January 24th GOP debate

Boca Raton, Florida. So, I haven't been paying any attention at all to the Republican debates. But now I think I will. Why? Because they're more than a bunch of old white guys arguing with each other (of course, that's in contrast to a white guy, an older African American guy, and an even older white woman argue with each other). The first thing I found cool/refreshing/relieving thing about the debate was that all the candidates liked the "newly minted bipartisan economic stimulus package." What is it? I have no idea. Maybe someone can tell me in the replies. The reason I like it without even knowing what it is though, is that it's bipartisan. That's a word we should hear more of in government. Can't we all just get along? I think we can. And if all these presidential candidates think so too, then they can't be all bad. Of course, the downside is that none of the candidates quoted really liked the package, and wanted to either "further it," "change it," or make sure that it "goes far enough." Well, you've gotta start somewhere.

The CNN article goes on to talk about what the package is, in a kind of vague way. Maybe I'm too liberal, but I don't think permanent tax cuts are gonna help anyone. Taxes are fine as long as they're going to the right places, right? I don't think an individual is gonna know a better way to spend $600 ($300 per child too, what an incentive!) than if everyone pooled this relatively small sum together to do a lot of good for everyone.

Romney and McCain are leading the polls in Florida. This, of course, sucks for Giuliani. I'm 90% sure that if he loses this state, then he's finished. Correct me if I'm wrong, but he's skipped a lot of the earlier state primaries to win Florida, right? And since we don't have to worry about the Bradley effect or any other demographics switching over at the last minute, I'm going to go ahead and guess that he's done. No more Giuliani in this campaign. This is, obviously, if the CNN poll is right. I'm guessing it is too. But this makes me only 70% sure that he's gonna drop out of the race, now that I think about it.

The final bit of interesting information is about which Democrat all the candidates attacked. Though their clever criticisms and well-planned witicisms, of course. Hillary Clinton was the invisible elephant on the stage (I don't know if I'm using that analogy correctly; probably not, but hopefully you get it). This means that the Republicans see her as the frontrunner. And they've got the best analysts and spin artists and think tanks and strategists money can buy working for them. So this is good news if you like Clinton. It goes without saying, but this is bad news if you want Obama or Edwards to win. Maybe, if the criticisms are really harsh, Obama can use them to his advantage to knock Clinton out (of the race). Maybe that's what the Republicans are thinking. Maybe they'd rather go up against Obama than Clinton, so they want to finish her off early. Maybe they think that Obama has no chance (maybe a little chance) against Clinton, so they're laying the groundwork against her when it's Democrats and Republicans going head-to-head, and one of them will be debating her on the same stage. What do you all think?