It's tonight. Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Fred Thompson still has not declared he will run, but he is the only legit candidate that is missing.

It's tonight. Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Fred Thompson still has not declared he will run, but he is the only legit candidate that is missing period.

Fixed.

 

I think the candidate who will get the most boost from this will be Romney for sure.

The list of candidates from the Republican side are so,so much stronger compared to the Democrats. I see no way the Republicans can lose in 2008.

Sans Fred Thompson, I see no one that would beat Obama if he wins the nomination.

MSNBC hosting these 2 debates this far ahead of the elections is incredible. Talk about the media hype. :lol

 

Nothing like American Politics....I love it...but it is so early!

 

The Debate will air live on MSNBC, select radio stations nationwide, streamed on MSNBC.com/Politico.com, and on XM 132 via C-SPAN Radio.

 

CNN is getting its debates setup in New Hampshire. Fox News has a GOP debate scheduled, but the Fox News Democratic Debate was killed by the Nevada Democratic Party.

The list of candidates from the Republican side are so,so much stronger compared to the Democrats. I see no way the Republicans can lose in 2008.

 

What is amazing about your post is that the Republican Party wouldn't even agree with you as they are desperately looking for anyone else other than the sorry sack of candidates they've got now. And don't give me "Rudy" because he will barely survive a Republican primary because he does not appeal to the Primary voter in the South and Midwest.

Sans Fred Thompson, I see no one that would beat Obama if he wins the nomination.

 

Obama is a flash in the pan who once everyone realizes is a product of media hype and actually has no values and nothing to stand on will fade away quickly.

 

Maybe it is just my opinion only, but Giuliani,Thompson and McCain are all much stronger candidates than Hilary(god help us if she wins) and Obama(ugh).

The list of candidates from the Republican side are so,so much stronger compared to the Democrats. I see no way the Republicans can lose in 2008.

 

What is amazing about your post is that the Republican Party wouldn't even agree with you as they are desperately looking for anyone else other than the sorry sack of candidates they've got now. And don't give me "Rudy" because he will barely survive a Republican primary because he does not appeal to the Primary voter in the South and Midwest.

That's what I was going to say. The evangelicals are still looking for a social conservative in the group, which doesn't exist yet.

Sans Fred Thompson, I see no one that would beat Obama if he wins the nomination.

 

Obama is a flash in the pan who once everyone realizes is a product of media hype and actually has no values and nothing to stand on will fade away quickly.

 

Maybe it is just my opinion only, but Giuliani,Thompson and McCain are all much stronger candidates than Hilary(god help us if she wins) and Obama(ugh).

I definitely agree that Obama is a flash in the pan but with the right VP and getting the nomination, I think he will be hard to beat.

 

Hillary has no chance in hell. None.

 

I'd be more excited about this (heh) if Fred Thompson was in it, but I'll be watching it with the Sox game on the computer for sure. I agree with Cape that this is way too early for anything meaningful to come with it but if Romney is just decent he will get a boost because he is by far the best speaker of the bunch and the one with the most to gain from more exposure.

 

Also, lol @ the Libs commenting on a Republican candidate debate.

Romney is behind a man in the polls who isn't even officially running yet. That's never a good sign.

Like I said, he will get a boost because he has the most to gain from more exposure in this format. The national polls are useless right now because its more name recoginition then anything.

 

As for that man he trails in the polls who isn't officially running yet, if I was a democrat, I'd be throwing pennies in to wells, blowing out birthday candles, and permanently crossing my fingers that Fred Thompson doesn't put his name in the ring.

Obama will still beat Fred Thompson. As long as he has a decent VP candidate, he will be able to beat any potential GOP candidate, IMO.

 

Thompson is likely going to gain ground after this debate, I would imagine. I'm sure guys like Tommy Thompson and Tom Tancredo will be non-entities after this debate.

The list of candidates from the Republican side are so,so much stronger compared to the Democrats. I see no way the Republicans can lose in 2008.

 

I think you're dreaming. Not that the Republicans will lose necessarily, but "so much stronger"?? Uh, no.

Ron Paul.

Ron Paul.

+1.

But these debates aren't really his best format for the most part, because it's tough to get into constitutional specifics on a 30- or 60-second bit of speech time and for the most part none of the other guys want to talk about principles in that way. Plus some of the questions he could have teed off on never went to him.

 

I'm thinking of two off the top of my head...the one(s) on corruption, he would have said that naturally, an expansion of the role of the federal government leads to people trying to game the system to get preferential treatment. By sharply reducing the size of government, and allowing it to operate only within a specific legal framework, you reduce its influence and importance, and it would be utterly worthless for people to wave fistfuls of money at legislators and the like.

 

The one about single mothers in prison (or something like that), many of the people named in the question are nonviolent drug offenders who have done nothing to violate the natural rights of another person and have no business being in jail.

who the hell are these people?

 

i knew almost all of the dem candidates, but i had no clue most of these repub candidates were even considering a run for president.

I think the candidate who will get the most boost from this will be Romney for sure.

