AMES, Iowa
This is where everybody weighs in with their opinion of tonight’s debate. I’ve got photos, video, etc., but please feel free to cram the comments with your own views.
The view from here? T-Paw was the big loser. He looked weak, and I’m not the only one here who thought so.
UPDATE: Here’s my video intro to the spin room:
UPDATE II: Guess who I found in the spin room? Chuck Grassley!
UPDATE III: Herman Cain in a post-debate interview:
UPDATE IV: They closed down the spin room at midnight here, and I had to go find someplace to finish my Friday column for The American Spectator.
The National Affairs Desk, at Buffalo Wild Wings on Duff Avenue.
And a weird thing just happened. After I hit my deadline, I went outside to smoke a cigarette and phone my editor, and while I wandered around in the parking lot talking on the phone, I saw a familiar face: Rick Santorum’s daughter. The entire Santorum campaign — including Rick Santorum himself — was out on the patio having a late dinner and watching the replay of the debate on Fox News.
Dumb luck? An omen? I dunno. But if Santorum does better than expected in Saturday’s straw poll . . . well, that’s a hypothetical.
For now, the certainty is that it’s nearly 1 a.m. and I’ve got to be up early in the morning. Good night from Ames!
9:03 p.m. ET: First question for Bachmann, who shovels out the red meat: “Send a message to Obama . . . one-term president!”
9:05 p.m. ET: Romney hits his talking points, gets a tough follow-up from Brett Baier.
9:08 p.m. ET: Question for Ron Paul. “Restore sound money.”
9:09 p.m. ET: Question for Herman Cain. “Make the tax rates permanent. . . . I represent growth. . . . Bring certainty back into the economy.” He gets applause.
9:10 p.m. ET: Jon Huntsman, asterisk.
9:11 p.m. ET: Newt Gingrich teaches a history lesson.
9:13 p.m. ET: Tim Pawlenty offers to come to your house and cook you dinner.
9:14 p.m. ET: Rick Santorum mentions that he’s traveled to 68 counties in Iowa. Also, he wants to cut taxes.
9:16 p.m. ET: Tough question from Chris Wallace to Tim Pawlenty about his dissing of Michele Bachmann. “In Congress, her record of accomplishments and results is non-existent.” Ouch. Wait ’til she fires back.
9:18 p.m. ET: Bachmann hits him with “cap-and-trade,” etc. Cheers from the crowd.
9:19 p.m. ET: She doubles down on her comparison of T-Paw to Obama. She’s a fighter, who fights, fights, fights.
9:20 p.m. ET: Pawlenty doubles down. Groans from the crowd.
9:21 p.m. ET: Bachmann goes back — fight! fight! fight!
9:22 p.m. ET: Chris Wallace hits Mitt Romney with a tough question on his business record and his record as governor of Massachusetts. Mitt looks really handsome, doesn’t he?
Commercial break. Ahhhh . . .
9:27 p.m. ET: Chris Wallace asks Gingrich about his campaign problems. Gingrich compares himself to Ronald Reagan. Accuses Wallace of “gotcha” questions, “playing Mickey Mouse games.”
9:29 p.m. ET: Question for Jon “Asterisk” Huntsman. He talks about how wonderful his record is in Utah.
9:31 p.m. ET: “Gotcha” questions for Herman Cain. Gets cheers for saying “Sharia law doesn’t belong in the courts of the United States of America.”
9:33 p.m. ET: Susan Ferrichio asks a question of Governor Asterisk, who says . . . eh, something.
9:34 p.m. ET: Mitt Romney talks immigration. He wants “the best and brightest” to be admitted as immigrants.
9:35 p.m. ET: Herman Cain: “America’s got to learn how to take a joke.” Applause. He talks immigration — more applause.
9:37 p.m. ET: Gingrich slams Obama on immigration. Gets applause.
9:38 p.m. ET: Ron Paul goes off on a tangent about Iraq and Afghanistan.
9:40 p.m. ET: Now Byron York asks Romney about Standard & Poor’s and taxes. Mitt fields it pretty well. “We cut spending . . . balanced the budget . . . leadership.”
9:41 p.m. ET: Pawlenty touts his rating as governor by the Cato Institute. Expresses regret for taxes on cigarettes.
