By Chris Stirewalt
Rick Perry may have saved his candidacy on Tuesday night. Perry looked like someone who actually wanted to run for president. He was alert engaged and most importantly he had something he wanted to talk about. I think its time not only to have that entire debate about all of our foreign aid but in particular the U.N. Why are we funding that organization?"
When Perry discussed energy policy immigration foreign policy and health care he had something to say.
Perry wont be much helped by his now evidently personal feud with Mitt Romney. Their bickering is a turnoff for voters. While Perry has to answer the endless charges coming from Romney (as he did by turning the tables on immigration) by reminding Republicans about Romneys groundskeepers the gratuitous shots make Perry look like a jerk. And with the rest of the field banging on Romney Perry doesnt have to do it alone.
But this debate performance was still a country mile better than anything Perry has done before. The best part was that he began to make an affirmative case for himself beyond referring to his record in Texas. He has begun the process of persuasion.
The biggest moment for Perry may have been when Cain essentially endorsed his no-fence but boots on the ground approach to border security. That left Romney standing with Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum in favor walling off the southern border.
Perry will roll out the next phase of his economic plan later this week and it had better be good bolder than Romneys 59 points but more workable than Cains triple niner. But Perry likely earned himself another hearing from lots of Republicans on Tuesday.
And Just Who Does Newt Think Would Be Douglas in This Scenario?
Let me just point out a second that maximizing bickering is probably not the road to the White House. And the technique youve used maximizes going back and forth over and over again….As the nominee I will challenge Obama to meet the Lincoln-Douglas standard of seven three-hour debates no moderator only a timekeeper."
-- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich talking to moderator Anderson Cooper at the CNN/Western Republican Leadership Conference debate in Las Vegas.
Newt Gingrich was in full professor mode on Tuesday. He instructed Republicans on how to debate and chided Cooper for a shallow effort. But neither did he build on his momentum. Gingrich has to find ways to make things simpler not more complicated. When he challenged Obama to 21 un-moderated hours of presidential debates it must have made even the deepest political junkies wince a bit. But he held the rest of the field to account and did it fairly. He made Romney squirm on health care and reminded Cain of the heartbreak of arms-for-hostages. He never came off as snarling or petulant as some others but just testing assumptions of fact from a conservative perspective. Heres a suggestion for a future debate: Lets have Gingrich moderate. Mitt Romney Has Had Enough So we went to the company and we said Look you cant have any illegals working on our property. Im
running for office for Petes sake I cant have illegals."
-- Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney answering Texas Gov. Rick Perrys charge about employing illegal immigrant groundskeepers through a contractor.
Mitt Romney has lost his patience.
Hes lost his patience with all the debates all the attacks and all of the questions he already answered four years ago. Its hard to blame him and it gives him the air of a man who is indulging children in a tedious game. Romney has been running for president since 2007 and doing it as a Massachusetts moderate in a party dominated by Southern conservatives. Thats got to get old.
Part of the reason that Romneys annoyance shone through on Tuesday was that for the first time he was really the man to beat. In his first two debates Michelle Bachmann was the bright shiny object for moderators and other candidates. In the next three it was the Rick Perry Rodeo with everyone trying to hog-tie the Texan.
But current boomer Herman Cain doesnt draw the same kind of attacks despite a major media effort to repeat the cycle on Tuesday. Hes too nice and too likable to be the piata. Plus Cain is hard to hit because he often will either flatly profess ignorance on a subject or revise his position on the spot.
That leaves Romney as the man to beat. As he moves closer to locking up the nomination the conservatives on stage are making their case to be the Anti-Romney and to stop his long march to the Republican Convention next August in Tampa.
Unfortunately for Romney his annoyance emerges just when Republicans are looking for something to like about the man they may soon have to rally around. When he put his hands on Perry or asked Cooper for help in dealing with the fusillade from Rick Santorum or when he explained that he couldnt have had illegal immigrants working for him because… he was running for office and wouldnt have been so foolish Romney did not present the cool attractive countenance that has allowed him to slide through five prior debates.
The smile was more of a grimace and the laugh was more of a bark. If anyone needs a break from debates its that guy.
