Thursday, eight candidates for the Republican Nomination for president debated at the Iowa State University campus in Ames, Iowa. According to the New York Times, the debate was full of candidates doing their best to evoke Ronald Reagan, all the meanwhile, failing to abide by Reagan’s 11th Amendment, thou shall not speak ill of fellow Republicans.
The candidates were consistently throwing jabs at each other. One of the biggest targets was current Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann. Bachmann, a tea party favorite and the only female in the race, faced a barrage of attacks from fellow Minnesotan Tim Pawlenty. One could easily argue that Pawlenty’s actions appeared to be out of desperation. As noted in the USA Today, Pawlenty has had a slow-starting campaign and has banked a lot on being successful in the Iowa straw poll held on Saturday. Thus, attacks on Bachmann for having a “non-existent” record in Congress were simply means to attack his potentially biggest rival, Bachmann. With both residing in the same state, they are dependent on the same political base, and Pawlenty was finding himself overshadowed.
Pawlenty and Bachmann were not the only two jabbing with one another. Former Pennsylvania Senator, Rick Santorum, as stated in the New York Times, at one point raised his hand to simply bash all his opponents and accuse Bachmann of “showmanship, not leadership.” Meanwhile, businessman Herman Cain, in an effort to maintain the Tea Party support, accused everyone else of being “career politicians.”
Thus, with all the jabs being thrown between one another, who were the winners and losers of the debate? In my opinion, the losers can be classified into two categories. There were those that struggled to be heard. Candidates such as Cain, Santorum, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and Texas Representative Ron Paul fall into this category. This can also include former Utah Governor and the recent ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman, who was struggling to make his voice, heard in his first debate appearance in Iowa. While I personally like Huntsman, I feel it will be impossible for him to win the nomination. In a heavily polarized election cycle, he will constantly have to defend his past life serving Obama in China.
The second group of losers would include Pawlenty. Pawlenty lost credibility attacking Bachmann. All the meanwhile, she demonstrated poise under scrutiny, only helping advance her campaign.
Mitt Romney, the current front runner for the candidacy only gained further ground in the debate. Attacked for his wealth and his role in establishing a healthcare plan similar to Obamacare in Massachusetts, Romney held his own as demonstrated by the following quote from USA Today about the recent Congressional compromise concerning the national debt ceiling: “Look, I’m not going to eat Barack Obama’s dog food, all right? What he served up was not what I would have done if I’d have been president of the United States.”
With another debate completed, the Republican field for President is starting to take shape. However, with Texas Governor Rick Scott expected to announce his candidacy and Sarah Palin still flirting with entering the field, one has to wonder how much of an impact this debate actually has. With plenty of time left, the Republican field still has plenty of time to take shape.