Romney is dominating a poll on Drudge (80k+ votes) on who did the best in the debate (36% to Giuliani's 20% to Ron Paul's 16% [McCain a distant 4th with 6%]). While it isn't scientific, it still definitely shows what I told you all. The more TV and his face gets put with his name, the higher up Romney will climb.

I'm hoping Paul gets a boost from the debates. While he has no chance, it'd be nice for the party to shift back that way.

McCain is going to end up being the GOP's Howard Dean in this election.

Romney probably won. I am a Democrat but I came away thinking I could vote for Giuliani and McCain.

 

I automatically disregarded any of the candidates that raised their hands when asked who didn't believe in evolution.

 

Talk about a bunch of morons.

If it's Thompson and Obama, it could be a great election for this country. Both of those guys seem to be much more about effective and well run government than they are about political influence and politics as usual. But at the same time, it would be a core election about extremely contrasting ideas and viewpoints. A lot of people complain about not having good choices or not having contrasting choices. THat would be such an election.

 

I agree with Fox. Thompson is the one guy I don't want to win. I think they can take out Romney. He reminds me of a Republican Kerry. McCain could be out of it sooner than people think. Guliani could steal a ton of independants and dems but I just can't see him coming out of the primary.

 

As far as who is going to be a winning candidate, etc, there really is no basis at all to say Republicans have the better candidates. That's conclusary and without any backup. Neither Thompson, nor Obama, nor Romney, nor others have really had a chance to let the public know who they are. They are relatively unknown.

 

In terms of objective data, the dems have the advantage right now. Unpopular incumbent, cyclical nature of presidential elections, Iraq, shift in party affiliation, independants favoring dems heavily, lack of a motivated base for the republicans, dems being extremely antsy for the white house. Does this mean they will win? Absolutely not. But at least it's more substanative than "we have the better guys." I think it always has and always will boil down to the person running for office, their charisma, and their vision. If we get another career politician, dems could lose depending on who the republican is.

 

As far as Obama being a flash in the pan, we will see. I've never heard of a flash in the pan that gets as many people at rallys as he does. He is extremely smart and charismatic. America has shown an amazing willingness to put charisma and vision ahead of experience. I really do think he is going to be for dems what Reagan was for reps. Someone who makes you proud to vote dem.

I totally agree with what you said. Very well put.

 

As for saying he is a flash in the pan, probably not the correct idiom to use in this situation but what I more or less meant is that Obama is more flash than substance, which will not hurt him in an election but for my politics would make him a nightmare in office.

 

That said, as an American, orator, black man, etc. I have great respect for Obama.

I totally agree with what you said. Very well put.

 

As for saying he is a flash in the pan, probably not the correct idiom to use in this situation but what I more or less meant is that Obama is more flash than substance, which will not hurt him in an election but for my politics would make him a nightmare in office.

 

That said, as an American, orator, black man, etc. I have great respect for Obama.

 

I agree. Obama has to do a much better job putting forth substance and plans. But I think he is smart enough to do that. He is someone who is into improving communities, making changes, and having some effect in the world. Unlike people like Hillary, he hasn't always wanted to be president since he was age 7. Therefore I think he is someone who actually cares rather than someone who makes it look like he cares so that he can reach his ambitions. This presidency thing is something that just kind of fell in his lap. Hopefully all the pomp and circumstance doesn't get to him.

 

I think the same can be said about Thompson. He ran for office for office because he wanted to change things and he left because he was annoyed with the politicians, at least from what I can remember.

I automatically disregarded any of the candidates that raised their hands when asked who didn't believe in evolution.

 

Talk about a bunch of morons.

 

 

Agreed. BTW, the three were Senator Brownback,Gov. Huckabee, and Rep. Tom Tancredo. Three who have zero chance.

I totally agree with what you said. Very well put.

 

As for saying he is a flash in the pan, probably not the correct idiom to use in this situation but what I more or less meant is that Obama is more flash than substance, which will not hurt him in an election but for my politics would make him a nightmare in office.

 

That said, as an American, orator, black man, etc. I have great respect for Obama.

 

I agree. Obama has to do a much better job putting forth substance and plans. But I think he is smart enough to do that. He is someone who is into improving communities, making changes, and having some effect in the world. Unlike people like Hillary, he hasn't always wanted to be president since he was age 7. Therefore I think he is someone who actually cares rather than someone who makes it look like he cares so that he can reach his ambitions. This presidency thing is something that just kind of fell in his lap. Hopefully all the pomp and circumstance doesn't get to him.

 

I think the same can be said about Thompson. He ran for office for office because he wanted to change things and he left because he was annoyed with the politicians, at least from what I can remember.Actually, most of the reason Thompson didn't run for reelection is because of the death of his daughter but he definitely is not some career politician and I know he supports term limits (which is something I've wanted for a long time) as well. The reason he wanted to run again, was because of September 11 and he didn't think he should abandon his post at a time like that but the unfortunate death changed that.

 

See this is why I agree with what you said about Obama v. Thompson would be great for the country because I can tell from reading what you have written that you care a lot and have a lot of passion about Obama's candidacy just as I do about Thompson. Like I said before, I'm only going to be 24 when this election occurs and it will be only my 2nd presidential election where I can vote but I will never have cared more about a candidate winning then I do about Fred Dalton Thompson.