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Mitt Romney and Ron Paul have pulled out of a Republican presidential debate scheduled for March 1 in Atlanta, leading to the cancellation of the affair. But backers of a planned presidential debate in Portland on March 19 are confident they won't run into the same problem. "We have every indication it will happen," said Greg Leo, chief of staff of the Oregon Republican Party, which is sponsoring the debate along with Oregon Public Broadcasting, National Public Radio, the Public Broadcasting System and The Washington Times. Romney and Paul cited problems with their campaign schedule in being able to make...

What keeps Rush, Levin, Prager, Hannity, etc -- or a combination of them -- from calling a debate for any candidates willing to show up? Then we could get some meaningful questions for inspecting the candidates' philosophies. They could not decline a Rush/Hannity/Levin cosponsored debate. The candidates have plenty of open days on their schedules.

More than anyone else during any of the previous Republican presidential debates, Rick Santorum took dead aim tonight at the similarities between Romneycare and Obamacare. Arguing that those similarities could pose great problems for the Republican party and for the prospects for repeal if Mitt Romney were to win the nomination, Santorum implored GOP voters to remember, “We can’t give this issue away in this election.” Mitt Romney The exchange over Romneycare and Obamacare began when Santorum responded to a health care question from an audience member. He said, “Governor Romney was the author of Romneycare, which is a top-down...

If Newt Gingrich doesn't win the Florida primary, he won't have much of an opportunity to recover over the ensuing weeks. There is only one debate scheduled in February. Gingrich had a poor debate last night. He'll get another crack at Mitt Romney on Thursday, January 26th, before Florida Republicans go to the polls on January 31st. But there will not be another Republican debate for three-and-a-half weeks, when the candidates meet on February 22nd in Arizona. The debates provide Gingrich with something he can't buy: television time to air his views and the face-to-face encounters with his opponents that...

Newt Gingrich insists his fans will not be silenced. Mr. Gingrich, a former House speaker, on Tuesday morning threatened not participate in any future debates with audiences that have been instructed to be silent. That was the case on Monday, when Brian Williams of NBC News asked the audience of about 500 people who assembled for a debate in Tampa to hold their applause until the commercial breaks. In an interview with the morning show “Fox and Friends,” Mr. Gingrich said NBC’s rules amounted to stifling free speech. In what has become a standard line of attack for his anti-establishment...

Last night we learned the secret of Newt Gingrich’s debating success: audience participation. With it, he’s the king of the jungle. Without it, he’s a mouse’s squeak. Therefore, NBC did a cruel and terrible thing during Monday’s debate when it decided to gag the audience. Lacking the usual “Hell yeahs!” and “Yo mommas!” that accompany his jibs and jabs, Newt came across as mean and shifty. Had Romney not helpfully self-destructed during a conversation about “self-deportation”, Gingrich might have walked away from this debate a much reduced candidate.

Isaac Newton's Third Law is familiar to most of us. Simply put: " To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." This week Newt Gingrich showed that the laws of motion are equally applicable to media manipulation to favor Obama or any other Democrat candidate for office. Push him and he'll push right back. The hint that public sentiment was shifting away from reliance on big government (and those that promoted it) came earlier in the week when Gallup produced a poll showing that American's "satisfaction with the size and power of the federal government is at a...

So CNN's executives have let it slip (at least to Drudge*) that they are "going to let them just go at it" in what they are calling the "Republican Debate of the Year" tonight in South Carolina.Let me translate:  'We are going to do our damndest to get the candidates to go at each other and totally ignore Barack Obama.  We're going to ask those cute little questions like 'Governor Romney, with Speaker Gingrich standing right here, will you say to his face that he's the biggest son of a blah blah blah..... 'So please tell me, Republican candidates,...

GOP Debate

After last Saturday night’s Republican presidential debate, “Good Morning America” co-anchor and “This Week” moderator George Stephanopoulos took criticism for his handling of a debate question about contraception and his persistence on the issue with GOP front-runner Mitt Romney. On Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” on Wednesday, Stephanopoulos gave his side. The question “was about the right to privacy,” Stephanopoulos said. “One of the candidates said he believes the states have the right to ban contraception. I was asking Mitt Romney the same question.” ...more (w/video)...

