We just saw the completion of the first debate of the 2016 presidential calendar. It was among the seven Republican candidates who did not make it into the top ten. Since these are folks who are polling at less than 2.5% in the last few national polls, one would not normally expect much from the debate. In truth, however, many of the candidates did much better than expected.
Let's break the group down. First we have those who really outperformed expectations. That includes Carly Fiorina who was, by far, the best of this group. She was clear. She was concise. Her remarks had substance. She answered the questions asked (something that some others did not). Indeed, Fiorina seemed to be ready to respond no matter what got thrown at her, and her answers made sense. Another candidate who outperformed was Jim Gilmore. The late entering candidate gave convincing and well thought out answers on a variety of subjects. Now, to be fair, expectations for Gilmore were quite low, so his outperformance is not as significant an event as it might have been. Nevertheless, Gilmore showed himself to be someone who might at some point catch on with the voters.
The second group consists of those who met expectations but nothing more. That group includes Bobby Jindal, and Rick Santorum. Both were fine. Both were persuasive. The problem is that neither really produced any reason why voters ought to support them.
The third group of Rick Perry, George Pataki and Lindsay Graham did not live up to expectations. Perry was clearly spouting talking points he had practiced in advance. While that may have been what all of them were doing, Perry was the one who most clearly was just reciting from memory. Senator Graham seemed not to care what was asked; he kept talking about sending troops to confront ISIS. Perhaps he forgot his answers for all the other subjects. Governor Pataki had the additional problem of telling lies. I listened to Pataki expound more than once on how he got the Democrats in the New York Legislature to pass very conservative legislation while he was governor. The problem is that I know the legislation passed in New York while Pataki was governor; it did not include anything remotely conservative.
The clear winner of this first event was Carly Fiorina. Hopefully, she will be in the top debate next time. She deserves it.
Let's break the group down. First we have those who really outperformed expectations. That includes Carly Fiorina who was, by far, the best of this group. She was clear. She was concise. Her remarks had substance. She answered the questions asked (something that some others did not). Indeed, Fiorina seemed to be ready to respond no matter what got thrown at her, and her answers made sense. Another candidate who outperformed was Jim Gilmore. The late entering candidate gave convincing and well thought out answers on a variety of subjects. Now, to be fair, expectations for Gilmore were quite low, so his outperformance is not as significant an event as it might have been. Nevertheless, Gilmore showed himself to be someone who might at some point catch on with the voters.
The second group consists of those who met expectations but nothing more. That group includes Bobby Jindal, and Rick Santorum. Both were fine. Both were persuasive. The problem is that neither really produced any reason why voters ought to support them.
The third group of Rick Perry, George Pataki and Lindsay Graham did not live up to expectations. Perry was clearly spouting talking points he had practiced in advance. While that may have been what all of them were doing, Perry was the one who most clearly was just reciting from memory. Senator Graham seemed not to care what was asked; he kept talking about sending troops to confront ISIS. Perhaps he forgot his answers for all the other subjects. Governor Pataki had the additional problem of telling lies. I listened to Pataki expound more than once on how he got the Democrats in the New York Legislature to pass very conservative legislation while he was governor. The problem is that I know the legislation passed in New York while Pataki was governor; it did not include anything remotely conservative.
The clear winner of this first event was Carly Fiorina. Hopefully, she will be in the top debate next time. She deserves it.
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