Republican contenders for the White House faced off not once, but twice, in New Hampshire this weekend in an effort to sway voters, a last ditch plea before tomorrow’s primary.
Ssounds like a reality series gone awry. Don’t worry, it was definitely not nearly as exciting as ABC’s “Wipeout,” which preceded Saturday night’s debate.
Six remaining candidates (now it’s just sounding too much like “Survivor”) took the stage to engage in continuing mantras of shrinking government, insider politician vs. outsider doer and plentiful Obama-bashing.
The name of the game this week? Knock down former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the current frontrunner. Romney’s been scoring in in the 30 to 40 percent approval area in the Granite State (depending on your poll of choice). Whether you’re former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and Texas Congressman Ron Paul trying to build on their momentum in Iowa or if you’re former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman capitalizing on his laser-focused attention on New Hampshire, the goal is the same: vote Mitt off the island.
Nothing particularly related to Jewish college students in either debate (which makes everyone here at New Voices, particularly DAMW, very sad), but there’s plenty to talk about. After all, we all live in the country one of these men might run, right?
Here’s the run down of what you missed if you decided to spend Saturday night watching football or Sunday morning sleeping.
- Texas Governor Rick Perry raised eyebrows Saturday night saying he would send American troops back into Iraq, claiming President Barack Obama left before the job was done and should have extended the withdrawal timetable.
- Romney spent a good amount of time arguing with Saturday night moderator George Stephanopoulos about the right of states to ban contraception. Mitt and one of his top advisers, Eric Fehrnstrom were just confused about George’s “obsession” with the subject, and the ABC anchor just couldn’t figure out how to get past the “yes, this is a hypothetical” stage.
- Huntsman advocated for term limits in Congress, and Perry said he wanted national legislators to work “part-time” on the Hill and work the other half of the year on Main Street.
- The two Mormons (yeah, two. Who knew THAT would happen?) in the race parried over China trade. Romney claimed Huntsman has been soft on China and should be defending American interests while former Ambassador to China Huntsman accused Romney of not understanding the situation (in Mandarin, no less!) and of using inflammatory language that could start a trade war.
- Perry got applause from candidates and audience alike for remembering all three agencies he’d eliminate as president, a feat he could not accomplish in a previous debate.
- Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich was given an opportunity to attack Romney at the very beginning, and he initially reluctantly, but later adamantly, challenged Romney on his Super PAC’s negative advertising.
Obviously that’s not everything that happened. See Saturday’s debate here and Sunday’s debate here.
Or don’t. That’s cool, too. Trust me.
