Grading the GOP Debate: Why Romney Won Tuesday

Candidate grades are based on both performance and success in using the debate to improve their standing in the nomination contest.

Romney

Style: Rose above the fray on jobs and the economy, while Cain took heat for his 9-9-9 plan. Sought to play the adult, although Perry goaded him into noisy squabbles and went further than necessary in playing defense, taking some personal shots.

Substance: Displayed a cutting recall and delivery of detailed opposition research on his opponents — notable in such a setting.

His worst moment: Lost his cool fending off Perry on immigration and seemed shrill when asserting it was his turn.

His best moment: Showed the eye of the tiger in fighting off Santorum’s attempts to question his commitment to repealing ObamaCare.

The main thing: A strong voice on Mormonism, health care, immigration and the economy. Revealed chinks when assailed, likely emboldening Perry for future conflict. Still, no soundbite-ready moment of weakness coming out of Vegas and that means another win for the frontrunner.

Grade:  A-
_____________________

Cain

Style: Stronger and more confident than in past debates. Did small things well — cleverly gave out his website address in the guise of educating the public.

Substance: In command of the broad facts on health care and taxes, but weaker on foreign aid and terrorism.

His worst moment: Missed a chance to connect with middle and working class voters when responsding to a question about Occupy Wall Street protesters.

His best moment: Withstood early, intense gang-up on his tax plan, without changing his pleasing demeanor.

The main thing: Did very little attacking and a good job defending (although he overused his apples and oranges metaphor). Disappeared after the opening round but showed sufficient momentum throughout. Still too lightweight for the Chattering Class, but whatever has propelled Cain upward, upward, upward will almost certainly continue after this strong performance.

Grade:  B+
_____________________

Perry

Style: His head was in a much better place than in previous debates, allowing him to show off some natural Texas charm. But going negative on Romney (including insistently bringing up the old controversy of illegal immigrants working on Romney’s lawn) reduced the likeability quotient substantially.

Substance: Didn’t drill down below the bullet points on his economic plan or take command of the issue.

His worst moment: Tried to challenge Romney on immigration, but lost his focus and thrust in the heated interchange.

His best moment: When slamming Obama’s energy policy, reminded viewers that the party is looking for the candidate who can most effectively make the case against the incumbent — and Perry demonstrated he has that capacity.

The main thing: More focused and energized this time around. Far from a perfect performance, but he engineered moments of titan-versus-titan conflict with Romney to build on in future debates. That, along with big budget TV advertising, remains his path back to the front of the pack.

Grade:  B+
_____________________

Bachmann

Style: Forceful and passionate on every answer.

Substance: Showed off her knowledge of tax policy.

Her worst moment: Just when the Romney health care pile-on was heating up, she interrupted to take the conversation in a different direction.

Her best moment: Deft touch in knocking Cain’s 9-9-9 tax plan.

The main thing: Her best debate since the June New Hampshire face-off that made her the hottest candidate in the race for a time. Still not selling her own economic plan or claiming a signature issue, but carried a strong anti-Obama critique throughout.

Grade:  B
_____________________

Gingrich

Style: Cool and poised, he displayed assurance rather than anger.

Substance: Informed on every topic, but neglected to drive a positive message of his own.

His worst moment: Got schooled by Romney, who forced him to admit he once supported an individual mandate for health insurance.

His best moment: His appeal to Hispanic voters was passionate and clear, and the audience seemed intrigued by the notion of an epic Gingrich-Obama debate.

The main thing: Played the elder statesman well and was engaging, but didn’t leap over Romney or Cain.

Grade:  B
_____________________

Paul

Style: Struck a good balance between genial and serious.

Substance: Still has trouble bringing his policy oratory down from 30,000 feet to, say, 15,000 feet, so people can understand how it impacts their lives.

His worst moment: Nearly incoherent on Occupy Wall Street and bailouts, a topic that should have been in his wheelhouse.

His best moment: Struck a huge audience chord with his call to bring the troops home from Afghanistan.

The main thing: Overall, more accessible and clear than in previous debates. But still no breakthrough performance to expand his reach.

Grade:  B-
_____________________

Santorum

Style: Had flashes of his usual forensic skills, but at times veered towards fraught.

Substance: Still focused more on rhetoric and criticism than concrete policies; asserts he has an economic plan, but doesn’t sell it with specifics.

His worst moment: Given an early chance to take on Cain and 9-9-9, he didn’t puncture his rival one bit.

His best moment: None stand out.

The main thing: Not as polished and distinct as in past sessions. Energetic on the attack, but had plenty of company this time and got marginalized.

Grade:  C

Will Evangelicals Doom Mitt Romney?

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at Microsoft headquarters on Oct. 13, 2011, in Redmond, Washington.

