(Photo: Patrick Andrade for The New York Times)GOFFSTOWN, N.H.
Postscript; 10 p.m.
This debate tonight seemed a less tightly choreographed event than the Democratic debate, perhaps because the views of the eight Democrats are more or less similar, while those of the 10 Republicans are all over the map.
The Republicans, too, are saddled with an unpopular war and an unpopular president. Mr. Giuliani and Mr. McCain dominated the show; somehow, Mr. Romney seemed less of a presence tonight than in earlier debates.
Fred Thomspon, apparently, seems to see his opening as the “common sense” alternative. We’ll see if his Republican conferees let him persist with that image when he finally joins the debate for real.
9 p.m.That’s it. We’re going to check out what Fred Thompson has to say over on Fox News. We’ll circle back with some wrap up thoughts shortly.
8:58 p.m.Mr. Giuliani has hijacked the straight talk express. The question: How to bring moderates into the party. Mr. Giuliani’s answer: “Nominate me.” That includes respecting our differences, he said. Mr. Romney and Mr. McCain fell back on their stump speeches.
8:54 p.m.Mr. McCain seems especially relaxed tonight. On a question about Hispanics, he opened with, “Muchas gracias governor,” and turned to Mr. Romney. And he went on to advise people that when they are in Washington — no, he wasn’t trashing Washington here — he told them to visit the Vietnam Memorial, where they would see a lot of Hispanic names. He has had a few days of appearing on television defending the immigration bill and has been by turns angry and adamant; this is definitely a moderate, but impassioned presentation of his views.
8:41 p.m. A question from a professor of ethics and philosophy at St. Anselm: What is the most pressing moral issue of the day? Mr. Huckabee, a minister, first jokes that he’s getting all the moral questions tonight — better, he guesses, than getting immoral ones. But then, seriously, he says that Americans value and celebrate life.
Mr. Giuliani says Mr. Huckabee is correct, even though Mr. Giuliani has reaffirmed his support for abortion rights. He goes on to say that the challenge for our generation is to share American values like freedom of the press and freedom of religion with the rest of the world. Mr. Paul: the end of the war in Iraq. Mr. Brownback: being pro-life. In the midst of his answer, Mr. Blitzer asked Mr. Brownback if he could support Mr. Giuliani, because of his support for abortion rights. Mr. Brownback responded, “I don’t think we’re going to nominate someone who isn’t pro-life,” but went on to say that he would support the party’s nominee.
8:24 p.m. Mr. McCain just did what few candidates, Republican or Democrat, have done so sure-footedly in this campaign. When a woman from the audience said that her brother had been killed in Iraq, Mr. McCain stepped up and addressed her in a totally human way. Mr. McCain said he still believed in the war and President Bush’s surge, thanked her for her “endurance,” and added:
(Update)
“This war — I’m going to give you a little straight talk. This war was very badly mismanaged for a long time, and Americans have made great sacrifices, some of which were unnecessary because of this management of the — mismanagement of this conflict.
I believe we have a fine general. I believe we have a strategy which can succeed, so that the sacrifice of your brother would not be in vain; that a whole 20 or 30 million people would have a chance to live a free life in an open society and practice their religion no matter what those differences are.
And I believe if we fail, it will become a center of terrorism, and we will ask more young Americans to sacrifice, as your brother did. This is long and hard and tough, but I think we can succeed. And God bless you.”
He seems to have well learned the Dukakis lesson from 1988: Show your heart.
8:15 p.m. More of a mixed bag on pardoning I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby — the former top Cheney aide — than there was at the last debate. Last time, only Mr. Tancredo specifically said he would definitely pardon Mr. Libby. The only thing that has changed since then is that Mr. Libby was sentenced today to 30 months in prison. And Fred Thompson, the not-yet-announced candidate, has said he would pardon Mr. Libby. Tonight, Mr. McCain again said he would not.
Mr. Giuliani, a former prosecutor, first proclaimed: “I think the sentence was way out of line. I think the sentence was excessive.” But he then gave a multi-layered answer, the upshot of which was he would consider a pardon. When he was at the Justice Department in the Reagan administration, he recommended more than 1,000 pardons, he said, and in this case he would wait for the appeal. “A man’s life is at stake,” Mr. Giuliani declared.
