DON’T MISS TONIGHT’S REPUBLICAN DEBATE — Florida!
January 24th, 2008 Posted in 2008, Debate, Florida, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Paul, Rudy Giuliani
Before going to work today, be sure to set your DVR devices for the debate!
My cable company is showing the Republican Debate as a two-hour, live event nationally, on cable MSNBC in Florida.
Wait a minute. Does that mean we get Chris Matthews again? He is lousy at conducting debates!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Eastern — 9pm to 11pm
Central — 8pm to 10pm
Mountain — 7pm to 9pm
Pacific — 6pm to 8pm
January 24th, 2008 at 1:02 am
I fully expect Brian Wllliams and Tim Russert to ask tough questions of Mitt, and only semi-tough questions of McCain.
The MSM loves McCain, as we all know.
January 24th, 2008 at 1:24 am
Governor Romney is totally up for this “steeling” process.
He will reign supreme!
FLORIDA ALL THE WAY!!!
January 24th, 2008 at 1:49 am
McCain will be thrown softball after softball!
January 24th, 2008 at 1:51 am
MSNBC? Holy crap! I don’t care who you are, unless you are dogmatically entrenched with another campaign, if Romney walks away, or even wins this debate, he’ll be hands down the best candidate - ever! This is a gauntlet Romney is walking into. Everyone will try to take Romney down. Well, maybe not… Gulliani might have learned his lesson not to try to go head to head with Romney from the last debate, he might try to tag team with Romney to go after McCain. Because McCain might be feeling a little delusionally not concerned with Romney, and might focus on trying to knock Gulliani out of Florida… Hmm, but if MSNBC wants McCain to win Florida, they might be gunning for Gulliani in favor of McCain, in the sort term, victory in Florida wise. Not so good in the long term if Gulliani fall more to Romney and a 2 man race will not bold well for McCain, being unable to collect on the actual Republican vote.
January 24th, 2008 at 1:52 am
I would not miss the debate for the world! My three daughters and I will pop some corn and enjoy the fireworks. I think Mitt does great in the debates and he moves up after them in public opinion. I think Huckabee will do McCains and Rudy’s bidding!
January 24th, 2008 at 8:47 am
This is my take:
Huckabee - He is only in now for the glory. He won’t last many more days. He is going to throw all his weight to McCain (in hopes of a VP position). Being a VP is his only salvation. But if he dog piles Mitt, that will open the gates for Rudy. Which will then backfire on John and Mike. So the Huckster is between a rock and a hard spot. It will be interesting to see the road he takes. (my bet - try and take out Mitt)
McCain - He is definitely between that rock and a hard spot. He now has to contend with Mitt on the right and Rudy on the left. So who does he attck? If he attacks Mitt, Rudy is wide open. If he attacks Rudy, Mitt is wide open. (hmmm) Which road will be the best traveled? Knowing that there will be no dem’s or indy’s voting, only registered republicans, McCain is going to be real nervous. (my bet - McCain will go in the direction that Huckabee will lead with)
Guliani - He must be a wreck! Knowing that your front-runnership in Florida is now dwindling to third-runnership or lower, must be a real blow. Rudy is also caught between that rock and a hard spot. If he attacks Mitt, then McCain (via Huck) will soar in the polls. If he attacks McCain, then Mitt will soar in the polls. Wow, which road does he take? This is interesting. (my bet - Rudy will try and play both sides, whatever is expedient for him at that moment)
Romney - He has the best position going into this debate than everyone else. Mitt is always in a calm and relaxed state when the heat is turned up. When everyone dogpiles Mitt, Mitt comes away brighter than ever before. Mitt will do the same thing that he has always done - convey the truth in a manner that all can understand. Mitt is not hoodwinked by the MSM’s bias, he is fully aware of their intent. Mitt can play that to his advantage. (my bet - Mitt will come away converting more to the Romney camp than anyone to the others’ camps)
Go Mitt……………………………
January 24th, 2008 at 11:14 am
A lot of voters are searching for a new home tonight. All the FredHeads and many Duckelberry blind faithful.
