’m staying in the race and there’s nothing you can do about it” type swagger, and of course the first subject he bit into was the illegal immigration problem. He even brought the terminology in when the question was asked about tainted imports coming from China, claiming we needed to watch what comes into this country, whether it be illegal immigrants, or items. His real highlight of the night was setting Mike Huckabee straight during the talk on Mars funding. Right after the group of candidates spoke so strong about spending, Huckabee said he would spend on the Mars stuff, which Tancredo noted, “this is the reason” why there is a spending problem, because candidates want to be everything to everybody. Did Tom do good? Yes. Will it help swing the poll numbers his way? Probably not.

Mike Huckabee

A lot has changed since the last debate, it has been reported that Huckabee now might be leading in Iowa, when he wasn’t even breaking double digits before. As much as I dislike him and his record as governor, he really knows how to play the GOP crowd perfectly, and came across as a sincere guy during the debate. He brought up all the key talking points that conservatives want to here, first getting rid of the IRS, then sending Hillary Clinton to the moon, and last but not least, religion. It seems the push to get evangelicals on his side is working, and he kept it up during the talk about the Bible. Huckabee got pressured early, as a voter referring to him directly, asked why children of illegals were getting better scholarships than the children of veterans, to which Huckabee gave a long, but somewhat logical answer. Romney then attacked him over helping the children of illegals at all. Huckabee was smooth, and always got a good response, but in the long run I think he will continue to get attacked over his record, the illegal immigrant thing being just one example.

Mitt Romney

Romney is the front runner in the key early states, so he only had to save face in this debate, and not get nailed too much. His early spat with Rudy Giuliani was one of the highlights of the debate, where Rudy claimed that Romney not only had sanctuary cities in his state, but also had a sanctuary mansion, because of a story that came out revealing the workers hired by a landscaping company for Romney’s house were illegals. Mitt held strong, and came across as a candidate strong against illegal immigration, whether you buy it or not is up to you. Another main criticism of Romney is his changed stance on abortion, and again repeated “I was wrong,” during the debate, which I think shows at least some class, and again, if you buy it or not is up to your judgment. The early stages of the debate seemed like they were set up just to get Romney and Giuliani going off early, and they did. Romney also received the most talking time out of all the candidates.

Rudy Giuliani

Many conservatives have been wondering when Rudy would finally slip because of his stance on multiple issues important to most Republicans. That time might be now. Rudy is slipping in early states, and according to one recent South Carolina poll, is now placing fifth with just 9%. These problems appeared in the debate, where Rudy got probably the biggest negative audience response when talking about the gun issue. Rudy has been able to weave his way around these issues, saying “I’m personally against it but …” or “I didn’t like it but we needed to ..” and so forth. In the end, I don’t think that’s going to cut it. Though I am proud of Rudy, he lasted most of the debate without mentioning September 11th, and when a Youtuber asked him about his emphasis on 9/11, he answered well. Though some viewers might begin getting sick of hearing about what he did in New York real soon. Slipping in the polls, and a mediocre debate, it might be time to get off this bandwagon if you haven’t already.

Fred Thompson

I was really impressed with Fred Thompson during the debate. He didn’t get as much attention as the other “frontrunners” but one of my favorite parts of the debate was the Fred campaign’s promotional video, which consisted basically of the clip of Romney saying he supported abortion, and the clip of Huckabee saying he would sign any new tax the state legislature wanted. It was supposed to play before a break, but due to its aggressive nature, they actually delayed the break to get a response from both Romney and Huckabee, and when Anderson Cooper asked “What’s up with that?” Fred answered, “Just giving my friends here a little more air time.” He also took some direct jabs at Rudy near the end about spending. He was entertaining, though still not that great at public speaking, he always looks down when he is giving answers, is he reading off cards or ?

John McCain

His campaign nearly fell apart at the end of the summer, and has since rebounded somewhat in the polls. I think the intro song they played at the beginning is very fitting, when it was said, “McCain is loved by many .. and hated by the rest.” He has taken a number of positions that Republicans don’t usually agree with, most notably being one of the biggest supporters of the Bush Immigration Plan back in June, and McCain got some boo’s during the talk on immigration last night. It also seems John needs a history lesson on the causes of World War II, when he claimed it was isolationism that caused it, which I think many would disagree. The results of World War I were a major factor in it. But that’s a subject for an entire essay, and he ended up getting boo’s after saying that as well. On the up side, thank God there is someone in the field willing to go at the other candidates about torture like McCain did to Romney about waterboarding. This is an important issue and I think McCain really got him over it, and Mitt didn’t look too strong dealing with the question. McCain likes to beat the military drum for the patriotic members of the base, but that’s really the only positives he got during the debate.

Ron Paul

The last guy to be asked a question, call it a conspiracy if you want. Paul has also been rising in the early state polls since the last debate, and is getting a lot of attention due to the massive fundraising, which is on the level of many of the party leaders going for the nomination. Ron made some good points in regards to spending, when asked about infrastructure, he stated that we pay money to bomb bridges and then rebuild them overseas, while they are falling over here in this country. Then there was the mini squabble with McCain, in which Paul set him straight about the difference between an isolationist and a non-interventionist, though I liked a lot of Paul’s answers to the isolationist stuff during interviews, where he stated those in power right now are the real isolationists. The response from the audience over the foreign policy stuff was not as negative as some might expect, which I guess is a positive. The final question directed to him was awkward, it was a guy asking if he would run as an independent, and since he was in the middle of a Republican debate it seemed like that could be harmful, but Paul turned it into a nice little segment to talk about his fund raising and grassroots support.

Duncan Hunter

Still barely registering in most polls, but has said he is staying in to the end. Hunter got the least amount of time out of any of the candidates. But he used the time fairly well. He held his ground against the Clinton campaign member, the retired gay military member who asked about overturning the military’s policy. I think more importantly, he came out as a strong advocate for security and the border fence, most of which has not been built. His talk about how he got the double fence built in his state, in a high smuggling area, which lowered illegals coming in and crime in San Diego was convincing, and if I was an undecided voter, I’d definitely note that when looking at the immigration issue, and all the candidates. But similar to McCain, Duncan Hunter is too entrenched at trying to get the easy patriotism points by talking about the military and all the threats that were are facing as a nation from abroad. The Republican field is full of those trying to do that, so I don’t expect Hunter to get too far in the polls.