The three-way victory in the Iowa caucuses last night reveals just what a catastrophe for the Republican Party the Year of 16 Debates was. The relentless televised clashes of 2011 gave ridiculous heft to the freak candidacies of Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich — to the detriment of the party’s standing in its long-term struggle to defeat Barack Obama. In the end, last night, only the candidates who did the hard work of actual conventional campaigning — Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul — made it to the top tier in Iowa. They built organizations, spent time...

ABC News’ coverage of the Republican debate on Saturday night was the most-watched debate yet from the 2012 election season. A total of 7.6 million viewers tuned in to watch Newt Gingrich defend his front-runner status in Iowa. That tops last month’s Republican debate on CBS, which delivered 5.5 million. The debate comes 24 days before primary voters pick their candidate in Iowa.

The Bambino stands in the center of the stage, untouchable, uncatchable, unbeatable. He is Newt Gingrich, and he has become the Sultan of Swat. It is Saturday night at yet another Republican debate and — wham! wham! wham! — Gingrich keeps blasting them out of the park. Mitt Romney claims he should be president, because, unlike Newt, Romney is not a “career politician.” “Let’s be candid,” Newt replies. “The only reason you didn’t become a career politician is that you lost to Ted Kennedy in 1994.” Wham! Newt, like the real Bambino, Babe Ruth, is a man of appetites. For...

Rick Santorum was right about the rank hypocrisy of GOP candidates who seek Donald Trump’s endorsement but will not appear at the NewsMax debate because Trump is the moderator: “Many of my opponents jockeyed to be the first to fly up to New York and use Donald Trump for a photo op and no doubt try and secure an endorsement. But when Donald wants to moderate a debate – they refuse to attend. That’s what’s so wrong with politics today – hypocrisy,” Andrew Breitbart makes an even more important point. The boycotting candidates do not hesitate to go on MSNBC,...

The GOP race for president is coming to a head very quickly. Yes, Newt Gingrich had a terrible launch. But that was in political time eons ago. Now, Gingrich is the last man standing. And if he keeps his mouth shut, he will be the GOP nominee. He can run the table after New Hampshire. Notice, I did not say after Iowa. Iowa is a strange circumstance where standing in the polls sometimes means victory or disaster (look for Ron Paul to do better than expected). What everyone is missing is South Carolina and Florida. Gingrich always planned to make...

The Fallacy of the Master Debater By Quin Hillyer on 12.7.11 @ 6:08AM Staged face-offs will mean little next fall. Newt Gingrich: Master Debater. Such seems to be the impression driving the Gingrich boomlet in the Republican presidential contest -- as if, by virtue of his supposed debating ability, Gingrich will be the man most likely to defeat Barack Obama next fall. It's a myth, on multiple levels, as we shall see. Yet the power of the Gingrich surge does show, again, a lesson taught well by neo-Nazi David Duke when Duke was ascendant in Louisiana politics two decades ago:...

MSNBC host Chuck Todd and Donald Trump got into a heated on-air exchange Monday over who requested the interview. The flareup came after Todd, host of the Daily Rundown, said earlier on the program that Trump wanted to respond to a poll that showed voters were less likely to support a Republican candidate if one was endorsed by Trump. When Todd got on the phone with Trump on the air, he was greeted by the irate real estate mogul fuming over what Todd had said.

Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr., and Michael D. McCurry, co-chairmen of the non-partisan, non-profit Commission on Presidential Debates ("CPD") today announced sites and dates for three presidential and one vice presidential debates during the 2012 general election. The dates and sites are: First presidential debate: Wednesday, October 3 University of Denver, Denver, CO Vice presidential debate: Thursday, October 11 Centre College, Danville, KY Second presidential debate (town meeting format): Tuesday, October 16 Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY Third presidential debate: Monday, October22 Lynn University, Boca Raton, FL ...more at site...

We are in the midst of the 11th presidential nominating cycle since party commissions and state laws made primaries the predominant method of choosing national convention delegates in 1972. Over the years, politicians and journalists develop rules of thumb to describe how these things work. In this cycle, some of those rules seem to be changing. Start with the old rule that money is everything. When I was working as a political consultant in the 1970s, it was widely assumed that the only feasible way to reach voters and change their minds in most elections was through television ads. And...

Most Iowans are familiar with the saying, “If you don’t like the weather in Iowa, just give it a few minuets because it is bound to change.” Rapid temperature changes are not the only thing that Iowa is known for these days. It could also be said that if you don’t like which presidential candidate is leading in the polls, just wait a few days, because it’s bound to change. To date, five of the eight presidential candidates have led a poll of likely caucus goers in Iowa. To put that into perspective, at this time four years ago, only...

