Florida Democratic party officials are clearly pained this week by the successful boycott that their national party has imposed on the Florida primary. Tonight's debate among Republican contenders, which generated infectious excitement at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton and was covered by TV and radio in the state beforehand and in long, enthusiastic reports afterwards--as well as being shown nationally--clearly made a hit. That's as it should be. Even these big debates (which are not classic debates and can't be, with five candidates on a stage) bring focus to an otherwise diffuse contest. No blood was drawn tonight, but that is not what the voters said they were looking for, anyhow.
To begin with, students, faculty and reporters had set up as the standard by which the candidates would be judged a precise discussion of substantive issues, and the solid response every one of the candidates made to questions from the media and each other plainly met that standard. There was some of the usual and trite horse race banter about fundraising and polls, but it was provoked by NBC's journalists, while most of the 90 minutes was consumed by meaty presentations on the economy, Iraq, insurance against hurricanes (a big issue here) and entitlement spending.
This helped contrast the GOP debate in Florida to the feisty personal exchanges between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in the recent South Carolina debate. There was nothing wrong with that debate, either, in my opinion, but it seems likely that the public is still at the campaign stage where contestants are expected to pretend to enjoy each other's company and to sound a bit like policy wonks.
In any event, the biggest advantage for the Republicans in the Florida debate was that they had one and the Democrats did not. It was an unbelievable gaffe for the Democratic National Committee to prohibit candidates from appearing in Florida for the primary, even for a debate. Floridians calling talk shows and writing letters to the editor are inclined to see this shunning as punishment for them, not just for their state government, and to see the Democrats as arrogant. It's hardly the image of the party of the people.
Some details: The five Republicans, even Ron Paul, had their moments tonight. Huckabee managed to make his consumption tax alternative to the IRS seem credible on policy grounds and to inject some humor into the evening on a couple of occasions. McCain avoided the trap of seeming to be indifferent to the local people's worries about the need for hurricane insurance and to name drop his most recent endorsements from conservative anti-spending spokesmen and pro-military leaders. Romney was beset by another dig at his Mormon religion (from Tim Russert of NBC) and another (also from Russert) about his personal spending in the campaign. Romney would not say how much he was paying out of his own pocket, and, while he may have had good reasons, his refusal probably didn't sound right to many viewers. Still, he perhaps handled these questions as well as possible and on other, less personal issues was notably well organized and confident. Rudy Giuliani turned a hostile question about the negative editorial he got today from the New York Times into a delightful riff on the long history of Times' editorials that weree consistently wrong about his policies as mayor. However, it was harder for him to finesse a snide Russert question about his decline in the Florida polls of late. And John McCain, if anything, subtly rubbed in the possible irrelevance of a Giuliani vote (and hinted thereby the practical wisdom of Giuliani voters switching to McCain) by paying tribute to all the candidates on the stage, but singling out Giuliani as a real hero. Rudy looked more stricken than pleased by the unexpected praise. I think I might score the debate a slight win for Romney on points and for McCain on vote gathering. We'll see.
Meanwhile, the real barbs in the debate were aimed at the Democrats who, obviously, were not there to defend themselves. Indeed, because the Democrats are not going to be in Florida's primary in person at all, the real winner tonight, by default, was the Florida Republican Party