The 2nd Debate--Ratings of the Republican Candidates

Columbia, SC (TLS). The Republican candidates squared off for their second debate here this evening at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC. The University, which boasts over 30,000 students here in a metropolitan area of roughly 400,000, became the focus of thousands of news personnel from around the country, some from as far away as Washington State, in order to see these candidates in action.

An estimated crowd of 10,000 gathered for this forum, which was hosted and aired by Fox News. News veteran Britt Hume, Washington bureau chief for Fox News, did his normally admirable job of moderating this debate.

The questions presented to the candidates were reasonable, thoughtful, thorough, sometimes confrontational, and substantive. In fact, Fox News, Britt Hume, and company, can take pride in the fact that tonight they displayed a brilliant presentation of professional journalism.

Tonight's format was decidedly different from what we have seen so far in these gatherings. Fox had stated prior to the debate to expect changes, and they delivered. There was room for interaction between candidates, with Giuliani going head-to-head with Ron Paul on the reasons we were attacked on 9/11. There was even an innovative part of the debate where Britt Hume presented a hypothetical scenario of a terrorist attack on America. The candidates then had to describe what they would do in light of the attack.

As always, The Liberty Sphere will begin by presenting our analysis of the effectiveness of the candidates' presentation, i.e., clarity and style of communication, connection with the audience, logical progression of rhetoric, and ability to answer the questions asked rather than running off on tangents.

In light of these qualities, The Liberty Sphere ranks the candidates as follows, in order of their overall effectiveness of presentation:

Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter (3-way tie)
John McCain, Tom Tancredo, Mitt Romney, Sam Brownback (4-way tie)
Tommy Thompson
Jim Gilmore
Ron Paul

The person showing the most improvement over the first debate was Tom Tancredo, who was engaging, articulate, and powerful. The biggest disappointment was Ron Paul, who implied that the reason we were attacked on 9/11 was directly due to our involvement in the Middle East for years. This played right into the hands of Rudy Giuliani, who was visibly outraged at such a suggestion, and displayed the indignation of one personally offended by the mere suggestion that America itself is responsible for the terrorist murders of our citizens.

When we are dealing with radical Islam, no amount of isolationalism would have prevented them from attempting to carry out the will of Allah in slaughtering the infidels. Ron Paul should know this.

In fact, the major gaffe of the evening was by Ron Paul on this issue, who may have just insured his demise as a viable candidate.

Second, The Liberty Sphere will rate the candidates based upon our eight-point 'Liberty Scale.' This is the heart of our ratings system, for the emphasis here is exclusively on the issues alone.

The eight issues we have chosen by which to rate the candidates on the issues are as follows: taxes, gun rights, national defense, abortion, the War on Terror, the War in Iraq, border security, and immigration control. These particular issues are at the heart of liberty, and they are consistent with The Liberty Sphere's mission statement.

For a full explanation on our rationale for rating the candidates on these eight issues, see our post on the first Democratic debate here:
http://thelibertysphere.blogspot.com/2007/04/ratings-of-democratic-presidential.html

Based upon The Liberty Sphere's analysis of each of the 10 Republican Presidential candidates and the extent to which they adhere to our eight key indicators of liberty, the candidates in tonight's debate are rated as follows on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest score:

Duncan Hunter--10
Mike Huckabee--10
Tom Tancredo--8
Jim Gilmore--7
Rudy Giuliani--7
Mitt Romney--6
Sam Brownback--6
Ron Paul--6
Tommy Thompson--6
John McCain--5

You will note several items of interest. Tom Tancredo significantly helped himself in tonight's debate. So did Rudy Giuliani. Ron Paul lost a great amount of ground due to his more complete explanation of his views on foreign policy and his apparent short-sighted take on the nature of radical Islam. We did not create Muslim terrorists. To merely imply such a thing either deliberately or inadvertently is to insure the end of one's candidacy, for all intents and purposes.

Our rationale on giving significantly higher marks to Rudy this evening revolves, in part, around his eloquent explanation of his views on abortion. Although we disagree on how to deal with a moral issue, we can respect his point of view because he is honest about it, and because he has obviously thought it through very thoroughly. In addition, we believe that his credentials as a player on the world stage against global terrorism were on full display this evening. And it doesn't hurt that he pledges to appoint only strict constructionists to the courts and that he believes in American capitalism and free enterprise as opposed to Hillary Clinton's socialism.