The cast of
next week's Republican varsity debate has been announced, with Carly Fiorina joining the 10 men who made varsity in the first debate last month: Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, John Kasich, and Chris Christie. And once again,
the conventional wisdom on the task for most of the candidates is clear: figure out how to deal with Donald Trump's presence on stage, whether by attacking or responding directly to him or just by trying to keep him from sucking up all the oxygen. For Jeb Bush and Carly Fiorina, it's the former:
Both are expected to take on Mr. Trump most aggressively — Mr. Bush, after being mercilessly derided for his leadership ability and energy level; Mrs. Fiorina, in response to attacks by Mr. Trump on her business record and even her looks.
Mr. Bush’s advisers say he will confront Mr. Trump for not “sharing the values” of conservatives, as one put it. Mrs. Fiorina, Republicans close to her say, has a more delicate balance to strike as she tries to rise above any attacks from Mr. Trump while making him look small if he unloads them.
Trump himself has identified the trouble with Bush trying to be forceful and confrontational:
“Once you start changing your personality to try to come across differently, it doesn’t come out right or naturally — people see the phoniness,” Mr. Trump said.
Yup. A thousand times yup. But watching Bush try should be entertaining.
For Ben Carson and Ted Cruz, the key concern is not being ignored through the long middle of the debate, as they essentially were last time. For Rand Paul, it's talking about substance rather than looking like an ineffectual dick trying to score points by starting shouting matches. And for Scott Walker, the challenge boils down to—this is great—pacing himself rather than just blurting out talking points, and also:
... hoping that his allergies do not act up and make him sound overly nasal on television, which some Republicans have noticed.
So that's the early word on what to watch for. Can Jeb! Bush be convincingly forceful? Can Carly Fiorina make Donald Trump look small? Will Rand Paul get a personality transplant? Can Scott Walker talk like he's not reciting badly memorized lines and avoid sounding nasal?
The debate will be held Wednesday, September 16, with a JV debate held earlier. Rick Perry will once again be center stage at that debate, having been leapfrogged by Fiorina, and Jim Gilmore will be absent altogether, having failed to average one percent in any three recent polls. Which means if you find yourself saying "who's that?" during that debate, the answer is probably George Pataki.