I'm watching the debate with my fellow WMUR/Gather.com bloggers. This posting is the live blog of the debate live from St. Anselm College in Manchester, NH.
8:48pm: Signing off for now to prepare for the Spin Room. Video and pictures will follow tomorrow. Thanks for hanging with me!
8:46pm: The audio keeps dropping from the broadcast and we keep missing answers.
8:45pm: "What has been President Bush's biggest mistake since taking office?" I don't think we have enough time to answer that question.
8:44pm: McCain in the next question says that we need to stop "earmarking" or the practice of putting pork into spending bills.
8:42pm: English IS the language of this country. Yay for Tancredo. McCain comes back with a "muchos gracias" and gets applause. Dumb.
8:41pm: ...and Blitzer doesn't. Interesting.
8:38pm: Romney gets a flip-flop question on immigration. He's for English as the official language but is airing ads in Spanish. Romney clarifies that he's for legal immigration and loves people who come here through legal means. I think he missed on this answer, personally. I'm waiting for Blitzer to redirect him.
8:37pm: Yep...we're still on Morals. This is another question that should have been asked of both Democrats and Republicans alike.
8:33pm: Now we're onto "moral issues" and what each candidate thinks is the most important one. This is a bit of a Miss America question in my opinion. Where are the questions about education funding or tax cuts? I want these guys to tell me what they're going to do.
8:29pm: They've just posed the question from one of my fellow bloggers about health care and single-payer systems.
8:22pm: Can a conservative platform also include a conservationist agenda? (All the candidates are rising now.) Perhaps people forget that GOP was the party that first got involved with conservation back in the day. There IS room for it, the GOP just needs to take it more seriously.
8:19pm: Giuliani now copies McCain and rises to answer. I'm still having difficulty hearing all the audio, especially when Rudy talks.
8:18pm: John McCain rises and addresses the lady in the audience directly. He is the only one to do so. He also gives the best answer to the question there. Score one for McCain, finally.
8:15pm: The first question is from a young lady who has lost her brother in Iraq. Her question is about bringing the troops home. Duncan Hunter talks about how his son joined the USMC, but didn't really answer when the troops are coming home from Iraq. Sam Brownback brought up his three state solution. Again. I'm already tired of hearing about it.
8:14pm: Intermission is over and I've just had my interivew with WMUR. It's back to the action...
8:07pm: Intermission! Back shortly!
8:05pm: Here's hoping the questions in the 2nd half of the debate from the audience are better than these ones.
8:04pm: Now they're asking about Scooter Libby. Jeez...Blitzer is killing me.
8:01pm: Four hours ago I predicted they'd ask this question: How would you use former President George W. Bush in your administration? How predictable.
8:00pm: None of the candidates think that gays should be able to serve openly in the military. Sad.
7:58pm: I don't like Mitt's or Rudy's answer on DA/DT saying this isn't the time. That answer is a total cop-out.
7:55pm: Is it time to end "Dont Ask/Don't Tell." Paul thinks it's a decent policy but thinks that any kind of unwanted sexual behavior--homosexual or heterosexual--needs to be dealt with. Huckabee thinks that the issue is already covered in the Uniform Code of Military Conduct (so, no answer). Giuliani thinks we need to rely on the judgment of our military commanders.
7:53pm: Is giving the oil companies subsidies right in light of their record profits? Amazing.
7:51pm: "GOP and Big Oil"--I can't believe that this line of questioning is even present. We don't get "Democrats and Big Labor" now do we??
7:47pm: Mitt Romney was then asked the inevitable question about his Mormonism, which he stressed he feels is a valid question. While I missed the last part of his answer, I do think he handled the situation well. He's getting a LOT of time.
7:44pm: It's interesting---WMUR's studio audience reaction was very favorable during Mike Huckabee's explanation of his Creationist beliefs. I didn't expect that.
7:42pm: Mitt Romney explains his stance on abortion and I think that he's doing a decent job about it. He receives some applause afterwards. I don't know if Giuliani and McCain will be able to play the flip-flop card effectively now.
7:40pm: Ligtning strikes as Rudy attempts to explain his abortion position and criticism from a church official. Priceless.
7:38pm: Should Fred Thompson get involved in the race? Please...why are we wasting time with these pointless questions? "Jab Your Rival" indeed.
7:37pm: McCain's candidacy has officially "jumped the shark."
7:36pm: English as the official language--there is lone dissent from John McCain. Figures.
7:35pm: "Dr. No" now gets asked about immigration and talks about when we subsidize things, we get more of them, and that's what we're getting with amnesty. If we allow it, we get more illegals. Well, I suppose that's true.
7:34pm: Tommy Thompson is right: we must first secure the border before we do anything else.
7:32pm: Have we even heard from Gilmore yet?
7:31pm: Romney gives a response on immigration that we should enforce the law on the books from 1986. Amen.
7:29pm: First reference of 9/11 by Giuliani.
7:27pm: McCain says, "If anyone has a better idea on immigration..." and everyone raises their hand, including me.
7:26pm: Blitzer tries to incite fireworks between McCain and Romney and Romney is gracious about the whole situation. McCain can't even look at him.
7:23pm: Here we go! Immigration...how long before John McCain turns red-faced??
7:22pm: Romney is really solid tonight. He's going to be criticized for getting a lot of time, but he's saying the right things.
7:20pm: "Would you be prepared to use a tactical nuclear device to disable Iran's nuclear capability?" The answer to this question must be "yes." That option has to be on the table or Iran knows our bark is meaningless. Why wasn't this question asked of the Democrats on Sunday??
7:19pm: Why is the notion of talking to Iran such a bad thing? Isn't that what they said we didn't do with Iraq??
7:18pm: I'm wondering at this point--twenty minutes in--how many of the candidates we haven't heard from. There are far too many folks on that stage.
7:17pm: They make a slight change up and ask a question about terrorism: "Did President Bush make the right call by opening dialogue with Iran?" Lots of Bush second-guessing in the questions tonight.
7:15pm: All of the candidates being asked about Iraq are doing their best to distance themselves from George W. Bush.
7:14pm: Yep...Ron Paul was the guy who said we ought not have ever been there and we should come home. There's a big shock.
7:12pm: Wow...applause for JohnnyMac. I didn't expect that at all tonight....
7:08pm: I think it was Sam Brownback who just announced he was going to offer a 3 state solution in Iraq. I don't see that ever working.
7:07pm: Do they think there's a Republican on this stage that's NOT going to say going into Iraq was the right thing to do?? Other than Ron Paul, that is...
7:05pm: "Was it a mistake for us to go into Iraq knowing what you know now?" Romney answers first and puts the blame clearly where it belongs: with Saddam's refusal to provide proof to the UN. Blitzer redirects and this question is a lot of "coulda/shoulda/woulda."
7:04pm: Mike Huckabee just had a GREAT line that I didn't even hear. Clearly he's looking to win the soundbite contest early on...
7:03pm: I can't hear a bloody thing.
7:02pm: ...but I can barely hear Wolf Blitzer. This is frustrating.
7:00pm: Ah...there is audio! Finally!
6:59pm: We are waiting on the audio to turn on here in the Stoutenburgh Gymnasium. No audio would make for a sucky debate watching experience, eh?
6:57pm: Waiting for the debate to start. Man, is it hot in this gym!
