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Live Blogging During GOP Forum By Rick Klein

January 06, 2008 6:59 PM

9:37 pm: That's it for tonight, folks -- thanks for reading, and for writing. Check back for a full analysis tomorrow in The Note.

9:32 pm: OK, folks, all that's left now is the voting in New Hampshire. Final thoughts on this exchange: Nothing happened tonight that changes anything significant about this race. So one more day of stumping and then that's it. If I had to choose to a winner, it would be Fred Thompson -- but I concede, that's sort of a cop-out since he's not really competing in New Hampshire. I didn't see the Romney-McCain or Romney-Huckabee spats advancing as much. But Fox's focus group is calling this decisively for Romney, with Thompson as the weakest, so what do I know. I do think, for late-breaking voters, Romney comes across well because he's in command of his facts and looks very, very presidential. But it looks like he's going to lose here, anyway, to McCain, who did a solid job tonight.

9:29 pm: These are closing statements, I suppose. But it's bringing a slow end here.

9:25 pm: This question is kind of lame too. McCain is asked about his age -- is he going to say, "you're right, Chris, I AM too old to be president, my apologies, thank you and good night"?

9:24 pm: Re Kerik: "It has nothing to do with me." So he's not at all worried about the prospect of a trial?

9:22 pm: Rudy gets a "baggage" question. Here's the thing -- why ask that question at this point of the campaign, except to bring up the baggage? You know Giuliani isn't going to say anything interesting or new on this subject. Indeed, he uses it as a chance to talk about how great his record was as mayor.

9:19 pm: "Don't touch my hair," Romney says. He's said it before, but not before in a forum like this, so maybe that clip gets some play.

9:17 pm: This is sort of a process issue, to ask Romney about negative ads. But there's no denying that he has been far and away the biggest purveyer of "contrast" ads. I still don't get Mitt's distinction between personal attacks and attacks on records. If you call him a flip-flopper, and it's documented, is that personal?

9:15 pm: McCain doesn't want to say outright that Romney is lying about his record. A sign, to me, that he's confident that he's going to win New Hampshire.

9:13 pm: One of my ABC colleagues (wimpy about using his name) says that the debate is boring because there's not a crowd. It does make it seem more like a Sunday morning than a Sunday evening.

9:10 pm: As evidence of how good they are, Romney's press secretary, Kevin Madden, just e-mailed me to apologize for clogging my inbox. (See entry at 8:54.) It's OK, Kevin, I'm always happy to get e-mails from a fellow Yankee fan.

9:07 pm: Is Rudy acknowledging that he made a mistake on his immigration plan in the past? That seemed to be his suggestion, though he didn't come out and say it.

9:05 pm: Huckabee is tying himself in knots over immigration to explain that he's a hard-liner. The fact is he wasn't always, and he knows that this is a major sore point for him, so he's got a tougher plan than he would have endorsed a year or two ago.

9:02 pm: From ABC's Christine Byun: Thompson has tried to best Huckabee on this issue of habeas corpus before. He lectured Huckabee -- from afar, not sitting right next to him -- on the campaing trail back in Iowa last month. He even went on to say, "I wonder if he understands how the world really operates. Well, I don't wonder either. I already have a pretty good idea."

9 pm: Mitt Romney is playing a too-cute game with the word "amnesty." But as ABC's John Berman pointed out on "World News" this evening, he apparently thinks it's worth it to raise the issue, even if he's playing fast and loose with the facts. And Fox News had that quote ready to slam him with, saying McCain-Kennedy was "reasonable" and "not amnesty"!

8:57 pm: The Fox crawl says that Giuliani lives in New York with his "current wife." It would be weirder if he lived with one of his exes.

8:55 pm: Wait -- so does Huckabee want to close Gitmo or not? Now he says it's too good? It's Fred Thompson again lecturing him on another subject. If the election was decided just on debates, Thompson would be a frontrunner.

8:54 pm: For what it's worth, Romney may be down in the polls, but he still have the most professional, White House-style staff in the business. They are armed with dozens of well-documented fact sheets, many of which are clogging my inbox right now.

8:52 pm: Fred Thompson makes a salient point: "My friend Mitt thinks experience is important in all areas except for foreign policies." But does he have to show off about these secure rooms he spent time in? (Not the movie sets.)

8:47 pm: Love to hear Huckabee's travel log. He's essentially making Romney's argument on foreign-policy experience. New allies! (Won't last.)

8:45 pm: Interesting points from ABC's Teddy Davis: "Mitt Romney went further than he has in the past in endorsing the concept of slowing the growth of Social Security benefits for upper-income retirees. It came when he was commenting on Fred Thompson's proposal. Debate moderator Chris Wallace should have asked Romney at what level he would consider slowing the growth. Romney said that he would want to exempt retirees of modest income but he never specified what level he would consider modest.

"The exchange is a reminder of how Fred Thompson's Social Security proposal would be criticized in a general election: the argument would be that Thompson is placing the burden on the most vulnerable seniors. Notwithstanding the specific deficiencies of his proposal, Thompson still deserves credit for being more candid than his rivals in being willing to discuss painful Social Security tradeoffs."

8:42 pm: Romney's answer on experience vs. leadership -- I think it's a good argument, but I'm still not convinced how much water it holds. He does like to talk about executive background -- if it's not fair to hold governors to the foreign-policy experience standard, why is it fair to hold senators to the executive-experience standard?

8:39 pm: Ragingcentrist -- thanks for kind words. I don't want to make this a discussion of last night's Democratic debate, but I agree -- Obama is not the best of debaters. But it says something about the dynamics of these forums that a frontrunner can "win" just by not screwing up, while others need to "score" points in more traditional ways.

8:33 pm: McCain has worked on this answer too -- "not for profit, but for patriotism." This is the McCain that Republicans appear to be coming back to -- the solid, dependable, patriotic conservative.

8:32 pm: "Washington is fundamentally broken," Romney says. And here's the optimist -- this is the Mitt Romney that should have been running for president from the beginning, no?

8:30 pm: McCain: "I know that I have been an agent of change." Romney has a hard time taking this argument apart -- they KNOW John McCain well in New Hampshire.

8:27 pm: Kudos to Fred Thompson for again talking substance on a substantive question. He is sort of a policy wonk at heart, isn't he?

8:25 pm: If there was a crowd, there would be an audible sign when Rudy ducks a question like that. He was asked a direct question about the Fair Tax and he's talking a whole lot about bringing people out of poverty and getting sued by the ACLU. I'm not even sure he knows where he's going with this answer.

8:21 pm: PLEASE, Gov. Huckabee. OF COURSE you were talking about Romney when you said people wouldn't elect someone who looked like the guy who laid you off. Surely you could own up to that!!

8:20 pm: I didn't realize this was news, but ABC's Ron Claiborne notes that McCain scooped his own campaign by announcing his endorsement by former rep. Jack Kemp, R-N.Y. That was supposed to be announed Monday, Claiborne notes.

8:17 pm: Anyone else see what's going on in that building in the background? Looked like security guards were rushing into the building...

8:15 pm: Fred Thompson spends a lot of time asking for moments to talk. And he's not bad at talking, really he's not. I think he enjoys these debates a lot more than he does the time on the trail. He looks more statesmanlike when he's on a debate stage than when he's campaigning in a VFW hall.

8:13 pm ET: Anyone get all those Rudy figures? And does George Will get royalties every time Rudy quotes him?

8:11 pm ET: Huckabee has the tax-cutting question down pat by now. But there's a reason the Club for Growth despises him. Look -- none of these guys are perfect on this issue, and it's a biggie for NH Republicans. Romney to Huckabee: "Net-net, did you raise taxes in your state half a billion dollars?" Romney on defense: "I did not oppose the 2002 Bush tax cuts." (But remember that he stayed out of that debate quite conveniently. Huckabee gets back this line: "Maybe you don't have to obey the court in Massachusetts. I did in Arkansas." I want to say -- advantage, Romney.

8:07 pm ET: Romney appears more aggressive at the outset here. You think maybe New Hampshire matters to him?

8:04 pm ET: McCain immediately talks about his role in the "Reagan revolution." He wants to be cutting spending too -- still though, he is on record about those first-term Bush tax cuts. "I'm in favor of tax cuts, we'll do them. But we'll cut spending when I'm president of the United States." And the bridge to nowhere makes an appearance...

8:01 pm ET: First words out of Mitt Romney's mouth are about higher fees -- not very popular in New Hampshire. But he turns quickly to tax-lowering -- and he immediately goes into attack mode against John McCain. This is going to be fun.

7:55 pm ET: Sorry guys -- can't help with coordinates for this debate -- it's not ABC's, it's Fox's. And for the questioner who asks why nobody bloged last night's Democratic debate -- I'm sorry you missed my blog from last night, but if you want to read the transcript, here you go.

Rick Klein from ABC's The Note here -- I'll be online starting at 8 pm ET Sunday to blog during the Republican debate on Fox News. I'll be camped out at the bar of the Sheraton Four Points in Manchester -- turns out this is a "forum," not a debate, and reporters can't get anywhere near it, so why not blogging over burgers? Be part of the conversation in the comment section below.

January 6, 2008 in Thompson, Fred | Permalink | User Comments (19)

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Posted by: Ellen Watts | Jan 6, 2008 7:27:27 PM

Posted by: bandy | Jan 6, 2008 7:43:21 PM

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Posted by: theragingcentrist | Jan 6, 2008 8:35:27 PM

Posted by: theragingcentrist | Jan 6, 2008 8:40:45 PM

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Posted by: bandy | Jan 6, 2008 8:51:47 PM

Posted by: ragingcentrist | Jan 6, 2008 8:55:46 PM

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