Heat on Perry and Cain to deliver in tonight’s debate
THE DAILY BLADE: A string of state and national public opinion polls and straw votes have put former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain in the top three – and even leading the pack. So Cain is certainly not going to be “an afterthought” in tonight’s debate in Hanover, NH, sponsored by the Washington Post and Bloomberg News, with the moderators egging the putative front-runners to go mano-a-mano by pitting them against each other while he and the other candidates shift from one foot to the other waiting for a question to be thrown to them.
So the first question is, how will the candidates be arranged – former Gov. Mitt Romney (MA) and Gov. Rick Perry (TX) standing next to each other center stage? This debate will be conducted as a round-table, with the candidates sitting facing the hosts and amidst the audience. And Cain will literally be center stage – in fact, he will be sitting in between Romney and Perry.
Now, instead of Romney and Perry punching and counter-punching each other, this sets up the possibility of Perry and Cain double-teaming Romney. Cain indicated that the comity between them in past debates has come to an end, with Cain promising to “go after Romney.” Romney has had no trouble swatting away Perry’s attacks, but it remains to be seen how hard he is willing to hit back at Cain – in part, because of noblesse oblige; there’s something unseemly about the privileged scion of an established, fabulously wealthy family berating the son of a janitor and a domestic worker who experienced the humiliations of segregation while growing up.
This debate centers on the economy – which should play into the strengths of Romney, Cain and Perry. Romney has his 59-point economic plan to talk up and Cain has his 9-9-9 tax reform plan to push. This debate gives Perry a chance to catch up and introduce his own jobs or economic plan. Tonight is make-or-break for Perry and if he hasn’t come up with a plan he can outline in a couple of minutes that shows voters how his “Texas Miracle” can be replicated in the other 49 states no amount of boning up on forensic technique, Romney-bashing zingers, snappy sound-bites and factual data will help him overcome the hardening perception that he’s not ready for Prime Time.
This debate is Cain’s big chance to kick Perry down into the second tier – but to do that, he must outperform Perry. Cain is the first to admit that his Achilles heel is foreign policy and the focus of the debate may not give Romney or the other candidates much opportunity to put him on the spot, but if Romney and/or Perry take him on he has to be able to hold his own.
Tonight, a Republican star may be cemented in the heavens while another one falls to Earth. It remains to be seen whether it is Cain or Perry who shines on.
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