While Fox is being non-transparent in how it will select the top ten candidates for the first debate, the RCP averages for the past month are a good enough guide. So, we’ll see Trump, Walker, Bush, Rubio, Huckabee, Carson, Paul, Cruz, Kasich, and Christie. They were all in debate prep last weekend, unless one believes that Trump plans to wing it.
Any guesses on the strategy of each of the contestants?
How many are praying to big guy in the sky that told them to run for the Presidency to smite some of his (no her because Firorina isn’t going to make the cut) opponents?
My guess is that most of them will try to look Presidential and repeat bland talking points to give others room to double-fault. Expect to see Walker, Rubio, and Carson stick to this mode. Rubio is particularly flat on his feet; so, he won’t be impressing anyone in this debate.
Those that aggressively try to ace a question or go after another competitor (if that is allowed) can potentially score big or lose big. Christie has little to lose and a big mouth; so, expect him to come out swinging. Cruz has a bit more to lose, but he’s always in audacious fight mode. So, he and Christie are going to have to jockey for airtime.
Huck is going to have trouble getting anywhere close to looking Presidential. But he might manage not to say the stupidiest, most insulting, or most insane thing of the evening.
Paul will get testy at some point. (Like daddy?)
Bush will attempt to adopt the Romney style of staying above the fray. But the fray this time is larger, and unlike Romney he wasn’t in actual debates four years earlier and been prepping ever since then for this one. Even odds if he shows irritation, says something stupid, or is so low energy that he melts into the backdrop curtains. (Like daddy?)
Better than even odds (there’s a reason I don’t gamble) that Trump and Kasich find the Goldilocks zone in this debate. Not too hot and not too cold. Doesn’t mean that either or both of them can’t be tripped up. Only that so far they appear to be more comfortable in their own skin than the others with the exception of Carson, who expects the debate to be easier than neurosurgery.
If history is any guide, good odds that they all get out of this one alive. But at least two will see their poll ratings decline during the next few weeks. Could be enough that they won’t make the cut for the next debate and leave an opening for the Perfessor, Cruella, or Jingle-bell.>
Your turn. Projecting is much more difficult than Monday Morning quarterbacking.
Here’s Machine-gun bacon and Ted Cruz if you haven’t already seen it. The Onion has real competition to keep up with these days.
But The Onion isn’t folding just yet.
Bernie Sanders Clearly In Pocket Of High-Rolling Teacher Who Donated $300 To His Campaign
Reince Pribus to clown car occupants: Stop the Name Calling (The Hill report.)
When the well is dry, howling at the sun and moon is all that’s left for them to do.
(Did he mean to slap John Roberts’ face with a white glove? Or was that just some dog whistle intended to appease the GOP morons?)
My guess?
Trump will absolutely dominate the stage.
The others are nothing but amateur actors in comparison and Trump has been practicing to hold stage for several decades. When he can’t do it he lets his hair do it for him.
His arguments will be as dizzying as are his hair directions. The others will be so confused trying to figure out which way he’s going and how he’s getting there that they’ll all fall down flat on their faces in comparison. Maybe Christie will be able to match him insult for insult, shock for shock, but he’ll only end up look like the fat local bar bully trying to deal with a Hollywood hero.
The rest?
Nobody home.
Not in terms of image, and that’s all that really counts in these…excuse me, but I have to say it…trumped up competitions.
Watch.
Trump by a hair(do).
Watch.
AG
He may try to be domineering, but he won’t be in control of the questions or the clock. Attempts to hog a primary debate stage tend not to work out well. Suspect that Trump is smart and savvy enough to know that.
C-Span and NH TV station is running GOP candidates reciting their talking points at St. Anselm Univ. Real fact checking would destroy many of their claims.
Rubio has REALLY big ears and Paul’s hair is still weird.
A responsible citizen would have watched the whole thing. Alas, I’m not such a responsible citizen, but I did watch bits and pieces. My impression was that for the most part, they are colorless (Pataki looked sour — as if he was sucking a lemon) and there is little to no difference among them. If anyone takes them at their word, the current and former governors in the line-up have created vibrant and economically healthy states. As if they inherited a dysfunctional and sick state from a Democratic predecessor and like supermen turned a POS into gold. Of course, they are liars.
The one exception was Kasich who dared to display a personality. Two ways: Physically, his smiled and offered other than angry emotions. Policy, it’s uncharitable (un-Christian in his case) to deny others needed medical care. Whether he personally believes that or not, he also appreciates that the PPACA is good for his corporate buds in the health care industry and that’s a source of campaign funds that none of the others have much chance of getting.
A preview of an attack he’ll make against his opponents on Thursday?
While viscerally it will play well with the public, it’s not very good because the rejoinder conclusion from it is that only super wealthy people should be allowed to run for public office. Bloomie and Corzine (and a few others like Meg Whitman that dumped serious amounts of their own money into losing campaigns) would agree with that.