Since I was at the
#GOPDebate last night, I was unable to share my thoughts in real time, I'm going to do something different. By now, a lot of people much smarter than me have already given their debate thoughts/grades. So what I want to do is give you my thoughts of what you may have missed from inside the auditorium instead:1) I was seated right between the wives of Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy, so I had one of the best seats in the house to truly get a feel for the room. 2) Ron's opening and closing statements were the biggest applause lines he received. He has really improved during the course of this campaign in crafting a message/narrative. He's always been excellent on policy. 3) Vivek then captured the audience with his masterful turn on the media in the open, specifically the NBC family of networks, for pushing outright lies like "Russian collusion." However, the audience really turned on him during the TikTok conversation when he talked about Nikki Haley's daughter. That was, by far, the most negative the audience was the entire evening. I had no idea Haley called him "scum" until after. You couldn't hear that in there the blowback against Vivek was so loud. 4) DeSantis and Vivek were chummy and chatted during each break. Ditto for Haley and Christie. Scott was off on his own all night long. 5) During the debate off-camera, Haley and Christie frequently looked at each other with eye rolls and shrugs at Vivek and DeSantis. The first time Vivek attacked Haley, she and Christie looked at each other like, "This (bleeping) guy." Haley was clearly shook at one point by Vivek's hammering. 6) In terms of substance I thought these were the best moderators we've had yet. There were key issues unaddressed, but nothing was silly. This was a mostly adult conversation that everyone had adequate time to discuss. They also kept it mostly clear of petty back-and-forths.7) Scott oddly stood off to the corner of his podium most of the night, like he was threatening to walk out onto the stage. At one point he drifted so far he was off-mic, other times he wandered so much I thought Vivek was going to need to call for a fair catch. Not sure how it played on TV, but Scott and his posture and cadence were just odd. 8) Sadly, the loudest applause line Haley received all night was when she gave the same loser answer on baby-killing every GOP loser has ever given and never works (just like it didn't work again in Virginia on Tuesday night). There is no "coming together" with baby killers. The Stephen Douglas approach never works, but the "party of Lincoln" seemingly refuses to learn this lesson. All that messaging does is diminish your own
#ProLife base while gaining nothing from the other side. As one conservative leader sarcastically said to me after the debate about Haley, "That was maybe the most eloquent pro-choice position I've ever heard."