The second CNN/YouTube Debate airs tonight on CNN at 8pm Eastern.
I've had a chance to preview a lot of the questions submitted for the Republican contenders for the nomination and, well, the questions are about as predictable as you'd expect. Everything from climate change to questions about doing away with the Electoral College. There are even questions from the 9/11 Truthers and a lot of "Mormon" questions.
The questions in this debate will be painful, at best.
What will be more interesting, however, is how each of the candidates will respond. Here's a quick W2W4 (What To Watch For) on each candidate and what they need to do to "win" the night:
Rudy Giuliani
Rudy needs to come out tonight and give answers that start with something other than, "Well, when I was Mayor of New York..." People need to gain the understanding from Hizzoner that there's a world that's bigger than the biggest city in the United States. Rudy has a vast understanding of what is going on in the world and, so far, that hasn't been highlighted in any of the debates.
Fred Thompson
FDT has to show that he really wants this job because, quite honestly, he just seems like he's going through the motions. He's purposely avoiding the early primary states because he thinks he's going to clean up in the Southern contests. He may, but he is coming across as far too laid back and aloof to be the next President of the United States. Thompson has to stand up and punch Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney in the mouth. (Figuratively, of course.)
John McCain
McCain has begun to gain some ground again since his mea culpa on illegal immigration and since he started calling his bus the "Straight Talk Express" again. Johnny Mac has to come to that stage and pretend like Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani don't even exist. He's got more experience in Washington than anyone on that stage, more experience with military matters and certainly more experience with foreign diplomacy. When he plays to these strengths, John McCain does extremely well--and he'll do more of that tonight.
Mitt Romney
Mitt will always bring a strong defense of his record, and you can expect more of that from him. In order to gain ground in the states outside of Iowa and New Hampshire, however, Romney needs to go on offense and put Rudy on the ropes a little bit. He's about to enter into a street fight with Rudy for the nomination and, in order to do that, he'll have to show some real fire.
Mike Huckabee
"The Other Man from Hope" has gained ground the last couple of months and has moved to second place in Iowa polilng behind Mitt Romney. Huckabee often has the most quotable and entertaining line in any of these debates and that will probably be true in this contest. Unfortunately for Huckabee, not even Chuck Norris can help with the recent scrutiny on his record as Governor of Arkansas. He'll need to hit back on the knocks he'll take on illegal immigration and taxes pretty hard in order to keep from losing any of the ground he's gained recently.
Ron Paul
Dr. Paul needs to do one thing and one thing only tonight in order to do really well--provide an answer to a question that doesn't include one of the following words: Iraq, war or illegal. He needs to start clarifying his actual positions on things people have questions on because, Lord knows, we already know how he feels about the Iraq War. He needs to add depth to his campaign by flushing out his positions on a variety of things (like why he wants to disband the FBI, for example). Otherwise, he's doomed to remain in single digits.
Duncan Hunter
Tom Tancredo
Hunter and Tancredo would need to have the night of their lives if they stand any chance at doing well in any of the primaries or caucuses. While both are definitely strong Conservative candidates, the only way they'll gain any ground with voters is to do or say something radical--and that just isn't happening. I anticipate both of them to drop out of the race right after Super Tuesday.
You know how nurses ask you to chart your pain on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being "unbearable?" Look for the questions tonight to chart off the scale at about a 15 or 20.
It all starts at 8pm EST tonight on CNN and CNN-HD.
William Smith
ConservativeBlogger.com
