A Courier Virtual Village community blog maintained
by Ronald Stewart Knopf Jr.
Views listed here do not represent those of The Courier newspaper or any Findlay Publishing Company entity.
An Upbeat Richardson Bows Out "It was an upbeat Gov. Bill Richardson who ended his quest for the presidency in a 14-minute speech, often interrupted by applause and chants of "We Want Bill" from a crowd that packed the State Capitol Rotunda shortly after 1 p.m." >> Albuquerque Journal
Interesting that he did not endorse anyone. Does this leave the door open for him to be the VP choice of the eventual Democratic nominee?
Meanwhile, in South Carolina...
On Edwards' Turf, Kerry Backs Obama "Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for the White House Thursday in a timely slap at Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton as well as his own vice presidential running mate." >> WYFF NBC 4
...and tonight, an important debate in Myrtle Beach. McCain needs to sustain the momentum, Thompson needs a win or he is out, and Huckabee needs to show he was not a one-hit wonder...
GOP takes the podium "So different, so fast. The network official expressed surprise as she looked at the glowing American flag backdrop and the six candidates' podiums in the debate hall Wednesday afternoon." >> Myrtle Beach Online
...also, it appears that McCain got a huge bump from his win in New Hampshire, because new polls show him ahead in South Carolina...
Fox News
McCain - 25%
Huckabee - 18%
Romney - 17%
Thompson - 9%
Giuliani - 5%
Paul - 5%
Rasmussen
McCain - 27%
Huckabee - 24%
Romney - 16%
Thompson - 12%
Giuliani - 6%
Paul - 5%
...while on the Democratic side, Obama does not seem to be hurt too much by his second place finish in New Hampshire. The latest poll in South Carolina still show him in the lead (but we have seen that before)...
Rasmussen
Obama - 42%
Clinton - 30%
Edwards - 15%
Since I am not going to be home this evening, I will not be able to blog the debate. If you want to watch, however, it will be on FOXnews.
Also, I am preparing questions to send to the individuals running for county commissioner, so if you have any suggestions, e-mail me or put them in the comments section.
Tonight, on ABC, six of the remaining Republican Presidential contenders square off live from New Hampshire. Sponsored by ABC and Facebook, this important debate is just a few days away from the NH primary.
For the Republicans, we will see John McCain, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson and Ron Paul.
7:07p
A different format to start off with. Charlie Gibson will have the candidates sit down and try to talk to each other.
7:11p
Will the candidate embrace the Bush foreign policy, or run away from it. Huckabee starts off with being asked to defend his comments about the US having a bunker mentality. Giuliani gives Bush credit for putting the US on offense instead of defense, and knocks Bill Clinton for slashing the military.
7:16p
McCain also gives Bush credit for the doctrine the US follows, and believes that the country is safer now. He points out that he also advocated the surge strategy before anyone else did. He wraps things up by giving Giuliani credit for handling 9/11
Romney points out that Bush is not arrogant, and that the US owes him a debt of gratitude for what he has done to make the US safer (who knew that Bush would be given this much support - especially in New Hampshire - it seems risky considering the independent nature of the state).
7:27p
Romney and Huckabee going after each other; McCain is in the corner, keeping quiet, holding onto his lead and smiling as the others leave him alone.
7:30p
I love the spirited back-and-forth. Charlie Gibson is going to have to remind everyone that he is paying for this microphone.
7:34p
Gibson wants McCain and Romney to talk about (to paraphrase) why they hate each other and accuse each other of following polls to create opinion. Neither takes the bait and keeps it civil. Gibson even points out that they both seem different tonight, and not like the candidates who are running the television commercials.
7:38p
Gibson goes right down the line and calls out each candidate for political/issue changes that they have made over the course of their lives, under the guise of scoring political points.
7:39p
I had to rewind that to watch it again; it was an amazing moment that I have not seen before from the media...especially in a national televised debate. I would love to see him do that to the Democrats as well just to see what he says about them.
7:44p
Health care is now the topic, and Gibson points out that the basic Republican philosophy is that free-market consumer-purchased insurance is better than government run. All the candidates generally believe that the US has the best health care system in the world, and as Giuliani said, this is where Canadians and the world come to get treated.
Ron Paul points out that we would have the money for a great health care system if we ended the war and got the billions back.
7:50p
You can tell I am a political junkie - I forgot there were NFL playoff games going on tonight. BTW, final score: SeattleSeahawks 35 WashingtonRedskins 14
7:53p
Some interesting ideas coming out about health care that I have never heard before. I want to know a little more about how Massachusetts set up a system where individual families could purchase insurance, and the prices of premiums eventually dropped to be half of where they started.
