Republican Debate a Waste Of Time

Hi Florida, I’m a Republican running for President

The candidates took the opportunity to “introduce” themselves to Florida.  There was very little substance, all questions were answered in generalities and rebutted with rhetoric.  If anything was accomplished last night during the debate, it was to remind the world that Republican’s despise the Clinton family and all that they stand for!

If there is anything Americans learned from last night’s MSNBC Republican debate, it is that Republicans either have something up their sleeves or they are all but conceding defeat to Democrats next November.

Unlike John McCain’s no surrender campaign, the GOP debate was friendly, maybe too friendly.  The cordial event made it impossible for anyone watching to really come out with a sense of what the party is all about.   I don’t think we need the candidates throwing on the gloves and acting like angry bitter children (*cough* Democrats), but I want to continue to learn about the candidates and they did me no favors in that regard.

Where does this leave your average Republican voter? 

My feel is that campaigns believe advertisements and campaign trail speeches are solid enough to get them the votes they need.  The problem is, if all campaigns are banking on non-debate performances, well someone has to lose!  Put another way, only one campaign can win, so what happens to the rest?  In the eyes of many pundits, Florida is everything.  An argument can be  made that all of the front-runners have a ‘must-win’ situation in front of them.

I get the sense that the Republican candidates just want to ‘tie’ on the national level for now.  Rudy Giuliani has been all over Florida and maybe he has a right to feel confident, but he pretty much bet the farm on Floridian support to help boost his campaign going into Super Tuesday and it doesn’t look like that boost is going to happen.  Polls are painting a different picture with John McCain in the lead!

The pundits may actually get one right!  Here are some personal bits that may come in handy for those readers that haven’t been paying attention to the Republican debates.  

John McCain is a strong front-runner. 

He successfully courted the GOP establishment as shown in South Carolina and recently secured the NY Times endorsement.  This news doesn’t bode well for Rudy Giuliani.

Is Mitt Romney’s spending spree wise?

During the debate, Mitt was asked about his personal spending in Florida.  He has apparently spent a lot of money on television ads and if anyone can afford to bombard Florida with ads, it’s Mitt Romney.   He refused to disclose the amounts he has spent out of his personal fund, but used the question as an opportunity to explain how bad he wants the Republican nomination.

Mike Huckabee has done his best to make Republicans proud. 

It’s difficult not to like Mike Huckabee.  He is such a good guy and his heart seems in the right place.  He is the “liberal” of the bunch, a strong evangelical Christian and yet he seems cast aside by the establishment unlike previous evangelical George W. Bush.   It may be more of a desire of the party to return to limited government roots rather than a distaste for the evangelical persuasion, Florida should tell us a lot about Mike Huckabee’s future.

Rudy Giuliani’s campaign blunder

For whatever reason, his campaign thought it would be prudent to stay away from the small states and wait until Florida to make a splash in the Republican primary.  There is no indication that this strategy is working and it seems he has lost his lead to the new front-runner John McCain.  It’s pretty sad if Rudy Giuliani’s campaign ends before it starts; I guess you reap what you sow.

Ron Paul’s loud applause

Republicans were asked to withhold their applause throughout the debate but every now and then Ron Paul would drop a zinger or anti-establishment view and pick up a surge of applause from the audience.  He spoke very little but did well with the sound bytes he was allowed to share.  Not sure he did his campaign any favors, but he certainly didn’t hurt himself last night.

Fred Soto is an Attorney and Entrepreneur from the Silicon Valley.
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