COMMENTARY
On Monday night, seven (official) Presidential candidates took the stage at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire. The debate, which aired on CNN, was a good chance for Republican Primary voters to see what the current field looks like. It was a night that focused on the failed Presidency of Barack Obama. The candidates were reluctant to take jabs at one another, and I believe it was the right move.
The biggest headline coming out of tonight’s debate was that of Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann announcing that she has officially filed paperwork to run for President. With that announcement, Bachmann had to live up to the expectations of someone running for the White House and she did.
On a night where the economy was the main focus, she was calm, cool and collected. When it came to criticizing the President, she did not hold back. When the issue of healthcare was brought us, she pointed out that as a Representative from Minnesota she was the first member of Congress to “introduce the full-scale repeal of Obamacare.” Since this is going to be a major focus point in 2012, she has the background as a member of congress to say she fought to repeal the massive healthcare legislation.
For other candidates on the stage, they also decided that it was more important to attack the President as opposed to each other, at least for now.
The frontrunner going into tonight’s debate was clearly Mitt Romney. He is leading in the national polls, as well as in most of early primary states. Romney did not have to “win” tonight to continue to be the front runner in this race. He needed to make sure he did enough on addressing policy issues, and he did.
As we move forward with this field of candidates, Romney is going to continue to have to answer questions on his healthcare legislation that he help pass while Governor of Massachusetts. When it was brought up by the moderator, John King, Romney did a good job of explaining that it was and always will be states’ rights issue. He, as he always has, said that if he is elected President that he will repeal Obamacare.
For the rest of the field, it was pretty cut and dry. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich did enough to stay alive after his campaign staff quite en masse last week. He was strong on policy issues, and was strong in his dismay for the President.
Herman Cain, the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO continued to show that his title as a non-politician will continue to allow him to gain a following amongst the Tea Party voters. The only thing standing in his way with that group of voters is the fact that Michelle Bachmann is also a Tea Party sweetheart.
Former Governor Tim Pawlenty, in my opinion, started out strong but tapered towards the middle and finished weak as well. He missed an opportunity to show that he is willing to go toe to toe with Romney in regards to his healthcare law in Massachusetts. On Sunday, he dubbed the healthcare situation as “Obamneycare.” John King tried to get him to bite the bait and he didn’t. I think it is still too early for these candidates to attack each other, and I am okay with Pawlenty tiptoeing the issue.
Former Senator Rick Santorum continued to show that he will be a darling of social conservatives across the country. During most of the debate, he looked quite tense and I think it is going to severely hurt him. New Hampshire is not his state, and he will continue to have his sight set on the Iowa Caucuses. If he doesn’t lighten up a bit, it will be a short ran campaign for him.
For the final candidate, we all know him, and that is Congressman Ron Paul. He continued to show why he is a headline maker. He continued to call for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and Iraq. At one point, he went as far as to say that he would not listen to what his generals had to say about the withdrawal.
Ultimately, the winner tonight is Michelle Bachmann. It was a nice introduction for her to the country, and it should that she could handle being on stage with the heavyweights. Romney will continue to lead in the polls for the foreseeable future, however, with fall slowly approaching and the number of debates rising he will soon have to defend his healthcare legislation against his Republican rivals, and they will show no mercy.
