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
MSNBC.com: So are the expectations artificially high or low for
Thompson? Probably a combination of the two.
* The press corps which was gathered in the filing center seemed as
interested in the pre-game body language of Thompson
communications director, Todd Harris, as they were in discussing
who-needed-to-do-what over the course of the ensuing two hours.
* Here's a tip for the political geniuses at NBC: Two hours is too
long.
* And here's another tip for those same political geniuses: Two
hours is also too long for Chris Matthews to act like a
professional.
* In the end Thompson did fine. He did better than fine and he even
came close to the bar the press had reset - after the debate was
over. CBS claimed he hadn't "dominated" the debate, which no one
had suggested was necessary for a guy in second place in nearly
every poll; the Chicago Tribune wrote about the
who's-the-best-tax-cutter mini-debate between Mitt Romney and Rudy
Giuliani by pointing out it "took place with Thompson standing
awkwardly in between" the Governor and the Mayor.
* My own take is this: Thompson did way well enough. After his
nervousness at answering the first question out of the box, he
settled down and used facts when necessary, rhetoric when
necessary, home-spun common sense when necessary and humor when
appropriate.
* Romney and Giuliani are polished debaters in this, their sixth or
seventh appearance and now seem willing to go after each other:
Romney because he needs to show he's still in the top tier despite
being stuck in single or low-double digits in national polls;
Giuliani because he can use a fight with Romney to maintain his
lead over Thompson without directly engaging him.
* It didn't appear to me that Sen. John McCain was particularly on
his game; his campaign had announced he had given a speech at the
Detroit Economic Club at noon and it is likely he left his game in
the on-deck circle there.
* The big loser was Mike Huckabee. Huckabee is still in this thing
largely on the strength of his previously excellent debate
performances. But whether it was the fact that Thompson was on the
stage for the first time, or because Huckabee is running out of
gas, he was just another second-tier guy in at the Dearborn
debate.
* Final thought? Never underestimate the value of lowering
expectations.