The NH GOP Debate
by Ryan Sager
Tue, 5 Jun 2007 at 6:33 PM
updated Tue, 5 Jun 2007 at 6:34 PM
Watch this space for live-blogging of the GOP tonight at 7 p.m. ET on CNN.
7:03: Candidate introductions, and already some decent lines. "Thompson — the candidate, not the actor." And Mike Huckabee: "I'm from a little town called Hope. You've probably heard of it. Please give us one more chance."
7:05: First question to Mitt Romney: Was invading Iraq a mistake? Romney dodges: We made the right decision with the information we had.
7:06: Wolf Blitzer calls him on it. Romney rejects the hypothetical.
7:07: Blitzer gives Rudy Giuliani the same question. He bites. No, it wasn't a mistake. It would have been "unthinkable" to leave Saddam Hussein in power. Giuliani's response makes Romney look uncommitted.
7:08: Sam Brownback says he's unveiling a plan tomorrow for a three-state solution in Iraq.
7:12: McCain pulls out another one of his canned lines: Parties don't lose wars, countries lose wars.
7:13: Tommy Thompson says that if the surge doesn't work, America should ask the Iraqi government to vote as to whether the U.S. should stay or go.
7:14: "It was a mistake to go." We should leave.
7:15: Mike Huckabee gets in a reference to today being Ronald Reagan's birthday. Nice one.
7:19: Duncan Hunter would use tactical nukes if we needed them against Iran, to take out its nuclear program.
7:20: Giuliani would, too. (Though, I should note, both men said these weapons wouldn't be necessary.) Giuliani gets in a shot at the Democrats (specifically John Edwards): "This war is not a bumper sticker. This war is a real war." [gets applause]
7:22: "You don't take options off the table." He agrees with Giuliani and the others on using tactical nukes. [Romney gets some applause for tough talk on the War on Terror.]
7:23: The questioners move on to immigration ... starting with Rep. Tom Tancredo. This won't get interesting until the Big Three get involved. Will Romney go after McCain (yes, if he gets the chance)? Will Giuliani go on the attack against McCain (probably not, if he's smart — he wants to stay above the fray)?
7:26: Giuliani gets the question ... He doesn't want to attack McCain, so he turns it around as best he can. The problem with the bill, he says, is that it lacks a unifying purpose. "It's typical Washington mess," where everyone compromises. "It is quite possible it will make things worse," Giuliani says. He wants a tamper-proof ID card.
7:27: Romney attacks the bill while trying to be very nice to McCain.
7:28: McCain tries to go after Giuliani instead of Romney — a change in tactics. "Rudy, you just described our legislation." He also tries (somewhat) to distance himself from the legislation: "This isn't the bill I would have written."
7:29: Back to Giuliani: "I've read the 400 pages." (Not sure that sounded credible. McCain chuckled — I doubt he's read the 400 pages.) Giuliani says the legislation fails to provide for tracking of who leaves the country. I'm not so sure I want the government doing that. Sounds totalitarian.
7:30: Romney calls for enforcing the 1986 law. He gets more applause. He and Tancredo have gotten the most applause in this round.
7:36: Blitzer asks if any of the candidates don't believe English should be the official language. No hands go up. For some reason, McCain jumps in on the question — just steers everything back to immigration.
7:38: Jim Gilmore is speaking. Where the hell is the gong?
7:39: To Tommy Thompson: Do we need another Thompson in the race? It's a silly question, but it really does cook T. Thompson's goose.
7:40: Giuliani gets a question on some nasty comments from a Catholic Bishop about his abortion position. He starts to answer, and the lightning cuts off his mic ... wow. Is this man the luckiest SOB in the world or what? Great moment of levity to defuse a sticky question. "For someone who went to parochial schools all his life, this is a very frightening thing that is happening right now." [gets a laugh]
7:41: Giuliani gets to actually answer the question. He gives what's become his standard answer on abortion and sounds very eloquent. He really made the right decision to be forthright and stop dancing around things.
7:42: Blitzer: "Why should conservatives ... believe you" on abortion? I'm not going to apologize for turning pro-life he says. He then rambles on about everything from gay marriage to abstinence education. Bad, bad answer.
7:44: Blitzer pushes Huckabee on evolution. This is a terrible exchange for Huckabee.
Blitzer: Do you believe the earth was created in six days, 6,000 years ago?
Huckabee: "My point is, I don't know, I wasn't there."
Giuliani: [laughs, along with some of the crowd]
Hukabee: If anybody wants to believe that they are the descendants of a primate, they are certainly welcome to do it."
Giuliani: [laughs more]
Audience: [some applause]
7:46: McCain is asked whether he thinks intelligent design should be taught in schools. Short answer, no. He refers to Huckabee as "Pastor Huckabee." Weird. But given the tenor of Huckabee's remarks, an understandable slip.
7:47: Romney is asked whether he will distance himself from Mormonism.
