Last night’s Republican presidential debate took place in front of a crowd of about 1,000 Tea Party activists at the Florida State Fairgrounds. Cable network CNN co-hosted the debate and provided the moderator, Wolf Blitzer. In many ways, the debate had a similar outcome to the September 7th Republican presidential debate held in California at the Ronald Reagan Library. Former Governor Rick Perry continued to be a so-called “punching bag” for the other seven candidates. Both Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann and Representative Ron Paul to jabs at the former Texas Governor for reasons including vaccination mandates and raising taxes, respectively. As a result of there being eight opinionated people on stage, each candidate fought hard to get the attention of the public by making strong statements and insulting their fellow presidential hopefuls. At many times, the debate seemed less presidential because of the constant berating from candidates and cheers from the audience.
The candidates that summoned the most attention from last night’s debate are no surprise. Just as they did during the September 7th debate, Perry and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney commanded the stage as they tried to one-up each other while simultaneously insulting each other’s political ideals and accomplishments. Governor Perry is seen as the front runner of the race which is primarily the reason for the attacks from all candidates. However, Perry’s recent remarks towards the Head of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke and the government program Social Security were other reasons for the attacks. In previous statements Perry insinuated that the actions of Bernanke were “treasonous” and compared Social Security to a “Ponzi scheme”. These types of statements are just what Governor Romney and Congresswoman Bachmann hope for. At this point in the race as eight people are competing for one position, each candidate must find ways to outshine each other and slow down the front runner.
The candidate that stole attention away from the dueling duo of Romney and Perry was Congresswoman Bachmann, although she did not give the former Texas governor a rest. The representative from Minnesota took her time to criticize Perry’s 2007 executive order for Texan girls entering the sixth grade to receive a vaccine against the human papilloma virus. This virus, in turn, causes a sexually transmitted disease that is linked to cervical cancer. Bachmann accused Perry of passing the executive order as a favor to the drug company that makes the vaccine which in turn donated up to $30,000 to the governor. Congresswoman Bachmann did not stop there. She also challenged Perry’s stance on immigration as she criticized his decision to allow children of illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at public Texas universities. Bachmann will continue to struggle gaining a fan base beyond the Tea Party as she is the founder of the Tea Party Caucus in the House of Representatives. For now, she must rely on bringing down the front runner, Perry.
Overall, the Tea Party Debate did not surprise many in terms of its outcome. Candidates like former Senator Rick Santorum, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, former Governor John Huntsman, Representative Ron Paul, and business executive Herman Cain each struggled to stand out. However, they attempted to fire their own zingers against the star candidates like Romney and Perry. At this point in the race each candidate must try and stand out among the rest and take advantages of opportunities like this debate. So who was the winner? Many may claim Bachmann, for coming, out gloves swinging, against Perry. I believe she is the winner plainly because she was feeding to the audience of Tea Party activists in which she shares many ideals. As we get closer and closer to the primaries I hope that the candidates will focus more on their own plans as President and less on insulting one another. Although by then, the race to the white house will be much less entertaining.
Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/13/us/politics/13debate.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=politics
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/09/13/bachmann.perry.debate/index.html?hpt=hp_c1
ttp://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/09/more-swings-at-the-perry-piata-the-note/
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