Mitt Romney 2.0 is an impressive candidate. While other Republicans have moved up and down in the polls, he has held the position of frontrunner for most of the past year and a half. Compared with the last presidential race, he’s looser and more sure of himself. Heck, during the Tuesday’s debate in New Hampshire, Romney was feeling confident enough to crack a joke at the expense of Charlie Rose. And it was funny! The former governor may not inspire passion in voters, but he exudes competence, which may be the more valuable trait in this election when the economy is faltering and Obama is so weak.

Yet, for all his strengths, Romney can’t seem to broaden his appeal beyond a quarter of the Republican electorate. Despite his commanding debate performances and general election promise, his support in primary polls has rarely surpassed 26%, which is close to where he peaked in 2008. He does not pick up new backers when support for opponents like Rick Perry or Michele Bachmann fades. So, what’s going on?

It’s the evangelicals, stupid.

Religious conservatives have always harbored suspicions about where Mitt Romney’s true feelings lie on social issues after he ran to the left in Massachusetts, then far to the right in 2008, and now seems to be settling somewhere closer to center-right. The bigger problem for Romney is that this ideological and characterological problem is overlaid on a theological one. As we were reminded by an unusually public statement by Pastor Robert Jeffress at the recent Values Voters Summit, many evangelical and fundamentalist Christians do not consider Mormons to be Christians.

That belief can influence the way evangelicals vote. Most Americans (68%) say a Mormon candidate’s faith makes no difference to them. But in a Pew Research survey last spring, 31% of evangelical Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said they would be less likely to vote for a Mormon. Only 15% of non-evangelical Republicans felt the same way. Those numbers are unchanged from 2007, when Romney first ran for the GOP nomination.

Evangelical aversion to Mormons wouldn’t be such a problem for Romney if he could build a winning coalition without them. But historically, that’s been hard to do in GOP primaries. Sixty percent of voters in the Iowa caucuses and the South Carolina primary in 2008 were evangelicals. And Tea Party supporters, who are among the most energized in this campaign season, overwhelmingly identify themselves as “Christian conservatives.”

In 2009, religion researchers John Green and Mark Silk ran a simulation to predict how Romney would have performed in the 2008 primaries if evangelicals had simply voted the same way as other Republicans. The result of their simulation? Romney would have won across the South, including the key state of Florida, and he would have even taken Iowa. In other words, he would have been the nominee.

Romney’s shifting ideological profile hasn’t done much to allay evangelical concerns about Mormonism. As Green and Silk put it in their analysis, “Just as people who change positions are deemed untrustworthy because they claim to be something they’re not, so, in evangelical eyes, Mormons claim to be something they’re not; namely, Christians.” In December 2007, Romney gave a speech in Texas intended to put to rest questions about his faith. But his remarks, which mentioned his belief in Jesus Christ and emphasized the parts of his faith that conform with mainstream Christianity, only made things worse for those evangelical Christians who believed he was just being slippery.

A poll conducted earlier this month by the Barna Group underscored evangelical skepticism about Romney’s character. Pollsters asked Americans to rate Obama, Romney and Perry on character traits like leadership, honesty, intelligence and philosophy of government. Perhaps unsurprisingly, evangelicals rated Perry highest in all categories. But they also rated Obama higher than Romney in every category except for leadership.

Even so, Romney and evangelicals are not irreconcilable. A new TIME poll shows him outperforming Perry with that group in a general election matchup against President Obama. Bryan Fischer, an outspoken critic of Mormonism who spoke at the Values Voters Summit, told reporters afterward that “If the choice was between Barack Obama and the other guy, I’d vote for the other guy.” And in a Bloggingheads conversation last month, Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention told me that evangelicals are fired-up to remove Obama from the White House. “I have never seen the grassroots of evangelicalism and conservative Catholicism more energized than they are right now,” Land said. “I’ve heard on more than one occasion, pastors say to me, Richard, this is the most important election in America since 1860.”

If Romney can win the Republican primary, most evangelical Christians will vote for him in the general election. But he’s not the nominee yet, and both his opponents and conservative evangelical activists intend to do everything in their power to stop him. After all, they’ve done it before.

Amy Sullivan is a contributing writer at TIME, and author of the book The Party Faithful: How and Why Democrats are Closing the God Gap (Scribner, 2008). Articles of Faith, her column on the intersection of religion and politics, appears on TIME.com every Friday.