9:42 p.m. ET: Bachmann asked about her vote for cigarette taxes, uses it to accuse Pawlenty of “cut[ting] a deal with special interests.”
9:44 p.m. ET: More back and forth — Pawlenty vs. Bachmann. Pawlenty says Bachmann’s answer is “illogical” — Governor Spock!
9:46 p.m. ET: Rick Santorum jokes about how little time he’s getting on TV. It’s not actually a joke, because so much of the debate is being chewed up by Romney, Pawlenty and Bachmann.
9:49 p.m. ET: Newt Gingrich draws applause for trashing the debt-ceiling bill and its “super commission.”
9:50 p.m. ET: Now Chris Wallace tries to stir up bad mojo between Pawlenty and Romney, using T-Paw’s “ObamneyCare” quote.
9:51 p.m. ET: Mitt Romney invokes the 10th Amendment. You’ll never go wrong in a GOP debate that way.
9:53 p.m. ET: More TV time for Mitt. Notice that Santorum doesn’t get these kind of question-and-follow-up deals.
CRAP: THE POWER UNIT ON MY COMPUTER HAS GONE BAD!
10:44 p.m. ET: I’m back from Wal-Mart, where I bought a new power unit for $74. Good Lord, what a nightmare.
10:50 p.m. ET: Rick Santorum is very good.
10:51 p.m. ET: Commercial break. While I was coming back from Wal-Mart, I had a phone conversation with Jimmie Bise Jr., who pointed out that, once again, when T-Paw had a chance to go after Romney head-to-head, he pulled his punches. But no such deference toward Bachmann. Also, Byron York got booed for asking a question about biblical “submission.” In general, I think Bachmann got the better of it, and T-Paw looks weak.
* * * PREVIOUSLY * * *
The National Affairs Desk, 5 p.m. CT
AMES, Iowa
Greetings from the Hilton Coliseum at Iowa State University, media headquarters for tonight’s criticalpivotalcrucialworld-historic debate between eight candidates for the Republican presidential nomination.
The tension here is palpable, and the greatest fear of the assembled masses of media — some 700 of whom have been credentialed for this giganticenormouscosmos-enveloping event — is that no words can possibly describe how hype-worthy it is.
But we’ll try our best, doggone it.
UPDATE: A couple more photos from the scene:
Alex Pappas of the Daily Caller toils diligently, determined not to be scooped by the other 699 reporters covering this spectacularcataclysmicapocalyptic occasion.
Michael Barone told me he was very impressed by how Michele Bachmann manages to be so upbeat and optimistic while pronouncing gloom and doom.
UPDATE II: Paulistas gotta “represent the man”:
UPDATE III: More photos:
Gwen Ifill of PBS interviews . . . somebody important, I guess.
Rep. Steve King gives a pre-debate interview to Shira Toeplitz of Roll Call.
Jon Ward of the Huffington Post and Dave Weigel of Slate.
Ed Morrissey and Tina Korbe of Hot Air with Tony Katz of PJM.
Romney leaves Pella and makes his way an hour up the road to Des Moines. He’s the honored guest at a Polk County Republican fundraiser at the home of Nick Van Patten . . . Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, and other candidates have already been to previous county party fundraisers, and these people aren’t necessarily sold on Romney yet.
“He’s got a big fish hook in him,” warns Jack Salzeider, a commodities trader who wears one ring made of gold from the Black Hills of South Dakota and one ring that contains a slice of every stone that’s mined in Arizona. “That’s Romneycare. I’m still waiting to hear from Rick Perry — he might be the guy.”
This is the same vibe I describe in my American Spectator column today, but I thought it might be worthwhile to show you how this “I’m not quite sure yet” vibe is perceived by another reporter. Weigel may be a sarcastic closet liberal, but he does actual reporting, which is what counts.
NEWTON, Iowa
As opposed to the deferential treatment the national front-runner gets from the big-deal national media, Mitt Romney received some good old-fashioned commie incivility from this left-wing pest at the Iowa State Fair — and gave it back in surprisingly feisty fashion:
We conservatives have spent months dissing Mitt as a spineless RINO, so it’s interesting to see how the Left still views him as a right-wing extremist.