“ … states' rights, states’ rights, states' rights!” — Rick Perry at the Alamo, June 15, 2009 Until you get higher in the hills, Laconia might be considered the vortex of New Hampshire redneck politics, heavy into the Tea Party. The Lakes Region Tea Party is small but might be indicative of how things will go. A straw poll on Nov. 16 gave Newt Gingrich 49 percent while Cain tied with Ron Paul at 15. Romney 12 percent and Rick Perry 0. Similar results in a straw poll at a Republican club in Alabama on Saturday: Newt 45 percent, Cain...

I am not a debater… never have been. Although I have been speaking publicly since the age of nine, I hate debates. You may have noticed that I DO tend to favor commentaries. In a commentary I am allowed to express my views completely, without interruption, and then sit back and wait for the fur to fly. I have no interest in arguing my positions or opinions. Once stated — that’s it! I don’t argue. Its not worth the time and effort necessary to sway someone else’s opinion my way. I simply don’t care if you disagree with me. Once...

Occupy Des Moines protesters marched on the Thanksgiving Family Forum held today the First Federation Church to deliver a letter to the Republican presidential candidates taking part. The letter was an invitation to their own presidential forum they want to hold. Their criticism is that people should not have to pay to get into these kinds of events when the issues being discussed effect everyone. So, sometime before Dec. 27th, they want as many willing candidates as possible to sit down and listen to the, "99 percent." A couple protesters tried to breach the police insuring no one came onto...

The Des Moines Register’s streak of holding a presidential debate in every presidential election since 1980 has come to end. Wednesday evening, the Des Moines Register abandoned its plans to hold a Republican presidential debate in conjunction with Google and Iowa Public Television. The Register’s debate was scheduled for December 19th. Instead, the Register will play a relatively minor role in the ABC News/Republican Party of Iowa debate that has been on the books for quite some time now. That debate will be held on December 10th. The Register, which will get some branding and the ability to submit questions...

Romney scores 5+ minutes more speaking time in Michigan than the next closest candidate and has recorded more time than Ron Paul and Rick Santorum combined during the last five debates If it seems like Mitt Romney is getting more and more polished with each passing presidential debate, perhaps that is because he is getting the most playing time, while the rest of the Republican field has to fight just to get off the bench. A month ago, Smart Politics documented the stark disparity in the amount of speaking time logged in by the various Republican candidates at the debates,...

For the second time in four days, the GOP presidential candidates took the stage for a debate. This one focused exclusively on foreign policy and national security. The first hour aired live on the CBS network. The final half hour was only available online and the CBS feed was lousy for the first 15 minutes of that. So, most viewers only paid attention to the first hour. This recap covers the entire debate. Here is a look at how each candidate fared, along with winners and losers: Michele Bachmann: Once again, the Minnesota congresswoman was in command on the issues...

The first broadcast network presidential debate this year, which ended its national telecast and switched to a choppy livestream feed two-thirds of the way through the event, produced a storm of complaints from viewers across the country and two of the candidates on the no-frills debate stage in Spartanburg, S.C. CBS’s foreign policy debate, co-sponsored by National Journal, offered unusually detailed discussion of policy and a format that was free of many of the literal bells and whistles of more slickly-produced face-offs. But the confusing format — the televised portion for most of the nation ended after an hour and...

Next GOP Debate Will Be Tonight Published: 1:17 AM, 11/12/2011 Last updated: 1:22 AM, 11/12/2011 Source: The Greeneville Sun The latest in the series of televised debates among the candidates for the Republican nomination for President is scheduled for tonight. The debate is taking place at Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C., and will focus on national security and foreign policy. The debate is being hosted by CBS News and the National Jo urnal, and will begin at 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on the CBS Television Network.

(Newser) – The Republican presidential debates are exerting a strong influence on this year's race, and even seem entertaining—but why? It's not just Rick Perry's penchant for the deadly 53-second pause or Michele Bachmann's ability to reinterpret US history, analysts tell the New York Times. It's our reality-TV culture of instant judgment: "Who gets kicked off the island, or who gets kicked off the talent stage, is now deeply embedded in the American culture," says campaign adviser Steve Schmidt. In bygone days, reporters hunted down campaign staff members to forge conclusions after a debate. “Now, it’s instantaneous,” Schmidt says. “It’s...

