GOP Prez Politics ‘08

A few quick random thoughts on the GOP presidential race for ‘08.

Last night was the first “debate” for the GOP hopefuls.  Ten of them were onstage.  It wasn’t much of a debate.  Heck, most of the time they weren’t even answering the same questions.  It was more like a press conference with ten candidates and three reporters asking questions at random.  Very bizarre.  Cool setting, though.  Not only was it at the Reagan Library, but they held it in the hanger where Reagan’s Air Force One is and some of the audience was under one of the wings (I hope it was the plane’s starboard wing.)

I recorded the debate on my DVR and watched about 45 minutes of it last night before I fell asleep.  Romney came off as very polished, but may have crossed the line from polished to slick.  McCain came across as almost fanatical, but it seemed fake and scripted — very weird.  Giuliani was Giuliani, but he didn’t seem to be at the top of his game.  Gilmore came across as competent and well-spoken, but I’m not sure how much the abortion “nuance” question will hurt him (not that it should given his record.)  Hunter laid out his national security credentials and that should help him.  Huckabee and Brownback were okay, but somewhat bland.  Paul set forth the case for the libertarian contingent within the GOP.  Tommy Thompson stumbled somewhat (this guy should have run 8 years ago.)  Tancredo seemed to have problems answering a few questions and was probably the worst public speaker of the bunch last night, which surprised me.  Overall, the debate put all ten candidates on a level playing field, which in my opinion makes the top 3 in the first tier the big losers of the night.  The other 7 candidates all stand to gain from the exposure they received.  I’d say the big winners of that debate were the prospective candidates who did not participate – Gingrich and Fred Thompson.

Speaking of Fred Thompson, he’ll be headlining a big Republican dinner tonight in “The O.C.” (Orange County, CA.)  Supposedly, the ten declared candidates for president all were hot to get this spot, but in the end it went to Thompson.

Finally, we see just how desperate Fred Thompson’s opponents are to dig something up on him.  Apparently, the best they can do is say he played a racist in three episodes of the TV series “Wiseguy” back in 1988.  Tom Hanks played a astronaut in a movie, but that doesn’t make him one.  If that is the best they can do to attack Fred, then he should be happy.  Most people, even some liberals, can still tell the difference between make-believe and reality.