NEWTON, Iowa
When I showed up at the state capitol Tuesday for the Tim Pawlenty event, T-Paw had already split the scene and I found myself talking to Joe Garofoli of the San Francisco Chronicle, who explained that Pawlenty had avoided reporters’ questions while making his early exit.
We will shamelessly steal from conservative blogger The Other McCain and say that Gov. Rick Perry is the Phantom Menace of the GOP presidential scrum. Dude just announced that he’s GOING to announce that he’s going to run for prez…and everybody’s trying to figure out how to respond. Announce that he’s going to announce…it doesn’t get more meta than that.
Now comes word that Perry will be in Iowa Sunday speaking in Rep. Michele Bachmann’s hometown of Waterloo. Oh, it’s on now…
You’ll notice that Joe linked me twice in that post, which is two more links than I’ve gotten from Allahpundit recently. But don’t get me started on that . . . Here is Joe’s video of T-Paw not answering questions about Rick Perry:
“We’re not doing a scrum,” Pawlenty says. “Scrum” being slang for “answering questions at an impromptu press conference” — which all the other candidates are doing at almost every stop along the way.
Tip for GOP media strategists: If your candidate doesn’t do “scrums,” reporters will get pissed off and start writing trash about your campaign, just for spite. I’m not saying it’s fair for reporters to do that. I’m just saying that’s what they do. It’s a matter of “is,” not “ought.”
Gwen Ifill and Charlie Cook talk to each other while David Weigel talks to
Iowa Republicans at Wednesday’s Polk County GOP fundraiser.
NEWTON, Iowa
One of the things that gets lost in all the horse-race coverage of a political campaign — who’s up? who’s down? — is the sense of what a campaign actually looks like at ground level. News reporters are trying to get The Big Scoop, and so they seldom report about the swirling scene of the campaign. Why? Because political journalists see this stuff everyday and, after a while, they take it for granted. For some reason, however, the scene always catches my eye, as you see from the lead of my latest American Spectator column:
DES MOINES — Charlie Cook of National Journal was talking to Gwen Ifill of PBS in the back yard, and Carl Cameron of Fox News was in the front yard, while reporters from the San Francisco Chronicle and the Philadelphia Inquirer milled around among the guests at the home of a local businessman here. They were all awaiting the arrival of the guest of honor at a fundraiser for the Polk County Republican Party. When Mitt Romney finally did arrive, TV camera crews, photographers and reporters rushed down to the street where they encircled him in a moving scrum as he made his way across the lawn to the front door.
The former Massachusetts governor hasn’t visited Iowa very often this year, and his rare visit Wednesday was occasioned by the same event that brought so many big-name journalists to town: Thursday’s televised debate, two days before Saturday’s Republican straw poll at Iowa State University in Ames. But while the national media turned out in droves to cover the Des Moines visit of the GOP’s national front-runner, these reporters and pundits from out of town aren’t eligible to vote in the straw poll, and few Iowa Republicans are expected to cast their votes Saturday for Romney. …
Please read the whole thing. I happen to have a video of Romney’s arrival at the event. You’ll see I was in the driveway talking to Romney’s senior advisor Eric Fernstrom when The Man arrived and set off a media lemming stampede:
A couple more photos from the event:
Mitt talks with guests near the buffet table. I can now report — I’m not sure if this is a national exclusive — that the former Massachusetts governor ate a pulled pork sandwich.
Mitt locates an actual Iowa Republican amid the horde of media.
My Spectator column, by the way, was half-written before I went to the Romney event. Two of my sources for the column were people I’d met during a monthly Wednesday lunch meeting of Iowa conservative leaders. The guy who invited me to that meeting was Will Upton of Americans for Tax Reform. We then went to Mickey’s Irish Pub on Court Street, where I started working on my column at the patio bar. Here is Will at Mickey’s:
So, with my column half-written, Will and I then went to the Romney event together and, when we got to the sign-in table, I said to the lady, “Grover Norquist sent us.”
How could they say no to that?
After I’d hit my deadline at 11 p.m., Will and I returned to Mickey’s for … uh, serious discussions of tax-related issues. I’m sure Mr. Norquist will understand why Will’s expense account for this trip includes a certain number of beverages under the category of “media relations.”