During last night’s Republican debate in Michigan via CNBC, Governor Rick Perry of Texas, (R/TX), he had for a very brief moment, about 53 seconds of time, what I called a “mid-life” moment. Governor Perry, do not feel bad, I get these from time to time. It is called mid-life or for people who are female, “menopause thinking and remembering effort problem moments.” We are all getting older Governor Perry! This simply shows how very human we all are. Plus as a reminder that we must never put any human on a pedestal.

Herman Cain's presidential campaign had basically been left for dead when the 2012 Republican presidential candidates took the debate stage in Michigan Wednesday. Sexual harassment accusations had plagued his campaign for nearly two weeks, and his deny-to-the-death strategy was not going as planned. But divine providence stepped in on Cain's behalf tonight, in the form of Rick Perry. The Texas Governor's spectacular meltdown on stage at the debate did what many in the media had believed impossible — divert the spotlight away from the Cain affair and on to the embarrassing shortcomings of a lower-tier candidate, as reporters gleefully hopped...

The big media story from last nights Republican Presidential Primary Debate on CNBC was Governor Perry's gaffe when he tried listing the departments of the federal government he would eliminate. Maybe lost in the sensationalism is the change in our national politics that this topic represents. The majority of the GOP contenders are talking like the elimination of entire departments is a foregone conclusion. It might be election year politics, but the idea is immensely popular among conservatives judging by the crowd reactions every time someone in any of the debates has suggested it. Now we all know that a...

President Obama contends that his Republican opponents are digging their own graves. The commander-in-chief told a group of Hispanic journalists on Wednesday that he'll win over Latino voters by simply showing them clips from recent GOP debates.

ROCHESTER, Mich. – With under two months before the first votes are cast in the Republican presidential primary, the GOP candidates gathered for a debate in a state that has suffered gravely during the nation’s economic recession – but what stole the show were the varying fortunes of the two candidates that pose the biggest threat to Mitt Romney’s chances of securing the nomination: Herman Cain and Rick Perry. While the former has surged in the polls and continues to enjoy support despite new allegations of sexual harassment, the latter has plunged in recent months, even falling outside the top...

Rick Perry swiftly came to the spin room after the end of the GOP debate Wednesday night and directly told reporters that he screwed up on stage. "I'm glad I had my boots on tonight," Perry said. "I stepped in it out there." Continue Reading Perry froze up on stage as he attempted to list the three federal departments he planned to cut, naming Education and Commerce but forgetting the Department of Energy. Said Perry: "I may have forgotten Energy, but I haven't forgotten my conservative principles." Asked by a reporter if that moment was embarrassing, Perry said: "I stepped...

I read in one thread that a FRpeeper was under the impression that tonight's debate would only be online and was disappointed, so I wanted to let everyone know that it will be on TV as well. Check your cable/satellite TV listings for CNBC at 8pm.

If there is one state in the union President Obama might think is secure for him in next year's election, it would be Michigan. After all, he led the tax-payer assisted bankruptcy reorganizations of General Motors and Chrysler, and turned Michigan from a complete economic basket-case to one of the top job creators in the country. But Michigan is anything but in the bag for Obama. Two years after GM and Chrysler emerged from the federal sponsored bankruptcy--resulting in GM, Ford and Chrysler making the most profit they have in a decade or more--even Michiganders are split right down the...

'Three hours each... with a time-keeper... and no moderator.' Newt Gingrich spoke Friday at the Iowa GOP's 'Reagan Dinner'... ______________________________________________________________________ "On the first day of a Gingrich Administration, I would issue a series of Exectutive Orders... the very first of which would  abolish all the White House czars' "I would fire (Bernanke) tomorrow... and the Fed should be audited" "What we're faced with is the results of a radical ideology, and an inexperienced, incompetent president..." "I will outline a 21st-Century 'Contract with America'...  and it's going to be far bolder, far deeper, and far more profound than we did in 1994......

The Republican presidential candidates, their sinews stiffened and their blood summoned up, may rightly dread Wednesday’s version of what are inexplicably called debates. The candidates have some explaining to do, particularly regarding two subjects that deserve more searching examination than is possible in 60-second bursts on a stage cluttered with eight contestants. But perhaps certain candidates can be compelled to expand upon, and improve upon, what they have been saying about foreign policy and about the role of the judiciary in American democracy. Most of the candidates have disparaged Barack Obama’s decision that all U.S. troops will leave Iraq this...