Inside the Numbers: Why Romney Would Outperform Perry Against Obama

Inside the Numbers: Why Romney Outperforms Perry Against Obama | Swampland | TIME.com /* */ Home TIME Magazine Photos Videos Specials Topics Subscribe Mobile AppsNewslettersRSS @TIME NewsFeed U.S. Politics World Business Money Tech Health Science Entertainment Opinion SEARCH TIME.COM Full Archive Covers Videos 2012 ElectionDebatesDemocratic PartyPollsRepublican PartyMichele BachmannMitt RomneyRick PerryWhite HouseBarack ObamaJoe BidenCongressBudgetsHouseSenateLobbyingJohn BoehnerMitch McConnellNancy PelosiHarry ReidDomestic PolicyAbortionAgricultureDebtEconomyEducationHealth CareHousingForeign PolicyAfghanistanChinaDiplomacyHillary ClintonIranIraqPhotosSpecialsVideos PollsInside the Numbers: Why Romney Outperforms Perry Against ObamaBy Alex Altman | @aaltman82 | October 14, 2011 | View CommentsTweetTristan Spinski / CorbisRepublican presidential candidates Rick Perry, left, and Mitt Romney, applaud during the Fox News/Google GOP Debate in Orlando, Fla., Sept. 22, 2011.

After weeks of shaky debates and swirling questions about his record in Texas, it’s no surprise that Rick Perry is running behind Mitt Romney in head-to-head general election matchups against Barack Obama. Perry lags 12 points behind Obama, 50% to 38%, in TIME’s new poll, while Romney trails the President by a 46% to 43% margin, within the margin of error in most polls. Thirteen months before the election, the utility of horserace figures is limited. Still, the poll captures a useful snapshot how Perry’s support has softened even among the conservative blocs that seemed poised to rally behind his candidacy.

There are two areas in particular that should give immediate pause to Republicans looking ahead to a general-election tussle. For one, Romney is far better position to vie for the independent voters who help swing tight battles. He leads Obama among self-identified independent likely voters, 45% to 42%. Obama, by contrast, has a 47% to 39% edge over Perry in the fight for the same group.

The second area where the former Massachusetts governor boasts an edge is in the Midwest, home to an industrial corridor where the shrinking manufacturing base and sluggish recovery has dragged down Obama’s support. The ability to retake states like Ohio and Indiana would be a critical boost to the Republican nominee’s prospects, and Romney, who hails from Michigan — the state his father ran for a stretch — is in better position right now to accomplish that feat. Romney leads Obama in the Midwest by seven points, 46% to 39%. Perry trails the President in the region by the same margin.

But Perry’s most alarming area of under-performance is among evangelicals, a conservative faction squarely in Perry’s wheelhouse. This is a governor whose revival rally filled a Houston football stadium, who courts conservative bigwigs in language that reveals a Biblical fluency. Less than a week ago, a Perry supporter sparked a kerfuffle by suggesting that Romney, a Mormon, would not appeal to Evangelicals on the hunt for a true Christian candidate rather than an adherent to a “cult.” And yet in TIME’s poll, Romney outperforms Perry among Evangelicals, leading Obama 51% to 39%. Perry leads Obama among Evangelicals as well, but by a slimmer 46% to 40% margin. That head-to-head deficit in a prime Perry demographic may underscore the degree to which his faltering performance has sowed doubts among potential supporters.

The poll, conducted for TIME by Abt SRBI, surveyed 1,001 voters on Oct. 9-10.

Related Topics: 2012, evangelicals, gop, independents, midwest, mitt romney, rick perry, Polls
emailprintshareLinkedInStumbleUponRedditDiggMixxDel.i.ciousWriteView Comments@TIMEPoliticsLatest on SwamplandMust Reads | October 14, 2011Morning Must Reads: BurdenBoehner orders up infrastructure, aviation and trade bills. Het gets prickly with Obama on jobs.The White House weighs a plan to woo private firms into a bigger role in housing finance.Romney continues Sino saber-rattling on trade.From our PartnersJimmy Carter: 'I'm Optimistic' Obama Will Win 2012Huffington PostFive Questions for President ObamaPoliticoMichele Bachmann: Rick Perry Rewarded Donors With State MoneyHuffington PostArticles of Faith | October 14, 2011Will Evangelicals Doom Romney?

Mitt Romney can’t seem to broaden his appeal beyond a quarter of the Republican electorate. Despite his commanding debate performances and general election promise, his support in primary polls has rarely surpassed 26%, which is close to where he peaked in 2008. He does not pick up new backers when support for opponents like Rick Perry or Michele Bachmann fades. What’s going on? It’s the evangelicals, stupid.

