NPR: GOP Debate Comes as Dynamics of Race Change

GOP Debate Comes as Dynamics of Race Change

The party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan meets the video bloggers of YouTube tonight in Florida. The GOP presidential debate marks the second time CNN and YouTube have cooperated as sponsors. The Democrats had the first go at it in July. This one almost didn't happen; the debate had to be rescheduled after the GOP candidates initially balked.

Reuters predicts fireworks at the debate, particularly between Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani, who have engaged in some nasty bickering about each other's records during the past few days.

Time says there will be two things worth watching tonight: how the candidates interact with "real" people, and how they stack up "head to head" now that so much about the race for the GOP nomination has changed. In particular, the emergence of Mike Huckabee, who has been surging in the polls.

As David Folkenflik pointed out on Morning Edition, that new level of attention has also meant a lot of scrutiny of Huckabee's record as governor of Arkansas. Watch for some of the other candidates to bring up his problems during that era tonight in an effort to slow down his rapid rise.

Almost 5,000 video questions have been submitted for tonight's debate. (That's about 2,000 more than for the Democrats.) CNN says it hopes to be able to pose about 40 to the candidates.

Some of the video questions submitted tackle difficult issues. One asks what the candidates believe about the use of the Confederate symbol on the state flag of Mississippi. Another asks the candidates just how far they're prepared to go to slow down the national debt's growth.

5:50 PM ET | 11-28-2007 | permalink

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