It\u2019s 440 days until the Presidential election of 2024. That\u2019s fourteen and two-thirds months, sixty-three weeks, 10,560 hours. Even the first primary caucus in Iowa is January 15th<\/sup>, 2024, still five months away. So forgive us Americans if we aren\u2019t enamored and mesmerized with \u201ccampaign\u201d stuff yet. We haven\u2019t even finished the 2023 baseball season, Joe Burrow hasn\u2019t thrown a Bengals pass, and the Buckeyes don\u2019t even know who their quarterback will be in 2023 \u2013 much less 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first Republican debate is tonight. I\u2019ll probably \u201cbite the bullet\u201d and watch, especially since the leading candidate, the four-time indicted, twice impeached former President, won\u2019t be there. That will give some \u201coxygen\u201d to the rest of the field. And, from a purely \u201cwatch NASCAR for the car wrecks\u201d standpoint, Chris Christie versus Ron DeSantis ( DU-Santis or DEE-Santis, however he says it this week) should be fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Already there\u2019s a \u201cmini\u201d controversy. Asa Hutchinson, former Governor of Arkansas, signed \u201cthe pledge\u201d. The pledge is required by the Republican National Committee, and it \u201cguarantees\u201d that the signer will support the ultimate nominee of the Republican Party, no matter who it is. Hutchinson, (and Christie, and Pence for that matter) all say that Donald Trump is not fit to be President again. Yet they all signed \u201cthe pledge\u201d. Hutchinson was skewered on MSNBC\u2019s Deadline: White House, <\/em>when former Republican Congressman David Jolly tried to clarify his views. After a few minutes of fumbling, the Governor finally stood on the proposition that Trump will never be the nominee, so it was okay to sign on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do anything to get on the stage. A signature with fingers firmly crossed to \u201croll the dice\u201d and hope something in the debate will make their campaigns catch on fire. And all of them are searching for combustion, especially the \u201cleader\u201d on this stage, Ron DeSantis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For DeSantis, it\u2019s been a campaign spent stuck in the mud. His basic premise is that he is the heir to Donald Trump\u2019s MAGA following, a Trump man without the Trump baggage (read indictments). But the MAGA crowd isn\u2019t as stupid as he thinks. Why should they take a replica, when they can have the \u201creal thing\u201d with Trump himself. No matter how far to the extreme right DeSantis pushes Florida, he can\u2019t \u201cout-Trump\u201d the man at Mara Lago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And then there\u2019s the errors: the fight with Disney, the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a \u201cterritorial dispute\u201d, even the pronunciation of his own name. And perhaps the \u201cfatalist\u201d error of all: when Ron DeSantis gets in front of a crowd, no one likes him. Iowa and New Hampshire, the opening salvos of the Republican campaigns, are \u201cretail politics\u201d. It\u2019s about shaking hands, eating corn dogs at the fair, taking selfies, and making people feel that he cares, one on one. And the sad news for DeSantis; he\u2019s the awkward guy who really doesn\u2019t want to be there. And the retail \u201cpurchasers\u201d, the voters, can tell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So who should we look to \u201ccatch fire\u201d tonight? Don\u2019t bet on Pence. He\u2019s stuck with the ultimate curse: the man running on his loyal service to Trump, who ultimately betrayed him. To the MAGA crowd Pence is Benedict Arnold or Judas. There\u2019s no getting past that fact, and there\u2019s not much else to offer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And don\u2019t bet on Chris Christie either. While he may be the \u201cstandard bearer\u201d for the GOP of old, he has a fatal flaw. He was ultimately \u201ctaken down\u201d as Governor by moving parking cones on the George Washington Memorial Bridge as political payback. At least Trump was shooting for something big, like overthrowing the Constitution. Christie may be the biggest man in the room , but he comes out small, and no one, particularly in the MAGA dominated party, wants small.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then there\u2019s the \u201cno-names\u201d; entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgham. Ramaswamy comes across as the \u201cyoung, energetic\u201d candidate. He can even rap the entire Eminem\u2019s \u201cLose Yourself\u201d on stage with accompaniment. Too bad he wants to raise the voting age to twenty-five. And Burgham, the dramatic looking blue-eyed software magnate, has two flaws. First, he\u2019s from North Dakota, with a voter base of about half a million. And second, he speaks with the \u201croyal we\u201d. \u201cWe\u201d did this in North Dakota, and \u201cWe\u201d will bring it to the White House. Is there a mouse in his pocket? <\/p>\n\n\n\n The natural leader should be Nikki Haley, former Ambassador to the United Nations and Governor of South Carolina. She made her political \u201cbones\u201d by having the courage to take the Confederate Battle Flag down from the South Carolina Capitol, after the Emanuel African American Methodist Church mass shooting in Charleston. And she gained foreign policy \u201cchops\u201d at the United Nations. But she hasn\u2019t made a dent on the campaign trail, hamstrung with wanting to criticize Trump, but unwilling to pay the price. She doesn\u2019t seem very courageous now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Which leaves South Carolina\u2019s Senator Tim Scott. Scott campaigns as a \u201cHappy Warrior\u201d. He lifts the crowd with his oratory, and looks to the future rather than the Trumpian past. If that attitude comes through on the debate stage, his star should rise. There is one problem: is the MAGA Republican Party ready for a Black candidate for President?<\/p>\n\n\n\n So if you\u2019re a political junky (like me), or watches NASCAR for the crashes, the Republican debate might be for you. It should be two hours of candidate \u201crevelation\u201d, hopefully not completely about the elephant NOT in the room. It starts at 9pm eastern, broadcast on Fox News. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pledge<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Self-Immolation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
On Fire?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Leaders<\/h3>\n\n\n\n