7:58p
McCain takes on pharmaceutical company policies; Romney defends how the companies operate.
8:00p
Commercial time. Besides the YouTube debate, this is the most substantive debate I have seen during this race. I really like how the candidates can speak to each other, and how fewer people allows for more time to answer (it ought to be even better for the Democrats).
8:05p
Second half starts, with direct questions to candidates and time limits. We start off with immigration, and McCain is reminded about the last debate in New Hampshire where he was hammered on the topic - coming on the heels of a failed Senate bill (remember when everyone thought McCain was close to dropping out?).
8:10p
Romney - all illegal immigrants need to leave the country and can then apply for entry and citizenship.
Giuliani - it is impossible to get everyone out. Focus on the people who are committing crimes and get them out first.
McCain and Romney go after each other. McCain calls him out on the attack ads he has been running about McCain's amnesty plan.
8:13p
(McCain to Romney) 'It is easy to get mis-quoted when you change your position on issues.' (or something close to that - whatever the words, it got an 'oooooooo' from the audience)
8:15p
Giuliani brings up the Reagan microphone incident (lol - video above) and says that Reagan's view on immigration would put him in one of Mitt's negative ads.
8:19p
Paul and Huckabee have been strangely quiet about this topic. Neither has spoken - and Gibson calls out Huckabee, saying he is sitting there with a smile on his face letting the others fight it out.
8:24p
Why to not vote for Obama?
Romney - he wants government to take over health care; Washington needs to change, and Romney has the experience of doing it
Thompson - Obama has adopted the position of every liberal interest group; his alternative to all issues is to have the federal government solve the problem
McCain - says that Romney is the 'candidate of change' (laughs from crowd); Obama does not have the knowledge and experience to do the job
Giuliani - Obama has never had executive experience; change is a concept, but change could be very bad versus good
Huckabee - differences on 2nd and 10th amendments, life, national defense, taxes, same sex marriage; points out that Obama has touched a chord with the voters, and has excited people about this election, and warns the party about not recognizing this fact
Paul - their campaigns are similar, using and welcoming young people; Paul talks more about economics and monetary policy, where Obama talks more about the welfare state
8:35p
Does it make Obama happy that he has the assumed the role of presumed Democratic nominee for purposes of these types of questions?
8:37p
Thompson would not tax excess profits of the oil companies, pointing out that we are not a country that regulates our economy. At least he is honest, by also pointing out that we are not going to be energy independent any time soon.
8:42p
And.....we're done.
WOW! How many times could Romney be accused of changing his positions?
All in all, I think Romney handled himself very well, and you could tell that he and McCain were the top two by the way they went at each other. Huckabee disappeared entirely (since no one thinks he can win in New Hampshire, it may have been his philosophy to get through this without doing any harm - but leaders should not act this way), and Giuliani reminded everyone that he is still running. Thompson woke up long enough to participate and show how he could be a force if he wanted to be. Who thought Paul would outlast Brownback, Hunter and Tancredo to make the final six?
Kudos to ABC for this debate. The first half went extremely well, and Gibson gave them all enough freedom to mix it up, and yet knew when to reign them in. I have to look this up to see if the moderators have been announced yet for the general election debates, but tonight was Gibson's application for doing one of them.
Gibson is also going to have candidates from both parties on stage at the same time. And out come the candidates - the audience gives them a well-deserved standing ovation. Onto the Democratic debate.
Monday night the first ever Values Voter Presidential Debate/Straw Poll was held in in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Now, before you dismiss this as a fringe group, keep three things in mind...
Christian conservatives are a huge voting block that can sway election results
The straw poll participants were not selected by the candidates, but by national conservative leaders
A majority of Republican candidates showed up to participate
With that said, the top four candidates (Giuliani, Romney, Thompson, McCain) all skipped this event citing scheduling conflicts (even though Giuliani was in Florida on Monday, and Romney & Thompson were in Florida today). Their absence was noted:
“How can we expect these no-show candidates to take on Osama Bin Laden and other world leaders when they’re afraid to show up and answer questions from Phyllis Schlafly?” Rabbi Aryeh Spero Jewish Action Alliance
“If you care about our votes, you need to care about our values enough to show up.” Rick Scarborough President of Vision America
Mike Huckabee
So, who did the Values Voters respond to the best, and who did they select:
Mike Huckabee - 64%
Ron Paul - 12%
Alan Keyes - 5%
Sam Brownback - 5%
Duncan Hunter - 4%
Fred Thompson - 4%
Tom Tancredo - 2%
Rudy Giuliani - 1%
John McCain - 1%
John Cox - 1%
Mitt Romney - 0%
A couple of interesting things.
