Thursday, November 21, 2024
Voting and caucuses today throughout 10 states could lead to a much clearer picture of the Republican presidential nominee, or not.
Will Mitt Romney break through to be called the eventual nominee, or not?
So many questions, maybe some answers when Super Tuesday is over.
The key states to watch today are Ohio, Georgia, Tennessee and Oklahoma. Additionally, voter turnout must be watched as Republican presidential primary voters so far have been about 10 percent fewer than in 2008.
If Newt Gingrich should go on to claim the Republican presidential nomination, he will fondly remember Myrtle Beach as the place his success began.
Coming into the Myrtle Beach presidential debate last Monday, Gingrich had suffered two significant defeats at the hands of Iowa and New Hampshire voters and learned that opponent Rich Santorum received the endorsement of a group of 170 social conservative evangelical leaders.
However, Gingrich parlayed two strong debate performances and a week’s worth of sound bites into a convincing victory from South Carolina conservatives Saturday, defeating closest rival Mitt Romney by a 40 percent to 28 percent margin. Santorum came in third at 17 percent with Ron Paul claiming 13 percent.
The final debate before the First in the South Republican Presidential Primary last night provided plenty of fireworks as the four remaining candidates, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul, tried to separate themselves from the others in the minds of voters. However, it was the issue of Gingrich’s character that provided the most fireworks and leaves the most questions.
The exit of Rick Perry yesterday morning makes these candidates the final four of the contest. You could tell the tension level was higher and the candidates showed a clear willingness to mix it up on stage trying to elevate themselves in the eyes of the voters. There was an attitude that the man who scored the most verbal jabs last night was demonstrating his readiness and ability to take on Barack Obama in the fall. It was difficult to determine who landed the most verbal punches, but it was Gingrich who was on the receiving end of the heaviest blows.
South Carolina has been tough on marginal Republican presidential candidates. Jon Huntsman left the race before Monday’s debate in Myrtle Beach and Rick Perry has reportedly told supporters he will leave the race today.
There are reports, unconfirmed, that there is behind the scenes maneuvering to reduce the number of social conservative candidates to one so that branch of the party can coalesce around one candidate in a stop Romney attempt.
That’s a shame because I rather liked Perry’s debate one-liners Monday and was looking forward to more from the CNN debate in Charleston tonight.
Watching a presidential candidate debate is a subjective experience leaving impressions that strike each viewer differently. Each question was not asked of every candidate, so responses were not comparable on every question.
Below are my impressions of the candidates, their positions on some issues that stood out and their performance as it struck me during the Fox News debate at Myrtle Beach Monday night. I’m sure you will disagree with some, maybe agree at times and hopefully found out more about the candidates along the way.
My initial impression is Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry received the most applause and gave the clearest, most direct answers. Mitt Romney spent much of the evening defending himself against various attacks, often receiving only lukewarm applause. Rick Santorum often gave too technically involved, almost convoluted answers. Ron Paul sometimes struggled to get his points across.
After finishing in second place by an eyelash to Mitt Romney in the Iowa caucuses, Rick Santorum told his supporters “game on.”
The game became much more interesting yesterday when Santorum received the endorsement of 170 socially conservative Christian leaders representing various politically active organizations and financiers at a meeting in Houston.
Each candidate, with the exception of Jon Huntsman, had a representative who addressed the group. Three rounds of voting followed the speeches.
The first round saw Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry receive what was described as measurable support. Romney drew very little support.
In the closest voting in Iowa Caucus history, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum finished in a virtual dead heat last night. Romney polled 30,015 votes to Santorum’s 30,007, or 25 percent of the vote each.
Ron Paul took third place with 21 percent of the vote. Newt Gingrich limped out of Iowa in fourth place with 13 percent after leading the polls just two weeks ago.
Rick Perry polled just 10 percent for a fifth place finish and may be on the way out of the race for the nomination. Perry told his supporters he was returning to Texas to “reassess” his campaign rather than moving directly to South Carolina as had been planned.
Michelle Bachmann polled five percent of the vote and Jon Huntsman polled just under one percent.
Speak Up…