Sunday, January 06, 2008
Republican Debate Impressions- McCain, Huckabee, Romney
Republican New Hampshire ABC debate- The roundtable format was nicely done, and fostered a lot of interesting interaction. It also has the semi-subliminal side effect of showing who can take charge of a conversation and how they do it.
McCain did ok. New Hampshire is his to lose, and the didn't seem to lose a lot of ground in this debate. He didn't gain any, but he didn't really need to. He did, as he always has, tend to go a half-step too far in his barbs and comments. That always creates the paradoxical impression that he's both forcing the barb and at the same time holding back from being a whole lot nastier. People are used to that from him by now though, so no real harm.
Huckabee seemed the best prepped by far. He was playing a good tactical game, attacking when he should, sitting back when it was best to let others hang themselves. He also had the best phraseology, again clearly rehearsed and planned, but to his benefit. I don't know that he gained a lot of ground, but probably did make a little progress. Needed to really shine, just came across as competent.
Romney needed the biggest win, and honestly came up a bit short. His reaction to the attacks was probably too restrained. There were a couple of points when you could see the anger flash across his face, but he quickly buried it. That's too much of the corporate diplomat coming through. More than anything, it's this sort of thing that causes people to label him as fake and phony. It's not, not really, but people associate the behavior with fake executives, and he loses credibility by association. He needs to let that go a bit more, get riled now and again. On the plus side, he does really well when he can slide into wonk mode. Voters tune that out, for the most part, but he certainly creates the impression that he loves the details of policy. An admirable trait, but it won't win fans, sadly.
Overall, this debate leaves the status quo intact. Nothing new here.
McCain did ok. New Hampshire is his to lose, and the didn't seem to lose a lot of ground in this debate. He didn't gain any, but he didn't really need to. He did, as he always has, tend to go a half-step too far in his barbs and comments. That always creates the paradoxical impression that he's both forcing the barb and at the same time holding back from being a whole lot nastier. People are used to that from him by now though, so no real harm.
Huckabee seemed the best prepped by far. He was playing a good tactical game, attacking when he should, sitting back when it was best to let others hang themselves. He also had the best phraseology, again clearly rehearsed and planned, but to his benefit. I don't know that he gained a lot of ground, but probably did make a little progress. Needed to really shine, just came across as competent.
Romney needed the biggest win, and honestly came up a bit short. His reaction to the attacks was probably too restrained. There were a couple of points when you could see the anger flash across his face, but he quickly buried it. That's too much of the corporate diplomat coming through. More than anything, it's this sort of thing that causes people to label him as fake and phony. It's not, not really, but people associate the behavior with fake executives, and he loses credibility by association. He needs to let that go a bit more, get riled now and again. On the plus side, he does really well when he can slide into wonk mode. Voters tune that out, for the most part, but he certainly creates the impression that he loves the details of policy. An admirable trait, but it won't win fans, sadly.
Overall, this debate leaves the status quo intact. Nothing new here.
# posted @ 2:17 AM 