7:47: Romney: "I believe Jesus Christ is my savior." — trying to clear that up
7:48: Romney: "That's not going to happen." — his distancing himself from his religion
7:49: Giuliani gets the question on global warming ... His answer: "There is global warming." Humans contribute to that. The answer is alternative energy, he says, and not having to but so much oil from our enemies in the Middle East.
7:50: Same question to Romney. First, he says, "Rudy Giuliani is right" on needing a massive project to invent alternative energy sources, on par with the Apollo project.
7:52: Blitzer: McCain, do you have a problem with these oil companies making so much money? McCain: "Sure, I think we all do." Ugly moment for McCain. Though his endorsement of nuclear power is right, that was an ugly populist impulse to bash the oil companies.
7:55: The gays in the military question goes to ... Ron Paul? He's for keeping the current policy.
7:56: Huckabee's answer is almost impossible to parse. He eventually says he wouldn't change the existing policy. That Blitzer is a bulldog. I love it.
7:57: The question goes to Giuliani ... Really ugly answer. "In a time of war, you don't make fundamental changes like this." What does that mean? We'll probably be in a War on Terror for the rest of my life. The policy either should change or it shouldn't. Dodging a question is dodging a question, and Giuliani just did. Very disappointing. I'd go so far as to say cowardly.
7:58: Romney joins in on Giuliani's dodge.
7:59: McCain, too.
8:00: Not one of the candidates would change the don't-ask-don't-tell policy, on a raise-of-hands question. Shameful.
8:01: What would the candidates do with George W. Bush as an ex-president? None of them can say what they'd like to: bury him in the backyard.
8:02: My mistake ... Tancredo says it. Good for him.
8:05: The question turns to ... Scooter Libby. Yes or no on a pardon.
8:06: Giuliani goes on for way too long ... but perhaps looks good for telling Blitzer that a man's life is at stake.
8:17: This is a bit silly, but a friend emails: Huckabee was wrong. Today's not Reagan's birthday. Not even close. It's February 6.
8:18: Every time McCain says, "Let me give you some straight talk," I want to punch a wall. That aside, his answer to a young woman whose brother died in Iraq was eloquent and clearly heart-felt.
8:22: Giuliani stands up to give his Iraq answer. A very effective move. Still, I'm not sure his answer has much substance, despite good style. The invasion was a success, he says. Yes. The occupation has been a failure. Yes. This will all be solved by a version of CompStat adjusted for Iraq. Probably not. What if the surge works, he asks? That'd be nice. It's not reality, but it's nice to imagine.
8:26: Giuliani on health care: I'd have to look more closely at the specifics he' proposing, but he was very articulate and very commanding. He's determined to label anything the Democrats propose "socialized medicine."
8:30: Thompson (Tommy) is happy to be talking about health care. He says we need to focus more on preventative care. He's right. He says we need to educate people about smoking, etc. A bit nannyish.
8:31: Romney gets to speak for the first time in the second half of the debate. On health care he sounds ... slick, as ever. Somehow mandating insurance coverage for everyone by law is letting the free market work. Go figure...
8:33: What's the greatest moral question we face as a nation?
8:34: Huckabee: Taking care of children. (Hillary, is that you?)
8:35: Giuliani: Bringing freedom to the Middle East as we did to Europe and Japan and Vietnam in the last generation. "It's our moral obligation" to find a way to share our freedom with the rest of the world. This is sounding a bit like the Bush doctrine. ... I'm not sure that's a good thing. (So, he turned a question about morals into one about the War on Terror ... so sue him.)
8:39: Romney gets a question from the audience taking him to task for having ads in Spanish (the Republican Party base xenophobic? Never...) Let me make it real clear, Romney says, "I'm not anti-immigrant." From there, he rambles on for a while ... not prepared for this question.
8:43: I've lost track of the question, but McCain gives a great answer about welcoming Hispanics to our country, talking about the Hispanic names one would find on the Vietnam War Memorial, and how many one would find in the Iraq theater.
8:44: McCain gets the question: Why did the Republicans lose. McCain: "Spending, spending, spending." Wrong: How about: Iraq, Iraq, Iraq.
8:46: The candidates are supposed to list President Bush's worst mistakes ... No one seems to want to play ball. Giuliani talks about bringing accountability to Washington. Romney talks about solving problems. Ah... Tancredo. He already spit on the president's political grave; he does so again. Ron Paul wants to leave Iraq. Gilmore says the Republican Party has violated its principles. Wow... no one's playing ball on this. Huckabee tosses Wolf a bone and says Bush doesn't do a good job communicating.
8:50: What makes one an America... Tancredo says immigrants have to cut all ties to their home country.
8:52: Giuliani on immigration: We shouldn't be having a debate about legal immigration, he says — contrasting himself with Tancredo. He says belief in freedom is what makes one an American.
8:57: Hunter: "We need to move away from the Kennedy wing of the Republican Party."
8:58: Romney responds. Reagan won Massachusetts both times, he says, so connect the dots.
8:59: Giuliani has his own answer as to how Republicans can attract moderates: Nominate me.
Instant verdict: big Giuliani win. ... Will digest later after watching Fred Thompson, the elephant in the room.
Related Topics: GOP Primary
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