- Posted by Christopher Estep on January 24, 2008
I'm going to try my hand at liveblogging for the first time tonight with the GOP debate being broadcast on OlbermannTV MSNBC and streamed at msnbc.com. I don't know how it will go, or even if I'll ever do it again. Regardless, it's worth a shot and it could be fun.
I would encourage anyone remotely interested in politics to watch it. It promises to be a very good debate, regardless of who's running it. Brian Williams isn't too bad, thought Chris Matthews will be doing the after-show McCain Party analysis.
Why it will be a good debate:
- This has to be the debate of Rudy's entire life. His political career literally hinges on this debate because he put every egg he has in Florida and he doesn't have the cash to continue long without an infusion that a Florida win would give him.
- Rudy's in 3rd place.
- McCain is now in 2nd place in some polls.
- Romney is actually gaining support.
- Huckabee is also fighting for his life. If he can have a good showing in Florida, it will help his money situation. He knows he's going to lose there so there is no delegate to be gained, but he's showing his followers that he hasn't given up. In a sense, the Florida campaign for him is partly designed to hold his organization together.
- Clinton/Obama have set the stage for debates to be "taken up" another notch.
- John McCain and Huckabee both have nasty tempers. Conversely, Romney and Giuliani are both very measured.
My predictions for the debate:
- McCain will begin to lose his temper if Romney (or the moderators) start calling his immigration plan "Amnesty".
- Huckabee will try to look relevant, but the candidates will largely ignore him.
- Romney will be said to have "won" the debate because there's really very little anyone can say to rattle him. The economy is the big issue and nobody is better on it than Romney