So I watched the Republican debate last night. I struggled – it’s hard to listen when you don’t agree with much (any?) of what’s being said. I started to fall into “fact-checker” mode. But then I remembered my goal: not to determine “right or wrong”, but to act as scorekeeper. So here’s my “score” for the first debate of the 2024 Presidential election.
Winners
The big winner is — Nikki Haley. She came across as the “adult” in the room, the most seasoned, the more reasoned, and the only candidate willing to say “this is what we can do”, rather than just “this is what I want to do”. It didn’t hurt that she was the only woman on the stage. And, to use a boxing analogy, she punched well in the “clinches”, not giving an inch to Vivek Ramaswamy in arguing the importance of US involvement with Ukraine.
The surprising runner-up is – Mike Pence. I always feel like Mike Pence is the “Hollywood” version of a Vice President, the slow, soft voice resonant with emotion and his deep faith in Christianity scripted and polished. But, after professing his “Born Again” status and his fealty to the Constitution and the “Trump/Pence” accomplishments, Pence finally got in the “fight” in the second half. It didn’t hurt that Chris Christie gave him a literal endorsement, praising Pence’s actions on January 6th. Pence should have said “Thank You”.
Losers
The big loser is – Tim Scott. He never got in the debate, never got beyond his “canned” answers, memorized for his stump speech. I kept waiting for Scott to reach out and grab the audience, instead he never took the chance. To switch from boxing to car racing, Scott seemed stuck in neutral, no racing to the front, no trying to make the pass. He started in fourth or fifth, and ended in sixth or seventh.
So what about the man with the most to say, Vivek Ramaswamy? He was definitely the target of the rest of the field. They must have all read the DeSantis PAC strategy paper (though DeSantis himself never threw a punch). Ramaswamy talked a lot, and the Fox moderators gave him far more time than he earned. In the first half of the debate Vivek was scoring points. But when the second half started, Ramaswamy was the only one on stage demanding a pardon for Trump, and his foreign policy views were far outside the box.
Like Bernie Sanders in the Democratic debates of old, Ramaswamy proved to be an able debater, and an ideologue far beyond even “mainstream MAGA” (is that even possible?). I’m sure his supporters were thoroughly pleased with his performance. I’m also sure that, to those first introduced to him in those two hours, he left most behind. Hard to call him a loser; as the song goes “…when you’ve got nothing you’ve got nothing to lose”. Ramaswamy definitely got his thirty minutes of fame, but I don’t see progress from there.
No Shows
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum overcame his basketball injury to make it to the podium. His best line was his first: “everybody told me to ‘break a leg’ at the debate”. After that, either the painkillers kicked in, or Burgum realized he wasn’t in Fargo anymore. He hardly got a word in edgewise. He looked like what he was, a rookie in the big leagues, missing all of the pitches.
Asa Hutchinson, on the other end, embraced his “outsider” status. Hutchinson is no rookie, and he’s seemed to enjoy his role as the “bearer of bad news” to the Republican Party. He took the jeers and boos when he talked about not supporting Trump, and he trumpeted his “successes” in education in Arkansas. Just one fact-check, Forbes ranks Arkansas at 42nd in state public education.
Chris Christie struck me like those old guys in the balcony on Sesame Street. He didn’t really seem much involved in the debate, in fact, he looked bored for the first hour or so. Christie dropped his “pre-canned” line on Vivek – “sounds like Chat-GPT” – that must have sounded better in practice than it did on the stage. He finally got involved at the beginning of the second half when Trump was the subject. And while Christie tried to hold the rest of the field “to the fire” on law and order, it didn’t go very far. The debate audience in the room definitely saw him as the enemy, and Christie didn’t reach much beyond the room.
Center Stage
So did I forget anyone? Oh yeah, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was there. It’s clear that DeSantis took the “do no harm” strategy to heart. He never got past his canned talking points, and he didn’t really engage with any of the other candidates. And DeSantis is firmly squirming “on the fence” when it comes to Trump. When asked about pardoning Trump, DeSantis immediately moved to January 20th 2024 rather than discuss January 6th 2021. DeSantis went into the debate in second behind Trump, I’m sure he’ll stay there.
When you think about it, DeSantis is really taking the Biden strategy from 2020 to heart. Biden got himself through the debates without taking a solid hit, and DeSantis did the same this time. I guess it worked out for Biden. But the “elephant” wasn’t in the room last night, and if and when Trump shows up, DeSantis’s lack of energy will become apparent – Trump, even fresh out of handcuffs, will be the four-hundred watt bulb in the room. DeSantis doesn’t seem to go above forty.