previousWill Evangelicals Doom Romney?nextMorning Must Reads: Burdenblog comments powered by Disqus The Page Updated 3 hours agoPerry Plays DodgeballPerry Doubts Cain Can WinNYC official: Protest cleanup is being postponedFri. Candidate ScheduleON THE SUNDAY SHOWS More on TIME.comWall Street: Photos from the ProtestsBefore Wall Street: America's Top 10 Protest MovementsEarthquake Rattles BaliFull ListMost PopularTIME.COMBLOGSSwampland Scientists Discover a Diamond as Big as a PlanetMandela: His 8 Lessons of LeadershipWhy You Should Worry About China's Real Estate Bubble BurstingThe Saudi-Iran Cold War: Will the Assassination Plot Heat It Up?Dilma vs. Gisele: The War over Brazilian WomanhoodTeacher, Leave Those Kids Alone: A Look at South Korea's Education SystemSteve Jobs, 1955?2011: Mourning Technology's Great ReinventorKazakhstan Passes Restrictive Religion LawNew Proof That Comets Watered the EarthThe Supreme Court: When Double Jeopardy Isn't Double Jeopardy Harold Camping's Back, With a Brand-New Doomsday PredictionWhat's Behind Violence at the World's Largest Gold Mine?Will the Washington Bomb Plot Force Obama into War with Iran?Reality Check: The Cain Train Is Going to WreckOccupy Wall Street: Police and Protesters Face Off Over Cleaning'Magic Mushrooms' Can Improve Psychological Health Long TermWealth Matters, Part 2: Materialistic People Are Less Happy in MarriageTeen Sex Update: Fewer Teens Doing It, More Boys Using CondomsWhy Occupy Wall Street Is More Popular than the Tea Party*Herman Cain's '999 Plan' Looks a Lot Like Sim City's 999 PlanWhy Occupy Wall Street Is More Popular than the Tea Party*TIME Poll: Obama Leads Head-to-Head Matchups with Republican RivalsReality Check: The Cain Train Is Going to WreckAnita Perry Gets Candid, Claims Christian VictimhoodThe Conservative Problem with 9-9-9What You Missed at the GOP’s Dartmouth Debate: Used Milk and the Texas TurtleThe Cain MutinySantorum Not Familiar with Catholic Teaching About the PoorIs Romney Really the Inevitable Nominee?Can Perry Win If He Can’t Debate? VideosMore Videos Powered by WordPress.com VIP Stay Connected with TIME.comSubscribe to
RSS FeedsSign Up for
NewslettersGet the TIME
Magazine iPad EditionRead TIME Mobile
on your PhoneBecome a
Fan of TIMEGet TIME
Twitter Updates NewsFeed U.S. Politics World Business Money Health Science Entertainment Photos Videos Specials Magazine © 2011 Time Inc. All rights reservedPrivacy PolicyRSSNewsletterMobileTIME For KidsLIFE.com SubscribeContact UsTerms of UseMedia KitReprints & PermissionsHelpSite MapAd Choices TIME Our partners CNN CNN MONEY LIFE

In Dartmouth Debate, Romney Coasts as Cain Gets His Big Night

In Dartmouth Debate, Romney Coasts as Cain Gets His Big Night | Swampland | TIME.com /* */ Home TIME Magazine Photos Videos Specials Topics Subscribe Mobile AppsNewslettersRSS @TIME NewsFeed U.S. Politics World Business Money Tech Health Science Entertainment SEARCH TIME.COM Full Archive Covers Videos 2012 ElectionDebatesDemocratic PartyPollsRepublican PartyMichele BachmannMitt RomneyRick PerryWhite HouseBarack ObamaJoe BidenCongressBudgetsHouseSenateLobbyingJohn BoehnerMitch McConnellNancy PelosiHarry ReidDomestic PolicyAbortionAgricultureDebtEconomyEducationHealth CareHousingForeign PolicyAfghanistanChinaDiplomacyHillary ClintonIranIraqPhotosSpecialsVideos DebatesIn Dartmouth Debate, Romney Coasts as Cain Gets His Big NightBy Adam Sorensen | @adamsorensen | October 12, 2011 | View CommentsTweetJustin Sullivan / Getty ImagesJon Huntsman, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum gather prior to the start of the Republican Presidential debate on Oct. 11, 2011 at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.

The settings of the Republican presidential primary debates have shifted, as have the roles played by each candidate and the amount of intra-party flak flung about. But the fundamentals remain unchanged: Mitt Romney is sailing through these televised forums unbuffeted by any serious challenge from his rivals.

Tuesday night’s debate at Dartmouth college in New Hampshire featured eight familiar candidates crowded around one table, an economic theme and a more prominent role for surging political neophyte Herman Cain. It was in many ways Cain’s big moment. Ascendent in the polls and emerging as the protest pick over the blaspheming Romney and bungling Rick Perry, Tuesday’s forum featured more of the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO than any prior one. 9-9-9, the name of Cain’s endlessly touted tax panacea, arose at least once in most of the night’s exchanges. His performance was solid, if unremarkable. He stuck to his talking points — anyone who criticizes his plan doesn’t understand that he wants to chuck the whole tax code first! — and met new attacks from his rivals with cheerful aplomb.  At this point, any boost in Cain’s name recognition will be a boon to his relatively obscure campaign. And the constant 9-9-9 chatter, even if some of it was negative, probably helped Cain’s chances of sustaining his unlikely rise.