Mike Huckabee is clearly resonating with conservative voters more than Sam Brownback (his main competition from Iowa)
Mitt Romney's percentage was not rounded down...he did not receive 1 vote
Ron Paul continues to gather support from little pockets of voters
Ron Paul
The big question to ask is, will this have any effect on how this block of voters acts during the primary season. According to Janet Folger, a member of the debate’s host committee and president of Faith 2 Action, believes so:
“They (the candidates who did not appear) have the mentality of, ‘Look, we’re going to get you guys anyway because you don’t have anywhere to go. What literally happened last night is values voters moved from the back of the bus to the driver’s seat. We’re now going to see a united front.”
According to the New York Times, she said that many Christian conservatives had been praying for a clear winner to emerge from the debate, which is what happened. As a result, she said, she will be casting her lot in now with Mr. Huckabee. “The values voters have spoken. It’s loud and clear. It’s unmistakable.”
The past two days, yellow bands were out in full force in Iowa as the Lance Armstrong Foundation hosted a presidential forum. Candidates showed up to discuss cancer and health care with co-moderators Lance Armstrong and Chris Matthews (of MSNBC's Hardball).
As a cancer survivor, and an individual who has worn a LIVESTRONG bracelet since they came out, I am a huge admirer of Lance Armstrong and all he has accomplished. Not only did he survive cancer (a feat note worthy by itself), but his record of winning seven consecutive Tour De France races, and parlaying his celebrity and fame into the creation of the foundation bearing his name, are major accomplishments.
When I was going through my surgery and treatments, there were plenty of days that I felt like giving up. Unfortunately, I did not have someone to look up to ...someone going through what I was going through and someone I could relate to. I feel that he has brought cancer to the forefront, and I appreciate that he has become a role model for everyone afflicted with this disease.
It was a surprise, but a testament to Armstrong's political and public influence, that this event occurred. Partnered with MSNBC, this was the first debate I can recall that was created around such a specific issue. I am glad it happened, and am a little disappointed that less than half of the active candidates participated.
On Monday, the Democrats were invited, and Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Bill Richardson and Dennis Kucinich accepted the call. Earlier today, it was the Republicans turn, and only Sam Brownback and Mike Huckabee attended. Below are a few recaps of what they said and reaction to the event.
Lance Armstrong Hosts Cancer Forum Democratic candidates for president mixed politics with the fight against a deadly disease on Monday. Cancer survivor and champion cyclist Lance Armstrong returned to Iowa to continue his personal battle against cancer. And four Democrats running for president answered questions about cancer research and treatment at a specialized Iowa forum at the U.S. Cellular Center. >>> Dave Franzman KCRG-TV
Dems square off at Iowa forum John Edwards and Hillary Clinton took different approaches today to how they would treat insurance and drug companies in reforming the country's health care system, as they and two other Democratic presidential hopefuls took part in a cancer forum put on by the Lance Armstrong Foundation. >>> Ed Tibbetts Quad-City Times
Huckabee Stars as GOP Stumbles Despite six no-shows, the Republican session of Lance Armstrong's cancer forum firmly established health-care as a campaign issue. And it gave the former Arkansas governor an opportunity to shine. >>> Jonathan Alter Newsweek
GOP's Huckabee, Brownback duel over health care goals Republican presidential contender Sam Brownback pledged a goal of ending cancer deaths in 10 years while rival Mike Huckabee used a health care forum Tuesday to suggest that federal food stamp participants get more buying power for healthy foods and less for junk food. >>> Rick Pearson Chicago Tribune
If you would like to find out more information about the Lance Armstrong Foundation, or need access to free information regarding cancer and treatments, please visit their website.
Each of the top four candidates had moments that their campaign webmasters would not hesitate to put on their sites or put into commercials. With this being the third debate, questions are starting to repeat themselves; but the special moments keep coming. At what point do we see both political parties start to limit the participants by instituting a threshold (you need to be at a certain point in the polls to continue in the debates)?
I switched over to FOX just to see how Thompson was doing. I had it recorded to catch the first few minutes, and he gave his fellow Republicans an 'okay' for their performance this evening. We will be hearing a lot more from him soon.
Once again, I really enjoyed this evening, and look forward to doing this again. Thanks for sticking with me during this evening.
Reading about last night's debate, pundits and public opinion agree that the top three candidates did not do much to help or hurt themselves. I was happy to hear from more than one commentator (to go along with what I observed) that they thought Huckabee, especially with the humor he was showing, was the best (by far) of the second tier candidates.
Tonight, I am going to try and live blog the Republican Presidential debate from South Carolina. Shown on Fox News and FoxNews.com, we will see how the 10 candidates perform this evening.
Monday night the first ever 
The past two days, 
Lance Armstrong Hosts Cancer Forum
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