Republicans Take Center Stage

I watched about 1/3 to ½ of the Republican debate on MSNBC last night and recorded it for future viewing. This is my reaction to the parts that I saw.

Mitt Romney was the most presidential person on stage. He easily answered questions and moved the discussion to questions he wanted to answer without making it obvious. Rudy Giuliani seemed unprepared to answer the questions about abortion. You would have thought that he would have decided on how he wanted to explain his views by now knowing that this question would come up. He did alright other than that. John McCain didn’t seem Presidential to me. He is said to be great at speaking “off the cuff”, but all of his answers seemed too planned to play into his strengths. None of the next tier candidates did much to change my opinion of them. I would like to be able to say that Gov. Mike Huckabee did a great job, but he was just fine. I do think that the candidates that said that they support the Fair Tax (National Sales Tax) probably put themselves out of the race. Huckabee is one of the candidates who did this. This election will not be about changing the tax system (as much as some of us would like this to be a major issue.) This election is about Iraq, homeland security and national optimism. The major tax debate of this election cycle will be about making President Bush’s tax cuts permanent and extending the elimination of the “Death Tax” which goes to 0% in 2010 and back to 55% in 2011.

Democratic Debate Thoughts

I enjoyed watching the Democratic debate last night. Even as a Republican, I thought it was entertaining and informative. It was a good event for introducing our country to the candidates. MSNBC did a nice job of keeping the discussion moving and asking relevant questions.

As to my reactions to specific candidates. I believe that the biggest loser last night was Bill Richardson. I had thought that he would be a good candidate for the Democrats who could bridge the party and country back to the Clinton years without having all the negative baggage that Hillary Clinton has. But Richardson looked tired and unmotivated last night. He did not look like someone who would be a legitimate presidential nominee. I’m not saying this ended his presidential run, but he needs to turn around his campaign after that poor performance last night. I thought the wisest answers came from Joe Biden and Dennis Kucinich. Biden did a good job of answering the questions that were asked of him, but didn’t feel like he had to fill his 1 minute of allotted time. If the answer to a question took him 45 seconds, he ended there. If it could be answered in a sentence, then he ended there. Dennis Kucinich’s answers were the most well thought out and consistent with what he professes and is know to believe. (Except his assertion that he is the known for being a healer. Has anyone ever heard of him being someone who can bring people of different points of view together for the common good?)
Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama each did fine, but neither were fantastic. The one thing I would have liked to have seen out of Obama is for him to have a moment where he was inspiring. That is his reported strength and last night, he was not able to come across as inspiring. Chris Dodd did a nice job and his best statement, which should become his theme, was “We don’t need another President who needs years of on the job training.” Mike Gravel played an important American political role. He was decidedly politically left of everyone else on stage, but he is a true believer who is consistent in his ideology. He is a good tool for the other Democratic presidential candidates to use to sharpen their own words and positions as they react to his. Gravel did come off as “not mainstream” enough to be a serious contender, but that is not his role. John Edwards did fine, but did nothing to distinguish himself from the other candidates.

Tune in to MSNBC next Thursday to see the Republican candidates for President.