The bit players took notice. Jon Huntsman, who seems closer everyday to breaking the bonds of mathematics and plunging into negative support in the polls, made light of 9-9-9 before dismissing it outright. “I thought it was the price of a pizza when I first heard it,” he said. Michele Bachmann said that “the 9-9-9 plan isn’t a jobs plan, it’s a tax plan,” and even invoked the mark of the beast: “When you take the 9-9-9 plan and turn it upside-down, I think the devil’s in the details.” Rick Santorum was even harsher, crushing the plan as unpassable and asking  anyone in the audience who wanted a 9% sales tax–one of the three 9s, you see–to raise their hand. (No one did.)  Cain’s rivals’ substantive critique was essentially that passing a sales tax would open the floodgates to more revenue for the greedy government. Meanwhile, Romney, who has less to gain and more lose from bloodying Cain too much, parried a 9-9-9  question well. “Simple answers are very helpful, but often inadequate,” he said.

True to form, Perry, who’s probably suffered the most from Cain’s surge, whiffed completely. “I don’t need 9-9-9,” he said. “We don’t need any plan to pass Congress.” OK. It only got worse from there. Asked to lay out what he would do to salve the ailing economy, Perry cryptically explained his plan would be rolled out in the next three days. But  he wasn’t able to share any of it beyond a few poorly worded platitudes about energy independence. “Opening up a lot of the areas of our domestic energy area is the key,” he said. He began a riff on taxation with the words “One of the reasons that Americans are so untrustworthy…” and switched between gibberish and cliches throughout. “We don’t need to be focused on this policy or that policy,” he declared at one point. “We need to focus on getting America moving again.” Perry’s most lucid moment was when he noted that  “Mitt has had six years to be working on a plan. I’ve been in this about eight weeks.” It showed.

Just as Perry suggested, the Romneytron Debate Algorithm executed flawlessly yet again. Thrown a tough hypothetical about a future European financial crisis, Mitt challenged the premise of the question and flipped his answer into a slap at the Obama administration: “I am not going to have to call up Timothy Geithner and say, ‘How does the economy work?’” He fit in a populist tirade on currency manipulation in the orient: “The Chinese are smiling all the way to the bank.” And even the infrequent jab at his Republican opponents came off as mostly innocent self-praise.  “I would not be in this race if I had spent my life in politics alone,” he said at one point, referencing his time in the private sector for the 999th time.

The confluence of events that have led to Romney’s charmed path through the nominating process debate without any real challenge to his vulnerable record may be subsiding. There were a few solid punches landed by his rivals in the latter half of Tuesday’s debate on Romney’s health reform record among other issues. But the novelty of Cain–and the reality that Cain is the one who has siphoned off the votes that most non-Romney candidates have a chance of winning–cushioned the blow in this debate. And there were still moments when the pile-on many observers keep waiting for simply didn’t happen. After a delicate answer in which Romney had to balance his support of TARP with statements like “No one likes the idea of a Wall Street bailout,” Cain, given the chance to respond, said, “I happen to agree with Governor Romney.”

In fact, the most telling moment of the debate probably came when Romney was asked whom he would choose to replace Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve. “Well, I haven’t chosen that person. I haven’t even chosen a vice president… I’m not sure I’m the nominee yet,” he said to uproarious laughter. The joke, of course, is that Romney, along with anybody watching these recent debates, must feel pretty sure.

Related Topics: 2012, gop, Debates
emailprintshareLinkedInStumbleUponRedditDiggMixxDel.i.ciousWriteView Comments@TIMEPoliticsLatest on SwamplandNational Security | October 11, 2011Iran’s Alleged Assassination Plot and Its Political Fallout

The Justice Department on Tuesday unsealed a complaint against two Iranians alleging a state-sponsored terrorist plot by members of Iran’s Quds Force against the Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Adel al-Jubeir. The complaint alleges that Manssor Arbabsiar, a U.S.-Iranian dual citizen, and his al Quds handler, Gholam Shakuri, tried to hire a DEA confidential source to detonate a bomb that would kill al-Jubeir in Washington, D.C.

From our PartnersJimmy Carter: 'I'm Optimistic' Obama Will Win 2012Huffington PostFive Questions for President ObamaPoliticoMichele Bachmann: Rick Perry Rewarded Donors With State MoneyHuffington PostCongress | October 11, 2011With Obama Jobs Bill Vote, Democrats Seek to Prove Congressional Dysfunction

The Senate Tuesday night is expected to vote down President Obama’s jobs bill. Democrats aren’t even sure they can get 51 votes, let alone the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a Republican filibuster. And even if it passed, Republican House Speaker John Boehner has declared it dead on arrival in the lower chamber. So, what’s the point of this political theater?

