Thursday, September 27, 2007

Paul, Huckabee shine in debate

It's not like I have to say this again but I will: The GOP frontrunners missed a great opportunity to shine tonight in the All American Forums Debate. But, at the same time, it was nice to have fewer candidates on the stage. With only six candidates, they all got a chance to answer a bunch of questions. Many of the questions were similar to the ones asked of the Democrats at the previous debate. I'm also pretty shocked that some of the Republican answers were similar to the answers forwarded by the Democrats.
If audience response was a measure of who won the debate, Ron Paul would get the award. It was clearly his crowd but he didn't seem as sharp as in previous debates.
Mike Huckabee came across well, answering all the questions thoughtfully. And, frankly, he looked the most presidential of all of them on the stage. Huckabee shouldn't be so low in the polls.
Host Tavis Smiley did a fine job moderating. He had to keep telling Alan Keyes his time was up. No surprise there. Keyes is a great debater; but he is a Johnny one note. And he won't win. Duncan Hunter got the one reprimand of the debate, when Smiley interrupted him and told him to answer the question which he then did.
Lastly, the panelists and participants all asked quality questions about serious issues which are a concern of both white and black folks. It was a quality debate all around.

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