As has been discussed just about everywhere, Fox News couldn’t possibly place all 17 GOP candidates on a single stage, so it split up the field according to polling averages, with the second-tier folks landing in the tundra of a 5 p.m. engagement.
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The RedRock Bar in Reno will show the debate at 6 p.m.at its location at 241 South Virginia Street in Reno.
Republican presidential candidates won’t be the only ones getting national exposure Thursday in the first nationally televised presidential debates of the year.
Members of the press also voiced their displeasure with what appeared to be an attempt by the Fox moderators to goad the candidates into fighting one another on stage. How is it possible, the moderators implored, that each of you distinguished public servants could be losing so badly to The Donald?
We’ll chime in when necessary. But to the extent these exercises have any value, it’s in educating the (mildly attentive) public about those positions, and about pushing candidates to make promises about what they will do and who they will be if elected. You have to play by the general rules. You watch TV debates. You have to respect each other. Did any of you get a phone call from Bill Clinton? That’s the goal.
It took Fox News less than a half an hour to propose, in the form of a question, that the next president ramp up surveillance on mosques. We look at polls and see what topics seem to be really important to them.
On immigration, Santorum said “the compassion is in our laws”, and the U.S.is “not a country of people who do whatever they want”.
No, I’m not deceiving myself on how enlightened the electorate would be if only debates were high-minded recitations of policy papers. Don’t say them. Especially if they are agreeable terms and you are about to disagree. This kind of event-it will be something that they can learn a lot from. Or you could take your pick of sports metaphors: The Undercard, the J.V. Team, or the Bronze Medal Match. What have you learned? It’s a very personal experience when you interview people.
You’ve been at this for a long time.
Among the absurd questions posed at that debate: Politico’s Jim VandeHei selected a submitted question from a man who wanted Mitt Romney to disclose “What do you dislike most about America?”
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Everything. I have loved politics since I was a little girl. So the audience is watching clips on the news the following day, or reading about it in the newspapers the next day, or – most likely – seeing what their friends have posted about the debate on Facebook or even Twitter. I get like a kid every time it’s time for the presidential election. It’s going to be a great year.