Simple: the presidential campaign is already roaring to life–we’re on GOP debate No. 147 tonight, in case anyone missed the first 146–and the President needs to prove it’s not his fault that Washington isn’t doing more to create jobs. “There is no Republican alternative that would create jobs now,” David Axelrod, a senior strategist for the Obama campaign wrote in a Tuesday memo that cited poll numbers showing Obama’s plan’s popularity. “The American people have rallied around Obama’s call to pass this plan. After 3 weeks of advocacy by the President, support (for the jobs bill) has grown by nearly 10%.”

previousIran’s Alleged Assassination Plot and Its Political Falloutblog comments powered by Disqus The Page Updated 3 hours agoRomney Bandwagon Grows as Hastert, Biggert Sign OnPerry Reveals "Debates Are Not My Strong Suit"Jeffress to TODAYWed. Candidate ScheduleAxe Takes Tougher Shot at Romney Than GOPers More on TIME.comLibyan Rebels Battle Gaddafi LoyalistsChicago Ideas Week 2011: Intelligence SquaredThe Mountain Gorillas of RwandaFull ListMost PopularTIME.COMBLOGSSwampland In Some Chinese Hospitals, Violence Is Out of Control and It's Doctors Who Are At RiskScientists '95% Sure' Bigfoot Lives in Russian TundraNew Proof That Comets Watered the EarthWhy You Should Worry About China's Real Estate Bubble BurstingSteve Jobs, 1955?2011: Mourning Technology's Great ReinventorTeacher, Leave Those Kids Alone: A Look at South Korea's Education SystemBirth and Death: Afghanistan's Struggles with Maternal MortalityThe Honeymoon's Over: Sicily Cracks Down on Weddings ReceiptsSteve Jobs: Remembering the Dissatisfied ManRomney in Debate: I Can Work with 'Good' Democrats Wall Street Protests Get Specific: Could ‘Bank Transfer Day’ Pit Americans Against Their Big Banks?Vitamins and Supplements Linked to Higher Risk of Death in Older WomenReport: Big Ben Could Become Leaning Tower of LondonOccupy Wall Street: Increased Organization, Looming ChallengesScientists '95% Sure' Bigfoot Lives in Russian TundraThe Too-Good-to-Be-True Product Hall of FameIsn't the iPhone 4S Supposed to Be a Disappointment?'Dancing with the Stars' Week Four Recap: Cher Visits Movie NightThe Latest Christian Halloween Protest: JesusWeenStudy: Chocolate Lovers Have Lower Risk of StrokeIran’s Alleged Assassination Plot and Its Political FalloutBelieve It or Not, the Left Is Still Behind ObamaHow the Shrinking Primary Calendar Boosts Romney’s ChancesChris Christie Endorses Mitt RomneyA New Debate Night Dynamic: Herman Cain vs. Mitt RomneyRon Paul Backers Picket Romney Supporter Under “Tea Party” GuiseMorning Must Reads: CainWith Obama Jobs Bill Vote, Democrats Seek to Prove Congressional DysfunctionWhy Catholic Bishops are Targeting Obama on Religious FreedomWhy the Washington Establishment is Heeding Occupy Wall Street VideosMore Videos Powered by WordPress.com VIP Stay Connected with TIME.comSubscribe to
RSS FeedsSign Up for
NewslettersGet the TIME
Magazine iPad EditionRead TIME Mobile
on your PhoneBecome a
Fan of TIMEGet TIME
Twitter Updates NewsFeed U.S. Politics World Business Money Health Science Entertainment Photos Videos Specials Magazine © 2011 Time Inc. All rights reservedPrivacy PolicyRSSNewsletterMobileTIME For KidsLIFE.com SubscribeContact UsTerms of UseMedia KitReprints & PermissionsHelpSite MapAd Choices TIME Our partners CNN CNN MONEY LIFE

In Dartmouth Debate, Romney Coasts as Cain Gets His Big Night

In Dartmouth Debate, Romney Coasts as Cain Gets His Big Night | Swampland | TIME.com /* */ Home TIME Magazine Photos Videos Specials Topics Subscribe Mobile AppsNewslettersRSS @TIME NewsFeed U.S. Politics World Business Money Tech Health Science Entertainment SEARCH TIME.COM Full Archive Covers Videos 2012 ElectionDebatesDemocratic PartyPollsRepublican PartyMichele BachmannMitt RomneyRick PerryWhite HouseBarack ObamaJoe BidenCongressBudgetsHouseSenateLobbyingJohn BoehnerMitch McConnellNancy PelosiHarry ReidDomestic PolicyAbortionAgricultureDebtEconomyEducationHealth CareHousingForeign PolicyAfghanistanChinaDiplomacyHillary ClintonIranIraqPhotosSpecialsVideos DebatesIn Dartmouth Debate, Romney Coasts as Cain Gets His Big NightBy Adam Sorensen | @adamsorensen | October 12, 2011 | View CommentsTweetJustin Sullivan / Getty ImagesJon Huntsman, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum gather prior to the start of the Republican Presidential debate on Oct. 11, 2011 at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.