So far in this cycle Gingrich is playing the role that McCain played in the 08 cycle. Both had their difficulties toward the end of the summer with very little campaign cash on hand and were written off before making a charge based on merit and respect(although maybe not love) within the party and the media.

There is a movement among some prominent Iowa Republicans to undermine a scheduled GOP presidential debate sponsored by the Des Moines Register and aired by Iowa Public Television. The debate, scheduled for December 19, would be the third candidate forum in Iowa over a span of nine days. Some county GOP leaders believe that is too many. ABC and Fox News have presidential debates scheduled for December 10 and December 15, respectively. Both are sponsored by the Republican Party of Iowa. State central committee member and Carroll County GOP chair Craig Williams fears the candidates will not want to participate...

Texas Governor Rick Perry raised more than a few eyebrows when his campaign floated the idea that there might be better “time management� agenda items than flying around to an endless series of primary debates. Speaking as one of the people who has to watch – and write about – all of these dog and pony shows, I admit that I had a bit of sympathy for the concept. But it drew a lot of additional fire on his campaign, and now it seems that we’ll at least be seeing Rick at some of them. Rick Perry plans to participate...

Whether he's right or not, Rick Perry has a point -- there are a ton of debates planned this year. There's a reason for that: An internal agreement within the Republican National Committee means the party is using some sanctioned debates as an incentive for good behavior, and others as a tool to mollify members who might otherwise cause trouble. Back in March, the RNC announced it had formed a committee that would authorize presidential debates. RNC chairman Reince Priebus said the committee would help the party streamline the nominating process, and party strategists hoped it would provide guidance and...

When a credible candidate for significant political office makes a statement or adopts a strategy that seems obviously counterintuitive, criticism will shower down first, followed by a wave of wait-maybe-this-is-brilliant rebuttals. Byron York offers a bit of the latter (as well as some of the former) in a thoughtful piece that poses the question of whether Perry’s announcement that he might not attend future debates isn’t just self-serving, but actually a rational strategy that other Republicans should adopt: Until a few weeks ago, there seemed to be lots of time for debating. The Iowa caucuses were set for Feb. 6,...

Rick Perry, who made clear during his Bill O'Reilly interview last night that he finds the debate formats geared toward promoting a fight, is going to the No. 9 one after that - but is a question mark for some of the glut of face-offs after that. Perry spokesman Mark Miner said the issue is using time wisely, and noted their campaign is not alone in that. "I think all the campaigns are expressing frustration right now," Miner told POLITICO. "We said we would do Michigan but the primaries are around the corner and you have to use your time...

Either this is the most awesome primary campaign move in recent memory, or an acknowledgment that we shouldn’t expect to see debates become Rick Perry’s strong suit in the near future. I’m know which way I’m betting: Rick Perry, who made clear during his Bill O’Reilly interview last night that he finds the debate formats geared toward promoting a fight, is going to the No. 9 one after that – but is a question mark for some of the glut of face-offs after that. The Wall Street Journal also picked up on this statement: Rick Perry saw his poll numbers...

The candidates were not-so-subtly pitted against one another, and the Vegas staging—the lights, the applause, the set—was like a 1970s game show. And now here's your host, Mi-i-i-it Romney! I wondered if this was CNN's sly spoof of the Republican Party, or just someone's idea of good TV in the age of "Dancing With the Stars." The candidates' arguments, which occasionally descended into bickering, yielded a soundbite festival for future Democratic ads: "You hired illegals in your home!" But in the end, Tuesday night's debate was a real plus for the GOP. All the Republican debates have been, because they've...

Heres a fun satire of A Herman Cain Barack Obama debate. ITS A WORLD OF WONDER WHY THIS S.O.B. GOT INTO THE OVAL OFFICE!

Herman Cain talks about the debates, 999, and more

Leaving Las Vegas Continuing the practice of handicapping the candidates after the debates, herewith a belated reaction to the Las Vegas debate. The dominant impression of the affair is that the pole positions of the candidates did not much change as a result of the debate. That means that either Romney or Cain, probably Cain, was and continues to be the leader. Romney should be judged the leader by virtue of his deep pockets which assure him a ride through several of the preliminary primary states. His hovering around the 25% level can be read as an inability to break...