Because it’s against my religion to pick up the tab.
I’m about to head up to Ames to catch the scene prior to tonight’s debate. Which means it’s time for you to hit the freaking tip jar. But then again, isn’t always time to hit the tip jar?
NEWTON, Iowa
Tuesday, I met with Peter Singleton and Michelle McCormick of Iowa for Palin. And during our conversation, Peter kept referring to “when” Sarah Palin gets into the 2012 campaign. All the pundits have concluded that she’s not running, but . . . well, it’s Sarah Palin we’re talking about, so never say never:
After a more than two-month hiatus, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is planning to crash the presidential party once again with a heartland-themed re-launch of her “One Nation” bus tour this week in Iowa, according to a Palin fundraising email obtained by CNN.
Palin is bringing her Constitution-draped bus to the Iowa State Fair, just 30 miles south of where the Republican presidential field will take the stage on Thursday for a presidential debate in Ames.
It’s not yet clear which day the tour begins, but her surprise arrival in Iowa will happen before the closely watched Ames straw poll. Palin is not on the straw poll ballot.
Whether I’ll be able to catch Palin’s bus tour is an open question. She hasn’t published a schedule, although she has released a video:
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at
a fundraiser for the Polk County Republican Party.
DES MOINES, Iowa
Wow — what a crowd! I just got through covering Mitt Romney’s speech to a fundraiser for the Polk County GOP, and it was kind of eye-opening to see how much more media coverage the national front-runner gets.
So far in Iowa, I’ve been to events for Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum. If they get a couple of local TV stations and two or three newspaper reporters to an event, that’s “good coverage.” But at today’s Romney event — held at the home of a local businessman — it was a totally different level of coverage: The Philadelphia Inquirer, the San Francisco Chronicle, Gwen Ifill, Charlie Cook, Al Hunt, Carl Cameron of Fox News, etc. I counted no fewer than 12 TV or video cameras recording Romney’s speech. Here’s my brief report at The American Spectator:
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney? said Wednesday that America is “in crisis” as a result of President Obama?’s policies.
“I think you have to tell people the truth, and America is in crisis,” the former Massachusetts governor told a gathering of Republicans here. “We elected as our president a person we didn’t know very well. . . . There were people who said, ‘I wonder what will happen if we choose as president a man who has no experience?’ Now we know – and it’s not a very positive thing,” .
Romney spoke at a backyard party at the home of Des Moines businessman Nick Van Patten. The event was a fund-raiser for the Polk County GOP.
“You’ve got a lot of people in this country who are hurting, who are suffering by virtue of the president’s policies,” he said. “You may ask, ‘What did he do that was so bad?’ My answer is, well, almost everything.”
While he hasn’t made a strong effort in the upcoming Iowa Republican straw poll, Romney will participate in a debate Thursday at Iowa State University in Ames.
Mitt was accompanied by his oldest son, Tagg, and Tagg’s 15-year-old daughter Allie, who was making her first-ever campaign trip with her grandfather, whom she calls “Papa.”
My wife called me and said she saw me on Fox News, walking through the background. Given how many photographers were following Romney around during the event, I’m sure some people will pick up their newspapers tomorrow, see a picture and wonder, “Who’s that dude in the hat in the background?”
I’ve got more photos and video of the media mob scene — I even bumped into Duchess Rebecca — but right now I’m on deadline for Thursday’s American Spectator column. Please hit the tip jar.
UPDATE: By the way, I’d said this morning that I planned to hit the Romney event and then run up to Ames for a 7 p.m. Tim Pawlenty rally. That didn’t happen because, although the Romney event was scheduled for 5 p.m., the candidate didn’t arrive until about 6 p.m. and by the time he spoke, it was nearly 7 p.m. So there was no way I was going to make it up to Ames in time to hear Pawlenty, and also I saw a chance to get online quick with that brief news account of Romney’s speech, so I found the nearest McDonald’s and logged onto their WiFi. Once again (as on Monday night), I’ll be filing my Spectator column from a McDonald’s.
UPDATE II: Romney just rolled out this online campaign ad:
