The All-American Presidential Forums, Republican Edition

The All-American Republican Presidential Forum was an excellent showcase of what a small debate can offer. It will perhaps be remembered as the most unusual nationally televised debate of this presidential campaign since it failed to attract any of the top Republican candidates, yet in terms of content and the pictures it offered of each participating candidate's entire platform it will likely rank among the best in quality. By forcing each candidate to answer each question, the Forum defied the tired pattern that Republican debates have tended to follow so far. Thus, instead of just hearing Ron Paul rage about Iraq and Tom Tancredo decry illegal immigration we also got to listen to them talk about topics like health care and the justice system. It was a nice change.

Given moderator Tavis Smiley's public suggestion that the missing Republicans were choosing to ignore minority voters by not attending the debate, it was only natural for the candidates who did show up to attempt to show themselves as concerned about minority issues and solicitous of minority votes, but some made more of an effort than others. Mike Huckabee and Sam Brownback in particular seemed to make a point of adopting a conciliatory and concerned tone throughout the debate. On the other hand, Tom Tancredo -- the surprise attendee who had earlier in the week suggested the debate wasn't worth his time because the top tier candidates wouldn't be attending -- tried to downplay the relevance of race to several issues raised in the debate, including the high rate of unemployment amongst black high school graduates which he linked to illegal immigration. Ron Paul seemed to fluctuate between these two approaches; at times he seemed like a pure idealogue, entirely concerned with message and not audience, but he also freely criticized manifestations of racism in the justice system in regards to the drug war and the death penalty. Duncan Hunter played the historian throughout the debate, proudly recounting the Republican Party's history of being a champion of African Americans, but he kept mentions of race to a minimum when discussing issues. In contrast, Alan Keyes mentioned race incessantly and seemed at times to be addressing his answers entirely to the black community, though the content of his message did not differ much from what he says in other venues.

While three of the Republicans at the Forum are commonly considered religious conservatives, the difference between Alan Keyes on one hand and Mike Huckabee and Sam Brownback on the other was readily apparent. Keyes attempted to turn the conversation towards "family values" issues at every step of the way, similar to how Tancredo continually linked illegal immigration to other issues. Huckabee and Brownback on the other hand seem to be quite content to talk about other issues in their own context without injecting a family values or religious conservative agenda into everything they say. Keyes' focus on marriage and family as the panacea to cure society's ills makes me wonder if a person like me, who is unmarried and has no children and is not thinking about getting married or having children, even exists in his world. While Huckabee impressed me with his analysis of the justice system and his idea for including photo ID production as part of mobile voter registration and Brownback surprised me with his concept of instituting an optional flat tax in economically depressed areas to stir up growth, Keyes focused his eloquence squarely on promoting a family values agenda. Ultimately, I don't think a one-dimensional candidate is very likely to win a presidential election, but Keyes clearly has a role to play in this campaign: he alone of all the Republicans will inject Christian conservative ideas into debate even when it is not all that convenient to do so, and he will also freely criticize other Republicans for not following his lead.

I never expected to be saying this, but I honestly thought Huckabee and Brownback performed far better than the other candidates. I've praised Huckabee before, but Brownback was something of a revelation to me; he performed about ten times better in this debate than in any previous Republican debate I've seen. The tone those two adopted which I mentioned earlier may have contributed to their performance, as they did seem to be very comfortable with the venue. I think Huckabee is the most well-spoken of the Republican candidates, and it is very difficult to put him in an uncomfortable rhetorical position (this quality is reminiscent to me of former president Bill Clinton), but I have noticed he can also be Clintonesque in the Hillary fashion at times. When he talked about improving employment opportunities for minorities, I really had no idea what he had in mind...that's just too vague, pretty words which fail to hold even a promise of a solution. If Huckabee is planning on a new Works Progress Administration in the inner cities, I think we need to know about that right now! Huckabee I thought also had the worst moment of the debate because he used a question about Darfur as an excuse to start talking about abortion and poverty in America. The idea that Americans have problems at home is a valid reason why America should not focus its resources so much elsewhere, but Darfur is one of the great tragedies of our time and shouldn't be brushed aside because abortion is legal in the United States! I don't support American military intervention in Darfur, either, but hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost and there should be recognition of that fact whenever Darfur is discussed.

Ron Paul doggedly put forward his views as he always does, but he seemed a little bit tired in this debate to me. No matter -- Paul has never been the smoothest speaker around, but he will still keep talking about liberty to whoever will listen. As I mentioned previously, this debate was good because it forced candidates like Paul and Tancredo to weigh in on a variety of issues, not just a single "pet" issue. We did see a glimpse of the softer side of Paul here, the Ron Paul who became opposed to the death penalty when he realized innocent people were being convicted and killed...but the glimpse was fleeting. Paul is uncompromising in his support for individual liberty and the free market, and his message doesn't really change from venue to venue. This debate, though, may have shed some light on some of Paul's stances that may not often be heard elsewhere: his dislike of minimum wage laws and his opposition to a national ID card, for instance.

Duncan Hunter is one of the more enigmatic figures in this presidential race. He seems to be the one guy out there who is really enjoying himself and is utterly indifferent to the poll numbers and amount of support he receives. There's a twinkle in his eye as he speaks about defense, military strategy, and the border fence; it is noticeably absent at times when some other topics come up. This was Hunter's strongest debate by far, as he showed a nice sense of humor and a good knowledge of history to go along with his focus on national security and illegal immigration. Alas, he was also the only guy to get challenged by the moderator for not answering a question directly; Hunter is definitely a candidate who has a set of core issues he really cares about and a pile of "other" issues he approaches gingerly at best. Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised to see Hunter get a cabinet position if the next president is Republican. Personally, I think he should start writing novels about espionage and covert military operations, perhaps set in the Cold War era. I made a feeble joke in my last post about Hunter generating excitement, but I have to admit that line about driving a "humanitarian corridor" across Sudan was kind of exciting, though I don't exactly know what would be involved in that process.

In short, the All-American Republican Presidential Forum was a successful debate even without the top tier Republicans. Brownback and Huckabee distinguished themselves above the rest of the pack, but the other candidates also performed well. Alan Keyes embraced his role as a virulent champion of family values. Ron Paul continued to preach liberty. Tom Tancredo blamed much of the country's ills on illegal immigration. Duncan Hunter made us laugh and feel protected. Most importantly, though these guys did pretty much what they always do, we got a deeper glimpse of their entire platform because of the questions which were asked and the time these second tier candidates were allowed to speak. If you missed the debate, you can watch it online, read a transcript, or listen to a podcast by visiting the official web site of the All-American Presidential Forums.