Photo credit: Patrick G. Ryan
“Winner, because he’s Donald Trump.” Managing Editor of Real Clear Politics Emily Goodin told Hollywood on the Potomac when asked whether Trump would come out a winner or a loser by bailing on Fox News’ presidential debate in Iowa and why. “I think he’s a huge winner,” said Daily Mail’s political reporter Nikki Schwab in response to the same question. “I think now everyone’s going to have a split screen kind of night. Before it would have been all eyes on Fox News. Now everyone is going to tune into other networks because they want to see what Trump is up to in Des Moines as well. I think that it’s going to be a win for Trump and maybe also a win for Cruz if he dominates this debate and I think it’s going to be very close in Iowa if Cruz does well tonight.” Everyone weighed in on the strange strategy of Donald Trump at the Real Clear Politics and Washington Examiner party sponsored by The Leadership for America at P.J. Clarke’s Sidecar where multiple screens dominated the room and guests took cracks at the winner-loser question.
Julie Babich, Philip Kulczewski and Emily Goodin
“While we might disagree about some things, Leadership Project for America exists to educate about effective and principled political leadership,” said Paul Marrow. “Our real goal is to change the culture in this country so that more of us are thinking about leadership. We have tools that we use in this education process. One of them is rating candidates to help citizens understand what political leadership means and what it looks like. The fingerprints of a lot of leaders inside of the freedom movement are all over this project, be they friends, board members, policy advisors, or members of the grading team. We’re all partners in this, whether formal or informal. This is a network, this is more than an organization. It’s a network and a movement to encourage political leadership.”
Carl Cannon
“All right, I know you didn’t come here just to hear speeches, so keep your drink,”said Carl Cannon, Washington Bureau Chief of Real Clear Politics before introducing Michael Barone – Senior Political Analyst for the Washington Examiner, co-author of The Almanac of American Politics and a contributor to Fox News. “If Trump loses, does it turn on him because he skipped this debate,” he asked Barone. “And, is there a person in this field who could be this year’s Rick Santorum?” The question arose out of a Christmas tree stunt that Santorum did when he cut down a tree and installed it in his office in defiance of political correctness just before the Iowa caucus on 2012 and won a narrow victory over Romney.
Michael Barone and Carl Cannon
“Well, there are a couple of people that’s sure hoping to be this year’s Rick Santorum including Rick Santorum,” responded Barone. “This is a bigger field [though]. I think if you look at current polling, Rubio’s got the best shot. I don’t think there’s as much running for single digit candidates to get out as far as Rick Santorum did. Remember, Santorum and Huckabee, what was the major source of their strength in Iowa? Religious conservatives. 57 percent of caucus goers in the 2012 entrance poll, classified themselves as evangelical Protestants. Those people have a candidate or candidates now it would appear, Ted Cruz, and so forth. I don’t think there’s as much room for a candidate to move forward.” As for the Trump antics, Barone thinks that ducking the debate may or may not help him, but he sure won’t skip the next one. Translation: Risky Business.
Michael Barone
They went on to discuss anger in politics so prevalent in today’s political scene. Are we a nation of whiners?
The Iowa Caucus is important because of the media attention it gets because it’s the first major electoral event of the nominating process for President of the United States and serves as an early indication of which candidates for President might win the nomination of their political party at that party’s national convention, and which ones could drop out owing to lack of support.
The Iowa Democratic and Republican Party caucuses are scheduled to occur on Monday, February 1
