After the somewhat mediocre face-off between the candidates two weeks ago at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, it appears some White House hopefuls have decided that comedy is perhaps the best route to gaining the momentum necessary to win the party’s nomination in 2008.
Take Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who is extremely popular among GOP conservatives but has struggled to rise above his status as a second-tier candidate in the race. Two weeks ago, Huckabee delivered a solid, if not very memorable, performance at the first debate.
But on Tuesday, Huckabee had the line of the night when criticizing Washington’s handling of spending issues. “We’ve had a Congress that’s spent money like John Edwards at a beauty shop,” Huckabee declared, referring to the Democratic presidential hopeful’s widely joked about $400 haircuts.
After the debate, Huckabee insisted his line, which prompted hysterical laughter and applause from the live audience in South Carolina, had been totally impromptu. “I just blurted it out,” he told NEWSWEEK. “I just do that sometimes. I could just feel my wife cringing.” Rehearsed or not, the line clearly helped Huckabee gain some priceless earned media in the postdebate coverage—no easy task in a crowd of 10 GOP presidential hopefuls in what has been the largely circuslike atmosphere of the debates. But Huckabee wasn’t the only one hoping to be king of the zing on Tuesday night.
The second GOP debate, cosponsored by the South Carolina Republican Party and Fox News Channel, seemed to be all about one-liners and digs at other candidates—partly because the Fox moderators seemed intent on making the event less boring than its predecessor. But it was also because the candidates, especially those in the second tier, seemed intent on rising to the occasion—something they failed to do last time but only moderately accomplished last night.
There was Jim Gilmore, who trotted out a clearly plotted one liner trashing his opponents “as very liberal … in characterizing themselves as conservative on abortion and taxes.” But when asked who he was talking about, Gilmore blew it. Instead of giving it to America straight, he told viewers to check out his campaign Web site for the answer.
In another memorable line, Tom Tancredo scored points with a pop culture reference to the Fox series “24” when contemplating how he’d handle a hypothetical terrorist attack on shopping malls. “I’m looking for Jack Bauer at that time, let me tell you,” Tancredo said.
But the night was still clearly about the front runners, particularly Rudy Giuliani and John McCain, both of whom came off confident and, dare we say it, presidential in spite of a silly set that looked like a knockoff of the game show “Jeopardy.”
When Rep. Ron Paul suggested the U.S. had invited the 9/11 attacks because of its bombings in Iraq, a clearly miffed Giuliani interrupted and asked to respond. “That’s really an extraordinary statement,” Giuliani said. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard that before, and I’ve heard some pretty absurd explanations for September 11th.”
Meanwhile, McCain, who was clearly more comfortable at the podium Tuesday than he was two weeks ago, got a notable swipe at Mitt Romney, who had tried to score points with the base by trashing McCain’s work on immigration and campaign-finance reform. Asked to respond, McCain replied, “I take and kept a consistent position on campaign-finance reform … I have kept a consistent position on right to life. And I haven’t changed my position on even-numbered years or have changed because of the different offices I may be running for.”
In the audience, someone loudly grunted like a Lakers fan who had just witnessed Kobe Bryant throw an air ball in the final seconds of the game: “Ohh!”
Two weeks ago, viewers emerged from the Reagan Library debate not having learned much new about the candidates. On Tuesday, the candidates continued to stick closely to their regular talking points. Yet amid the growing combativeness of the field, we also learned a few new things Tuesday, including nuances among the candidates when it comes to torture.
But the night wasn’t without its strange moments. Tommy Thompson, who has spent the last two weeks trying to explain that he misspoke during the last debate when he said he didn’t support antidiscrimination laws for gay workers, was asked what three programs he’d cut to trim the federal deficit. When Thompson didn’t answer the question, moderator Chris Wallace followed up, asking him to name just one.
“The first one I would eliminate is the program in the Department of Health and Human Services, in CDC, that deals with the stockpile,” Thompson replied.
Clearly mystified, Wallace pointed the question elsewhere. “Congressman Paul, can you do better than that?” the “Fox News Sunday” host asked, proving that it wasn’t just the candidates who could deliver the one-liners.
