Th0r S1mpson

South Carolina I think?

Important things to look for will be:

-How many people tune in

-Exactly how badly Obama sucks, although we are very proud of what was accomplished in bringing a terrorist to justice recently

-The deficit: How many years will it take for our country to collapse if Democrats stay in charge?

-Health care: If we repeal it, how will we ensure that enough sick people stay uninsured to make it feasible privately?

-Some incredibly lame one-liners... will there at least be one memorable moment?

Venusian

who is debating?

Th0r S1mpson

Pawlenty (not sure who that is but the name is familiar)

Santorum (no clue... I've also heard this name though)

Herman Cain (???)

Ron Paul (This guy I have heard of. )

Gary Johnson (Nope, don't know him)

No Romney. No Huckleberry.

I guess this is an opportunity for introductions since we'll be hearing a lot from most of these people for the next year. Not sure if any of these guys are black (Gary Johnson sounds like he could be) but I'm guessing there will be pictures up tomorrow.

CRM114

Herman Cain is black. And a lunatic.

Nice to see the Repubs step it up a notch this year.

And my boy, Rick Santorum. Go get 'em Rick!

classicman2

Why am I not surprised that you only know of Ron Paul?

You are pulling our legs, aren't you?

JasonF

Former Governor of Minnesota
Former Senator from Pennsylvania
Talk radio host and former CEO of Godfather's pizza. Also, he's black
Representative from Texas and anti-Fed loon
Former Governor of New Mexico. Wants to legalize drugs (yay!) and privatize everything (boo!).
Doubtful. Pawlenty will be around for a while unless he implodes. Paul will keep making noise, even though he's no more likely to get elected President than I am. The rest of them are about as relevant as Mike Gravel, and as soon as there are real candidates to pay attention to, the world will go back to ignoring them.

Jason

Just go to google and type in santorum.

You're welcome

Groucho

Stupid republicans need the the most attention!

Th0r S1mpson

No, just one of them.

Honestly, I of course know vague details about some of these guys, such as what state they are from. I don't know much of substance.

I have mostly heard about Romney, Palin, Trump, Christie and others who will not be in attendance. I wonder why that is.

JasonF

Romney hasn't officially declared yet. In light of the res of the field, it's in his interest to hold off for another few months -- there's no upside for him to getting down in the muck with the also-rans until he has to.

Palin and Trump aren't really going to run because they are hucksters who can make tons of money off of flirting with running and not having to do the actual work of running. Neither one wants to give up their cushy TV gigs and subject themselves to the rigors of a campaign.

Christie has shown no sign that he's interested in running in 2012 and has repeatedly said he is absolutely not running. People have flip-flopped on that before, but I don't get that vibe from Christie (remember back in 2006-07 when so many people insisted Condi would be running despite her repeated statements to the contrary? Christie feels like that to me).

Cory02

I didn't realize there was a debate tonight until I saw it on the TV listings. Caught me off guard since I didn't realize the debates were starting this early.

NORML54601

If that crazy guy had invented Godfather's Pizza, he'd get my vote. Instead, I hate him because the Godfather's here closed years ago.

starman9000

I hope T-Paw breaks out his southern accent tonight!

Th0r S1mpson

I'm trying to think of what would actually convince me to watch this entire debate. $500 is probably as low as I would go.

classicman2

The big question is why is Romney wasting his time? He can't win. He can't be that delusional to think he can win the GOP nomination.

JasonF

At this point, I think Romney wins the nomination by default. I just don't see any of the other candidates people have been talking about (except maybe Mitch Daniels) beating him.

mosquitobite

I'm surprised that so far most of these candidates are FOR getting out of the middle east.

tommy28

In other news Sean Hannity is getting ready to talk about how great they ALL were.

Nesbit

I liked that the first time it was asked for a show of hands on a question Santorum's hand went up before the question.

mosquitobite

Well he started the question "can I see how many would raise their hand...?" (or something like that) He could raise his hand!

classicman2

He can't win the religious conservatives nor the economic conservatives. He can't win the Tea Party block.

He probably can win what is left of the 'Rockefeller Republicans.' That won't get it.

Nesbit

He's got my vote

Glad Johnson mentioned his lack of questions. As a supporter I long for the type of patronizing coverage the GOP gives Paul.

JasonF

I guess they really don't want McCain to be the nominee again.

JasonF

He has strong support among the business elites. Will that be enough? I don't know. If the social conservatives don't have someone to rally around, it's possible. And I think Romney is, at this point, the default choice for rank and file Republicans who don't have strong views. I think at this point, and in the absence of anyone who can engender strong support amongst a segment of the populace, I think that's enough.

The good news is that we'll find out in the next 12 months.

mosquitobite

Same thing I thought! "welcome to Ron Paul's world buddy!"