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(s)Elections See other (s)Elections Articles Title: Giuliani Stumbles, Leaving GOP Field Wide Open After several months of delay, eight Republican candidates faced off to debate questions posed by real people in St. Petersburg, Fla. Viewers didn't have to wait long for the action to commence. In stark contrast to the Democratic YouTube debate, the questioning remained relatively tame -- not one question from a snowman. But the candidates cared little about the questions, preferring to throw pre-prepared bombs at their opponents. Rudy Giuliani took the most damage. I'm guessing his reign as the GOP front-runner will come to an end soon. There seems to be an unwritten rule that all Republican debates must include illegal immigration. It leads to the usual discussion of "my fence will be better and higher than the other guy's fence." (Rep. Duncan Hunter (R., Calif.) has bestowed this Highest Fence award on himself. Congrats, Congressman.) In seriousness, immigration has been a particular weakness for Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) and Giuliani. One can sense that McCain remains upset over the immigration bill's demise, and his retracted support comes off as insincere. He also prefers a bit more civility than Rep. Tom Tancredo, (R., Colo.), who would rather just start deporting everyone. Giuliani didn't support the immigration bill, but he has taken considerable heat from Mitt Romney's campaign for running a "sanctuary city" while mayor of New York. Giuliani tried to return fire tonight, claiming the former Massachusetts governor ran a "sanctuary mansion," implying that Romney had employed undocumented workers at his home. The missive didn't find its mark, however. Giuliani was roundly booed by the boisterous crowd, which behaved as if at a sporting event. Of all the candidates, Giuliani comes off the most as a broken record. He constantly refers to his time as mayor and how he revived New York. This presents two problems for Giuliani. First, he's awfully good at exaggerating cause and effect, as many American cities improved similarly during the 1990s. Second, voters from Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina -- particularly gun owners who are familiar with his stance on gun control -- don't really care about New York City. I think in a month we will be having a conservation about how the Giuliani camp misplayed the big-state strategy as momentum moves to other candidates scoring well in the early primaries. These other candidates are Mike Huckabee and Romney -- the top two dogs in Iowa -- who also had an exchange about immigration. A viewer found an obscure reference to an education bill from Arkansas that appeared to favor children of undocumented workers for college scholarships. Huckabee, Arkansas' former governor, cleared up some confusion on the proposal, while also making it clear it never became the law. Romney, however, felt at this point he could drive home an advantage on the question. He charged that it wasn't fair to put children of undocumented workers ahead of other needy kids. Huckabee responded by commenting that in American, we rarely punish children for their parents' misdeeds. I think Huckabee came out ahead on this one, while Romney came off as being against kids getting a good education. Giuliani's stumbling might have presented Romney with an opportunity to shine. But Romney's was put in his place by McCain. McCain, a former prisoner of war, has been the most outspoken Republican against torture. McCain clearly asserted that waterboarding is a form of torture and asked whether Romney thought it was torture, as well. Romney backpedaled and appeared defensive, saying he didn't want to alert our enemies about "what they might expect" if they were captured. I guess Romney's unfamiliar with the Geneva Conventions. Huckabee benefited the most from the evening. He gave sound answers on several other questions, such as why many black voters tend not to vote for the GOP. He asserted that many candidates simply fail to work for the black vote and cited his success with black voters in Arkansas. Huckabee also handled a difficult question on the death penalty when a questioner bluntly put it: "What would Jesus do?" I think Huckabee came out the night's winner. If he can keep up his head of steam, I wouldn't be surprised to see him come out on top in Iowa on Jan. 3. If only he could borrow a buck or two from Ron Paul, he would be golden. Paul did a fine job in the debate. The Texas congressman consistently makes the case for small government and used this as his focus to answer many questions, whether talking about the war in Iraq or cutting the deficit. Paul will also surprise in New Hampshire. The state has very liberal laws on who can vote in the primary, and it allows same-day registration. Paul's supporters know how to organize. I expect them to show up in force and affect the outcome. I just don't see it happening for Fred Thompson. He manages to work in a funny comment occasionally, but he lacks charisma and a teleprompter. He needed to get into the race sooner to work out the kinks. Thompson has my vote as an early withdrawer after failing to catch on in the last several debates. Tonight's debate demonstrated one obvious observation: It ain't over yet.
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#1. To: Brian S (#0)
Paul will also surprise in New Hampshire. The state has very liberal laws on who can vote in the primary, and it allows same-day registration. Paul's supporters know how to organize. I expect them to show up in force and affect the outcome. Huckabee comes across as a pious fake. While he is speaking I feel slightly queasy. McCain, except for his views against torture, comes across as a madman. Romney is even more crazy and looks almost plastic. Thompson does not look physically well. Giuliani is embroiled in legal messes, from Bernie Kerik to the Politico story.
Ron Paul for President - Join a Ron Paul Meetup group today!
Thanks for the wrap - well done.
Only a small percent of the people watched the debate. For one it conflicted with several important basketball games plus it is too early for most people to have an interest in politics. Therefore, Giuliani stumbling didn't do him much harm. He is still the anointed one by the powers so he still has the media that will, in effect, tell the sheep whom to vote for.
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