| If you were looking for fire in the belly emotion in Monday night’s NBC debate from Tampa Bay, Florida, you were disappointed! NBC proved that they can flat-line a viewing audience. Gone was the electricity of the South Carolina debates, and it appears the Tampa Bay audience forgot their First Amendment freedom of speech rights. There were no camera pans to the audience, and little to no applause or audience interaction. Even the candidates themselves appeared to look bored at times.
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Mitt Romney failed in his attempt to use the debate to turn the tide of momentum enjoyed by Gingrich since South Carolina. He attempted to show passion and spark early on in attacking Gingrich over his contract with Freddie MAC by calling it lobbying as opposed to consulting. But in the end Romney was Romney, Gingrich barely flinched, and, as one of the pundits in David Gregory’s NBC recap noted, Gingrich appeared Presidential.
Newt Gingrich thwarted one of Romney’s attempted attacks when he answered to Romney’s charge that he was forced to resign as Speaker of the House because eighty-four ethics charges were filed against him. He said of Romney, “He may be a good financier, but he is a terrible historian.” He further explained that when the charges were filed, the Democrats, who had reigned in power for forty years, were bitter about a Republican victory in the House of Representatives.
Rick Santorum and Ron Paul were largely ignored in this debate, as NBC moderator, Brian Williams, let Romney and Gingrich control the air time. Santorum did a good job describing the threats to the U.S. by Iran and Cuba, and Ron Paul answered a question on the minds of many by saying he is NOT considering a third party run.
All four candidates contributed their opinions and solutions on Iran, amnesty and the real estate market, and answered questions asked by the moderators, perhaps on behalf of Florida voters, about space exploration, Cuba, cane sugar and the death of Terry Schiavo years ago.
The presidential contenders will square off again in three days in a CNN debate in Jacksonville, Fla. co-hosted by the Hispanic Leadership Network and the state Republican Party. One person on Twitter summed up the debate by tweeting, “NBC has succeeded in surpassing Melatonin as a sleep aid.” All that was missing was Rick Santorum’s sweater vest. |
