DISCLOSURE: For those who came in after the opening credits, I am
a paid advisor to the Fred Thompson Presidential campaign.
* Roger Simon of Politico.com handicapped the Republican
Presidential debate in his curtain-raiser thus:
* Has there ever been a major presidential candidate with lower
expectations on the eve of his first debate than Fred Thompson?
All he has to do is not fall asleep.
All he has to do is not throw up.
All he has to do is not drool.
* The debate, which was co-sponsored by CNBC, MSNBC and the Wall
Street Journal, was held on Tuesday in Dearborn, Michigan a few
hundred yards from the Ford Motor Company headquarters.
* It was Thompson's first debate. The most previous debate, which
had been held in New Hampshire, occurred on the night that
Thompson appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno to announce he
was entering the race.
I have said to reporters a number of times over the past month by
suggesting the cries of "foul" by the Republican candidates who
were in New Hampshire that night might have had just the slightest
tinge of envy green.
I invented this fictitious question by one of those candidates to
his staff: "How was it that Thompson got to sit next to Jay Leno
and I had to stand next to Ron Paul?"
* The buzz around Thompson was deafening in the run-up to the
debate. It was do or die for Thompson.
Fox News: [Thompson] is trying to surpass low expectations for his
performance and prove that he's in the contest for real and
prepared to be president.
The Baltimore Sun: Thompson entered his premier televised debate as
a presidential candidate today with remarkably low expectations.
That's the way he wanted it.
Washington Post: This Afternoon's GOP Debate Is Seen As A Crucial
Test Continued... |