The settings of the Republican presidential primary debates have shifted, as have the roles played by each candidate and the amount of intra-party flak flung about. But the fundamentals remain unchanged: Mitt Romney is sailing through these televised forums unbuffeted by any serious challenge from his rivals.

Tuesday night’s debate at Dartmouth college in New Hampshire featured eight familiar candidates crowded around one table, an economic theme and a more prominent role for surging political neophyte Herman Cain. It was in many ways Cain’s big moment. Ascendent in the polls and emerging as the protest pick over the blaspheming Romney and bungling Rick Perry, Tuesday’s forum featured more of the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO than any prior one. 9-9-9, the name of Cain’s endlessly touted tax panacea, arose at least once in most of the night’s exchanges. His performance was solid, if unremarkable. He stuck to his talking points — anyone who criticizes his plan doesn’t understand that he wants to chuck the whole tax code first! — and met new attacks from his rivals with cheerful aplomb.  At this point, any boost in Cain’s name recognition will be a boon to his relatively obscure campaign. And the constant 9-9-9 chatter, even if some of it was negative, probably helped Cain’s chances of sustaining his unlikely rise.

The bit players took notice. Jon Huntsman, who seems closer everyday to breaking the bonds of mathematics and plunging into negative support in the polls, made light of 9-9-9 before dismissing it outright. “I thought it was the price of a pizza when I first heard it,” he said. Michele Bachmann said that “the 9-9-9 plan isn’t a jobs plan, it’s a tax plan,” and even invoked the mark of the beast: “When you take the 9-9-9 plan and turn it upside-down, I think the devil’s in the details.” Rick Santorum was even harsher, crushing the plan as unpassable and asking  anyone in the audience who wanted a 9% sales tax–one of the three 9s, you see–to raise their hand. (No one did.)  Cain’s rivals’ substantive critique was essentially that passing a sales tax would open the floodgates to more revenue for the greedy government. Meanwhile, Romney, who has less to gain and more lose from bloodying Cain too much, parried a 9-9-9  question well. “Simple answers are very helpful, but often inadequate,” he said.

True to form, Perry, who’s probably suffered the most from Cain’s surge, whiffed completely. “I don’t need 9-9-9,” he said. “We don’t need any plan to pass Congress.” OK. It only got worse from there. Asked to lay out what he would do to salve the ailing economy, Perry cryptically explained his plan would be rolled out in the next three days. But  he wasn’t able to share any of it beyond a few poorly worded platitudes about energy independence. “Opening up a lot of the areas of our domestic energy area is the key,” he said. He began a riff on taxation with the words “One of the reasons that Americans are so untrustworthy…” and switched between gibberish and cliches throughout. “We don’t need to be focused on this policy or that policy,” he declared at one point. “We need to focus on getting America moving again.” Perry’s most lucid moment was when he noted that  “Mitt has had six years to be working on a plan. I’ve been in this about eight weeks.” It showed.

Just as Perry suggested, the Romneytron Debate Algorithm executed flawlessly yet again. Thrown a tough hypothetical about a future European financial crisis, Mitt challenged the premise of the question and flipped his answer into a slap at the Obama administration: “I am not going to have to call up Timothy Geithner and say, ‘How does the economy work?’” He fit in a populist tirade on currency manipulation in the orient: “The Chinese are smiling all the way to the bank.” And even the infrequent jab at his Republican opponents came off as mostly innocent self-praise.  “I would not be in this race if I had spent my life in politics alone,” he said at one point, referencing his time in the private sector for the 999th time.

The confluence of events that have led to Romney’s charmed path through the nominating process debate without any real challenge to his vulnerable record may be subsiding. There were a few solid punches landed by his rivals in the latter half of Tuesday’s debate on Romney’s health reform record among other issues. But the novelty of Cain–and the reality that Cain is the one who has siphoned off the votes that most non-Romney candidates have a chance of winning–cushioned the blow in this debate. And there were still moments when the pile-on many observers keep waiting for simply didn’t happen. After a delicate answer in which Romney had to balance his support of TARP with statements like “No one likes the idea of a Wall Street bailout,” Cain, given the chance to respond, said, “I happen to agree with Governor Romney.”

In fact, the most telling moment of the debate probably came when Romney was asked whom he would choose to replace Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve. “Well, I haven’t chosen that person. I haven’t even chosen a vice president… I’m not sure I’m the nominee yet,” he said to uproarious laughter. The joke, of course, is that Romney, along with anybody watching these recent debates, must feel pretty sure.

Related Topics: 2012, gop, Debates
emailprintshareLinkedInStumbleUponRedditDiggMixxDel.i.ciousWriteView Comments@TIMEPoliticsLatest on SwamplandNational Security | October 11, 2011Iran’s Alleged Assassination Plot and Its Political Fallout

The Justice Department on Tuesday unsealed a complaint against two Iranians alleging a state-sponsored terrorist plot by members of Iran’s Quds Force against the Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Adel al-Jubeir. The complaint alleges that Manssor Arbabsiar, a U.S.-Iranian dual citizen, and his al Quds handler, Gholam Shakuri, tried to hire a DEA confidential source to detonate a bomb that would kill al-Jubeir in Washington, D.C.

