Republicans Debate Again and the; Consensus of Media: They Like Mr. Romney; They Do Not Like Mr. Perry

With Conservatives, the Media May Not Be the Message

The fifth Republican debate and the third to include current front runner Texas Gov. Rick Perry was held, sponsored in part by Fox News (a wholly owned subsidiary of the Republican Party).  The overwhelming opinion of the pundits and professional observers was that Mr. Romney did very well, and that Mr. Perry was simply not prepared.

Here is an excellent summary from Taegan Goddard, an excellent observer of the political scene. And for the Chris Cillizza fans, of whom there should be many, here is his summary of the winners and losers of the debate, where he accords Mr. Romney a winner for the fifth straight time.

Mitt Romney: Yes, we are a broken record. In each of the five debates, we’ve named Romney a winner. But, it’s hard to argue with the performance he gave tonight . . Romney is, without question, the best debater in this GOP field and this may well have been his best showing to date.

As for Mr. Perry, Mr. Cillizza made these observations.

Rick Perry: The Texas governor started off just fine. While his answers on Social Security and immigration were far from perfect, they were steady enough. . .. Unfortunately for Perry, the debate was two hours long not one. In the second half, he appeared distracted and off his game — big time.

One opposing opinion on the debate outcome was the Washington Post’s Marc Thiessen, who felt that it was 

Romney who made the gaffe that will almost certainly appear in campaign ads that are probably being written as you read this, when he declared: “There are a lot of reasons not to elect me.”

Of course, to exploit this will take skill and intelligence on the part of Mr. Perry’s campaign management, something they have not exhibited so far in the campaign.

It seems like there are several things taking place.  One is that Mr. Perry did come prepared for the immigration issue.  A second is that in winning praise from the media and political observers, Mr. Romney may be helping himself in the general election, if he is nominated but it is not clear if he is helping himself with Republican primary voters. 

But what seems most significant is that experience counts.  Republicans are known for nominating the “next in line” candidate, one who has run before and is thus accorded the nomination by right.  It now seems like a major reason for the success of candidates who had previously run for the nomination is the experience they earned in making the earlier run.  Mr. Romney may be doing well and Mr. Perry doing poorly in debates may simply be the fact that Mr. Romney has gone through the process in 2008, while this is Mr. Perry’s first time in national politics. 

Mr. Romney is also earning the adoration of the media, but it remains to be seen if that stays or if that is even helpful in the Republican nominating process.  Stay tuned, there are more debates, and there are soon to be political ads.