By the time voting is done next week in Florida and the votes are counted, Duckabee will be flat broke (more broke than he is today), McCain will be running on fumes, and Giuliani will opening his McCain-style line of credit. All of Governor Romney’s competition will be scratching their heads trying to figure out how to compete in the big leagues.
Governor Romney will then be trying to figure out how to exploit the best states to his advantage.
January 24th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
If Mitt can give a repeat performance like the 2nd NH debate he will do very well. I’m sure some the of the questions from Williams will be long winded and take a circuitous journey to a tangential point . . . far, far, away.
I agree with your money analysis of the candidates, Vic. I can’t see how any of them can go on for much longer. My question is do you think Gulliani’s strategy was based on his initial lack of funds in the first place?
January 24th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Stephen, unfortunately I don’t have much time to answer right now. But my simple answer is yes, I do. It is fairly easy to see now in the rear view mirror, but a few people close to the campaign I know saw it months ago.
January 24th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Stephen,
I have been thinking about that Giuliani strategy, and I believe that he doesn’t want to lose. He’s like a child. If he can’t win a state, he’s not going to play. Remember Ames? Well, it’s all finally caught up to him, and he’s going down. He would have been formidable if he had just played by the rules.
Now for Mitt tonight. I don’t think he needs to go after anybody. He just needs to stick to his message: economy, economy, economy. Good Luck! The attacks are not going to be coming from the other candidates as much as the moderators themselves. I don’t think Chris Matthews will attack him, based on previous debates, but I know Tim Russert will. And of course, McCain will get softballs. The media hearts McCain.
January 24th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Leslie,
I agree that Rudy does not want to lose anywhere, yet he choose not to compete in Iowa for financial reasons (I’ll assume and Vic has asserted as much), namely that Romney could outspend RG. McCain most likely was faced with a similair problem in Iowa. At the time Rudy still had alot of positive media and name recognition in his court.
I am guessing that Rudy thought if he used all of his funds in Florida / NH that he could gain momentum due to NYC proximity to NH and the amount of New Yorkers and former New Yorkers that reside in Florida. Reminding people of 9-11 would potentially play on peoples emotions to shift the majority of the vote or take the delegates through a split vote between other candidates.
Since that time Fred never caught traction and then dropped out and Huckabee rose out of nowhere, if you believe that, and took away some of the vote. With 6 candidates for a time splitting the vote Rudy’s cache faded.
The MSM is what has propped up Huckabee, Rudy, McCain and even Thompson initially. McCain’s run is dependent on free media. If the MSM media was not a decided influence Romney may have locked up the nomination by now.
January 24th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Mitt has one very clear advantage: His debate skills. Looking back on other Republican debates, Mitt Romney has won virtually every single one according to Frank Luntz’s focus groups (always find it interesting how pundits seem to ignore this phenom by posturing their own ridiculous opinions on who won- and its never Mitt, big surprise) But luckily for this country, primaries are not open solely to pundits…However, the republican base would do well to pay more attention to Ann Coulter on these issues, no matter how much the truth may hurt.
I was watching a clip of McCain on the news, and it fascinated me, he really thinks he’s the front runner! He is so full of himself, lacks humility in virtually every aspect. I hope this character flaw becomes obvious to everyone else in this evening’s debate, particularly to Florida.
I like Chris, though…And in past commentary, I believe him to at least respect Romney. Let’s hope he doesn’t pander to the producers’ inevitable agenda. Why don’t they have Joe Scarborough moderate the Republican debates for MSNBC???
January 24th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Both Rasmussen Markets and Intrade Markets have Romney up by 10 points now. It looks like there is a heavy wind of change coming and it is blowing in the direction of the Whitehouse for Mitt.
It is so good to see.
January 24th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Hopefully, McCain will have a hard time concealing his temper because I think Rudy will take some jabs at him. Romney does well under pressure as long as they don’t gang up on him. I think they will want to be cautious. McCain does not want to come across too cranky.
I just hope Mitt can off very strong and set his record straight. He handles questions really well. He actually answers them and people like that.