He also called this “an incomprehensible situation” and noted that no underlying crime had been committed. Mr. Romney said that there was clearly prosecutorial abuse involved and he would keep open the option of a pardon. Senator Sam Brownback said he would pardon Mr. Libby, saying “the basic crime didn’t happen.”
Mr. Tancredo said yes, he would pardon Mr. Libby.
Correction: An earlier version of this post erroneously stated that Representative Ron Paul would pardon I. Lewis Libby. Mr. Paul said he would not pardon the former aide to Vice President Cheney. Representative Tom Tancredo said he would pardon Mr. Libby.
8:05 p.m.Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson doesn’t disappoint. Asked how he, as president, would use President Bush, he joked that he certainly wouldn’t send him to the United Nations.
8 p.m. While all the Democrats said the other night that they wanted to revise the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy to allow gays to serve openly in the military, the Republicans all say no. Mr. Giuliani said that in a time of war, “you don’t want to make fundamental changes like this.” Mr. Romney and Mr. McCain seconded Mr. Giuliani’s stance against allowing gays to serve openly.
7:55 p.m. These Republicans are joining in on saying that global warming exists. To some degree, they’re even blaming the big oil companies. Shows how much this issue has been mainstreamed.
7:51 p.m. Here’s the Mormon question to Mr. Romney, whose religion has troubled some voters. Mr. Romney quotes JFK and portrays Mormon beliefs as similar to those of other faiths. He said some pundits were hoping he would distance himself from his church for political reasons, but “that’s not going to happen.”
7:48 p.m. That Mr. Giuliani, you got to give him credit for a sense of theater. The sound system went on the fritz just when he was addressing the matter of the Rhode Island bishop comparing him to Pontius Pilate. He lifted up his hands unto the Lord…then when it happened again (from lightning outside), he said he was a little freaked given that he attended parochial schools as a child.
7:45 p.m. Fred is in the room! Well, figuratively. Mr. Blitzer asked a couple of candidates what they thought of Fred Thompson, the conservative who is lurkiing on the sidelines and ready to wade into this crowd of 10. They welcomed him. But the question wasn’t asked of the three front-runners, Mr. Giuliani, Mr. McCain and Mr. Romney.
7:40 p.m. On immigration, Mr. Giuliani broadsided the McCain bill, and tilted against Washington at the same time. “It has no unifying purpose,” he said of the McCain bill. “It’s a typical Washington mess,” full of compromises. Mr. Giuliani is not a compromise kind of guy. Mr. McCain said that Mr. Giuliani sounded as if he supported the bill, while Mr. Giuliani shook his head and then started pacing in the background. Mr. McCain made his big pitch for his bill here and reiterated that silence on the issue is the equivalent of amnesty for the 12 million illegal aliens who are here.
He seems to be the biggest supporter of President Bush in the group, having earlier supported him on the war and now calling for everyone to “come together with the president, the leader of our party.” Mr. Giuliani said the big problem with the bill is that it doesn’t provide a uniform data base; Mr. Romney said the problem is that the current law should be enforced and the borders secured.
7:25 p.m. Rudolph W. Giuliani is criticizing the Democrats too. (Hmmm.) He was typically direct — yes, he said, he would not rule out the nuclear option against Iran if Iran developed nuclear weapons — but he got in a dig at the Democrats. He said that during their debate, they sounded like they were “back in the 1990’s.” Those were the Clinton years, lest anyone has forgotten.
7:18 p.m. The Iraq war is obviously the overwhelming issue facing the nation and both sets of presidential candidates. The first questions here tonight are about the war, as they were Sunday night for the Democrats. Senator John McCain got our attention. He was asked if there was a Plan B if the Bush surge in Iraq doesn’t work. He had said a few weeks ago that he had no Plan B. Tonight, he answered by attacking Senator Hillary Clinton. At the Democratic debate, she had called Iraq “President Bush’s war.” Mr. McCain complained tonight that when her husband was president, “I didn’t say Bosnia was President Clinton’s war.”
He went on to say that she didn’t understand that president’s don’t lose wars, political parties don’t lose wars, nations lose wars. Interesting that he went after the front-running Democrat. He has a couple of Republicans to get out of the way first.
6:59 p.m. Hi everyone. We’re in New Hampshire, at St. Anselm’s College outside Manchester, for the third Republican debate. The candidates are just getting to the stage now. Those of us in the media filing center are at a bit of a disadvantage at the moment because we can’t hear anything. They’re working on it, they say.
