Like A Heavyweight Boxing Match...
Posted: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 9:00 PM by Chuck Todd
From NBC's Chuck ToddIt's hard to pick a winner of this debate because the debate itself will be, as my colleague Ron Allen said to me earlier, "inconsequential." This debate had all the trappings of a heavyweight boxing title fight: Incredible hype followed by an incredible letdown. The pre-fight back-n-forth between Romney and McCain seemed to foretell what was going to be a great battle between the two Republicans chasing Giuliani. Alas, those of us in the media hoping to dissect a good verbal tussle between the two were disappointed.
If this debate is remembered at all, it will be for being the last debate NOT to include the 6'5" elephant in the room... Fred Thompson -- a person who the candidates seem to be worrying about more than any of us realized tonight.
Ok, personal disappointment in the lack of engagement aside, here are my quick thoughts:
-- McCain was the news. It felt as if the first 45 minutes of the debate was all about McCain. From Iraq to immigration, the candidates essentially were point-counterpointing with McCain. So if owning the subject matter of the debate qualifies as winning, then declare McCain the winner. But there was something about his body language tonight that didn't come across as the optimistic Republican he claims to be. There was a dourness to him at some points. His emotive high point was when he led the way in standing up during the town hall portion of the debate and showed incredible Clintonesque empathy toward the woman who lost a relative in Iraq. Overall, it was a competent performance but was it enough to give him an extra spark that his campaign seems to need? It certainly was a "presidential" performance but right now one senses the GOP is looking for savior, not a president.
-- Rudy Giuliani was solid but he still hasn't been challenged yet. McCain tried to draw him out during the immigration exchange and Rudy did a pretty good job of fighting off the criticism without creating a moment for either himself or McCain. But it was the only time he was challenged. Still, one can sense that Giuliani is now a comfortable Republican, particularly on economic issues.
-- Mitt Romney seemed less involved in this debate than in previous broadcasts. It's possible that Romney, like the other two frontrunners, was more concerned about giving Fred Thompson an opening. The defense of running TV ads in Spanish had the "some of my best friends are Hispanics" quality to it. That's not a good thing.
-- The candidate who performed best, frankly, was Mike Huckabee. He showed that his experience as a preacher man is vital in the television age. That said, Huckabee doesn't have national security credentials and if you look carefully at what he says in these debates, it's glaring. No one notices right now because no one views him as a serious threat even while acknowledging how good he is on stage. Still, his response to Wolf on evolution was the 60-second monologue of the night; even McCain acknowledged its excellence.
-- As for the rest of the field: Tommy Thompson had some surprisingly coherent moments and probably guaranteed he'd get into the media reviews of this debate because of what he said about Fred Thompson and his veiled diplomacy shot at Pres. Bush; Tancredo is getting better, he ought to think about running for statewide office; Gilmore, Paul, Brownback and Hunter were more invisible this time than in debates past.
