Here we go again.
Here we go, guys. Wednesday night's Republican debate number two is almost here, and there's pretty
broad media consensus on
what the candidates need to do. To boil it down somewhat more bluntly than traditional media reporters like to do:
- Donald Trump will be under attack from the moderators, the facts, and the other candidates. Will his bravado work for him again this time, or will his ignorance start to erode his support?
- Jeb Bush needs to ... not look like a bland wimp. And he can't just duck the Trump issue:
... after spending the last few weeks aggressively confronting Trump, there’s a sense among some Back supporters that it’s too late for Bush to turn back now. Some likened his position to that of former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who in 2012 was ridiculed after he refused to go after Mitt Romney onstage – even though he had done so only days earlier in a TV interview.
- Ben Carson probably can't get away with saying little and just seeming sweet and mild-mannered, like he did in the first debate. But it's really important for him to keep seeming sweet and mild-mannered. So he may face a bit of a "where's the beef" moment.
- Carly Fiorina is desperate to show herself as aggressive and hard-hitting. Vice presidential nominees are supposed to function as attack dogs, after all, and that's really the role she's running for.
- Scott Walker needs to stop obviously blurting out talking points as fast as he can move them from memory to mouth. He can't afford to suck again—his campaign is already suffering from his performance in the first debate and a bad performance here could bring on the death throes.
- As for the others ... Ted Cruz is expected to keep trying to position himself to siphon up Trump voters if and when Trump craters; Rand Paul needs to do something to make himself relevant, but picking fights and yelling at people obviously didn't work last time around; Mike Huckabee will show off how truly evil he is on issues of equality; Chris Christie is and will remain irrelevant; Marco Rubio keeps waiting for his moment to emerge as the new establishment favorite, but it just isn't happening; and John Kasich is likely to continue quietly and calmly positioning himself as Rubio's chief competition on that front.
And all of this will be playing out over a nearly three-hour debate, creating an endurance test for candidates and viewers alike. CNN claims this will make for a meatier policy discussion, but I think the network is just hoping to make someone break down and cry on stage.
The main debate is at 8 PM ET and the JV debate is at 6 PM ET, both on CNN and streaming on CNN.com.