Mike Huckabee Wows Crowds at CNN YouTube Republican Debate

When looking at the results of the CNN/YouTube Republican debate last night in order to tell who won the war of words on issues like abortion and immigration depends on which audience a particular candidate was playing for. The quibble between Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani seemed to be about trying to out maneuver one another as to who was tougher on illegal immigration in order to pick the GOP nomination.

The argument over who employed an illegal immigrant and who harbored illegal immigrants was a clear play to those who are worried about illegal immigrants committing crimes and receiving special privileges. While answers that Senator John McCain and Mike Huckabee gave as far as comprehensive reform and educational opportunities respectively are meant to appeal to a broader general election audience. On the issue of abortion Rudy Giuliani seemed to be purposely taking the center on this one by saying he would like to see the end of partial birth abortion access while not pledging to sign a bill that would ban all abortions. So on that answer Rudy was the one playing to the national audience.

Fred Thompson's YouTube ad that was aired during the debate was the most combative of the night. With it he questioned Governor Romney's credentials as a pro-life conservative by showing debate footage from 1994 where Romney expressed support for Roe V. Wade as he debated Ted Kennedy for the United States Senate. He also within the same advertisement questioned Mike Huckabee's credentials as a tax cutting conservative by showing footage of the former Governor not being opposed to surtax or a sales tax. I thought it was a very effective ad. The only question is whether or not GOP caucus/primary voters find Governor Romney's conversion on right to life issues to be genuine and whether they will dig deep enough to take issue with Huckabee's fiscal record in Arkansas. Other then that it seemed Senator Thompson did not have much pep to his step.

He gave good, qualified answers on guns and the line item veto, but he lacked that zinger or influential moment in order for him to standout. If he stays engaged and focused within the debate Thompson seemed to hold his own, but with Rudy and Romney going back and forth it can be difficult for the other candidates to stay on their toes. I think because of this his campaign may have taken a step backwards. Thompson apparently had a failed fundraising drive that was reportedly unaffiliated with his campaign according to United Press International. This was an attempt to match Ron Paul's hefty haul that he took in on one day online of over four million dollars. Paul has become a definite force in the race and in particular online. Thompson did recently pick up the endorsement of the National Right to Life organizations according to their organization's website.

Duncan Hunter on the other hand seemed to impress some of the undecided Florida voters backstage so the areas of populism on trade/China and expertise with foreign policy do have some appeal when heard. Duncan's ad was nice in my view by putting his friend Chuck Yeager, a decorated veteran in it. This ad can be found at Duncan Hunter's official campaign website. On the issue of border security he seemed to score points by vowing to build a double wide fence around the border. I wondered why Hunter did not jump in to criticize some of the other candidates on their immigrations, but I guess he felt the moderator wasn't willing to give anything close to equal time.

Senator McCain picked up the ball this time to object to Ron Paul's foreign policy positions basically comparing him to those who appeased Adolf Hitler. Paul fired back that McCain did not know the difference between non-interventionism and isolationism. They also sparred over Vietnam and McCain took full advantage by saying it was public opinion that lost the war in Vietnam. You could tell that Ron Paul was a little more prepared in this debate because the smattering of boos as he was taking his usual position on the war in Iraq was not as loud. In fact there were quite a few cheers out there for Congressman Paul.

The exchange was quite interesting because McCain said the troops told him "to just let them win" basically implying that Dr. Paul was some sort of defeatist. Paul retorted him by saying he had the most financial support from active duty military personnel in the race. I think both candidates gained from this exchange because it helps McCain keep a foot hold on much of the hawkish base of the Republican Party. Ron Paul on the other hand continues to appeal to that maverick, non-conventional voter by continuing to get his message out.

This would not be the only time when McCain would get into an interesting back and forth. His tussle with Mitt Romney over the issue of water boarding probably helped Romney with primary voters by Romney basically saying he would leave all options on the table while detaining prisoners. McCain on the other hand was reaching back to his past as a prisoner of war to speak to a broader audience by asking Romney if he was not opposed to water boarding, should we remain in the Geneva Conventions.

Tom Tancredo basically seems content that he has put the issue of illegal immigration on the table as a major issue. He otherwise generally stayed out of the fray, giving his consistent answers in opposition to government programs like NASA. On the note of government programs I found the question about farm subsidies interesting where Governor Romney said he was in support of them, but minutes later claimed we needed to change the way Washington fundamentally worked.

This to me was an area where other candidates could have seized, but generally let Romney go on that one. Rudy Giuliani appeared to finally get his positions on gun issues noticed. Once the crowd found out that he had some support for things like background checks before purchasing a firearm the Florida activists in the crowd were not pleased. Of the frontrunners it appears that Thompson and Huckabee would have the most to gain from this due to people like McCain and Romney openly admitting that they don't own a firearm. As far as the rest of the ads go for the candidates that were put together many of them seemed to have a theme of going after Hillary Clinton which is of course a big hit with GOP voters.

As far as the overall projection of where this debate leaves the candidates I think no one drastically hurt themselves tonight. A few people seemed a little evasive on their answers however. If I were to pick a winner I guess it would have to be Mike Huckabee. He seemed to offer some of the best one liners as usual about finally being a frontrunner and others. The real kicker though I think was the one about sending Hillary to Mars which is a wonderful way to get the audience going.

The questions were enjoyable. You had a father-son combo ask a question about inner city violence. There was a gentleman who asked where Jesus would stand on the death penalty. Huckabee again stole the show by saying that Jesus was smart enough not to run for public office. One gentleman wrote a catchy tune that wasn't so flattering to all the candidates as another way of introducing them all. Another question that caught my eye was one that seemed to be in support of illegal immigration saying they needed some sort of guest worker program in order to keep their business going. Tom Tancredo of Colorado of course swatted this premise down quickly. Anderson Cooper, the moderator did a good job in my view except for controlling the crowd noise in my view. I like a calm crowd so we can hear more of the candidate's answers.

Sources:

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2007/11/27/fredsgiving_turns_out_to_be_a_turkey/7868/

http://www.gohunter08.com/media.asp

Derrick Jones. NRLC Public Relations. Largest National Right To Life Group Endorses Fred Thompson (Adobe press release no actual link)

www.nrlc.com

Associated Press. AP staff."Giuliani says gun control helped reduce N.Y. Crime"

http://www3.whdh.com/news/articles/national/BO42897