Presidential Debates Take Toll on GOP

Michele Bachmann gave a commanding performance at the Spartanburg debate, although she was off a bit in her comparison between China and the Great Society:

If that's a gaffe, it didn't get much coverage, perhaps because insiders have written off Bachmann's campaign. She's not pleased with the situation, of course, and she sounded off about the biased moderating by the debate panel. That said, I've already discounted the debates as largely overload and spectacle, similar to the thesis at this report from The Hill, "Debates take toll on Republican field." The most important debates are those for the general election. The primary debates are useful, but they seem like an inconvenience almost, with so many of them taking place. Of course, candidates like debates because they provide "earned media coverage," especially after a strong performance. Newt Gingrich is already something of the last man standing --- next to Mitt Romney at least --- and his masterly performance in South Carolina will be touted as confirming his new-found top-tier credentials.

But who wins? Do primary voters really benefit from all of this? Ideologues aren't pleased when their preferred candidates flub or when they're slighted by the MFM. (I wish Bachmann was still in the top tier, for instance, so there's my two cents.) And 0f course, it's not GOP activists who'll be deciding the election next year, and so that helps explain this sense that Mitt Romney will be the one. But the Romney juggernaut is dispiriting for hardcore conservatives. See Nice Deb, for example, "Is Conservatism Doomed In 2012?" I like Mitt Romney personally, but the campaign has shown again that he's simply putty when put up against hard choices. His finger is always to the wind, and despite the tough talk on Iran at the debate, would a President Romney waffle on international challenges because public opinion polls showed muted support for American action overseas? You betcha! Still, Romney appears seasoned on the trail, and he's honed a message of business competence domestically and support for American exceptionalism abroad. I like that. But his waffling is the Achilles Heel, and he's extremely vulnerable to the left's institutional character assassination machine. Nothing will be out of bounds. Romney's Mormonism? Campaign 2012 will make the left's attack on religion and Proposition 8 look like a picnic. RomneyCare? Well, it's going to be a factor, which neutralizes the potency of healthcare as a general election issue. I don't even know what other things he'll be hit with, but hit he'll be. I guess the consolation is that Romney's a fighter. He's tough and he'll stand up for his values. And of course, Obama's poll numbers are still down in the sewer, and we're still not expecting any robust GDP growth for some time. All of that makes it a tightly contested race, should it be Obama vs. Romney. And considering how reviled are the Democrats among conservatives, I imagine the right will close ranks around a Romney candidacy soon enough. It's going to be huge.