From our PartnersJimmy Carter: 'I'm Optimistic' Obama Will Win 2012Huffington PostFive Questions for President ObamaPoliticoMichele Bachmann: Rick Perry Rewarded Donors With State MoneyHuffington PostCongress | October 11, 2011With Obama Jobs Bill Vote, Democrats Seek to Prove Congressional Dysfunction

The Senate Tuesday night is expected to vote down President Obama’s jobs bill. Democrats aren’t even sure they can get 51 votes, let alone the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a Republican filibuster. And even if it passed, Republican House Speaker John Boehner has declared it dead on arrival in the lower chamber. So, what’s the point of this political theater?

Simple: the presidential campaign is already roaring to life–we’re on GOP debate No. 147 tonight, in case anyone missed the first 146–and the President needs to prove it’s not his fault that Washington isn’t doing more to create jobs. “There is no Republican alternative that would create jobs now,” David Axelrod, a senior strategist for the Obama campaign wrote in a Tuesday memo that cited poll numbers showing Obama’s plan’s popularity. “The American people have rallied around Obama’s call to pass this plan. After 3 weeks of advocacy by the President, support (for the jobs bill) has grown by nearly 10%.”

previousIran’s Alleged Assassination Plot and Its Political Falloutblog comments powered by Disqus The Page Updated 3 hours agoRomney Bandwagon Grows as Hastert, Biggert Sign OnPerry Reveals "Debates Are Not My Strong Suit"Jeffress to TODAYWed. Candidate ScheduleAxe Takes Tougher Shot at Romney Than GOPers More on TIME.comWall Street: Photos from the ProtestsChicago Ideas Week 2011: Intelligence SquaredLibyan Rebels Battle Gaddafi LoyalistsFull ListMost PopularTIME.COMBLOGSSwampland In Some Chinese Hospitals, Violence Is Out of Control and It's Doctors Who Are At RiskScientists '95% Sure' Bigfoot Lives in Russian TundraNew Proof That Comets Watered the EarthWhy You Should Worry About China's Real Estate Bubble BurstingSteve Jobs, 1955?2011: Mourning Technology's Great ReinventorTeacher, Leave Those Kids Alone: A Look at South Korea's Education SystemBirth and Death: Afghanistan's Struggles with Maternal MortalityThe Honeymoon's Over: Sicily Cracks Down on Weddings ReceiptsSteve Jobs: Remembering the Dissatisfied ManRomney in Debate: I Can Work with 'Good' Democrats Wall Street Protests Get Specific: Could ‘Bank Transfer Day’ Pit Americans Against Their Big Banks?Scientists '95% Sure' Bigfoot Lives in Russian TundraWe’ve Been Wasting a Ton of Money on Vitamins and Dietary SupplementsVitamins and Supplements Linked to Higher Risk of Death in Older WomenIsn't the iPhone 4S Supposed to Be a Disappointment?Occupy Wall Street: Increased Organization, Looming ChallengesWho Gains, Who Loses in Israel-Hamas Prisoner Swap to Free Gilad Shalit?Report: Big Ben Could Become Leaning Tower of LondonThe Too-Good-to-Be-True Product Hall of Fame'Dancing with the Stars' Week Four Recap: Cher Visits Movie NightIran’s Alleged Assassination Plot and Its Political FalloutIn Dartmouth Debate, Romney Coasts as Cain Gets His Big NightA New Debate Night Dynamic: Herman Cain vs. Mitt RomneyBelieve It or Not, the Left Is Still Behind ObamaWith Obama Jobs Bill Vote, Democrats Seek to Prove Congressional DysfunctionChris Christie Endorses Mitt RomneyRon Paul Backers Picket Romney Supporter Under “Tea Party” GuiseWhy Catholic Bishops are Targeting Obama on Religious FreedomMorning Must Reads: CainWhy the Washington Establishment is Heeding Occupy Wall Street VideosMore Videos Powered by WordPress.com VIP Stay Connected with TIME.comSubscribe to
RSS FeedsSign Up for
NewslettersGet the TIME
Magazine iPad EditionRead TIME Mobile
on your PhoneBecome a
Fan of TIMEGet TIME
Twitter Updates NewsFeed U.S. Politics World Business Money Health Science Entertainment Photos Videos Specials Magazine © 2011 Time Inc. All rights reservedPrivacy PolicyRSSNewsletterMobileTIME For KidsLIFE.com SubscribeContact UsTerms of UseMedia KitReprints & PermissionsHelpSite MapAd Choices TIME Our partners CNN CNN MONEY LIFE