miércoles, 18 de enero de 2012

Romney no confirma si seguirá debatiendo después de SC

Washington Examiner:
After a debate in which Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney faced attacks from all sides, the Romney campaign says it has not yet accepted invitations to participate in two high-profile debates leading up to the January 31 Florida primary, and a key Romney adviser is expressing fatigue and frustration over what he sees as a never-ending series of GOP debates.

"There are too many of these," Romney strategist Stuart Stevens said after Monday night's Fox News debate at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center. "We have to bring some order to it. We haven't accepted Florida…It's kind of like a cruise that's gone on too long."

Romney will participate in the next South Carolina debate, Thursday night in Charleston. Asked by email about the candidate's debate schedule after that, Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said, "I have no announcements to make on debates at this time."

As part of his complaint against the current debate schedule, Stevens expressed lingering irritation at the January 7 ABC News debate in New Hampshire, in which Romney faced a long a tendentious series of questions about contraception. ("It was such a lousy debate," Stevens said.) More generally, Stevens suggested that in the long course of the campaign, this year's key issues have been exhausted. "We're down to the most obscure questions," he said. "When more than ten debates mention Chilean models, and it's not a fashion show, then something's wrong."

There's no doubt the debate schedule has been intense. Seventy hours after the end of Monday night's session, the second South Carolina debate will begin down the coast in Charleston. Then, 48 hours after the polls close late Saturday in South Carolina, there will be another debate, this one in Tampa. Seventy-two hours after that, there will be yet another debate, this one in Jacksonville. The Charleston, Tampa, and Jacksonville debates will be the 17th, 18th, and 19th of the Republican primary season. Add that to the schedule of actual campaigning, and it's a routine that is wearing down all the campaigns.

4 comentarios:

Juan dijo...

Uy uy uyyyy miedito a quedarse prácticamente sólo con Gingrich en el escenario.

Antxon G. dijo...

Es normal. Es un candidato muy centrado y obsesionado en el mensaje. Y un debate con pocos candidatos, con muchos minutos para hablar, puede sacarlo del mensaje. Después durante toda la semana que sigue al debate, se habla de algo que se trató en el debate y no es de lo que quiere hablar. Quiere poder decidir él de qué va su campaña.

Anónimo dijo...

Pues si no se atreve con Gingrich a solas no es un buen presagio de los debates que tendría que hacer con Obama si es el nominado.

Rockford.

Antxon G. dijo...

No es una cuestión de atrevimiento. Es una cuestión de conveniencia. Uno se pregunta, ¿Me conviene? sí o no ¿Puedo evitarlo? sí o no. Entonces decido.

Si Gingrich gana en SC, la respuesta a la segudna rpegunta será no y habrá debates. Pero si Romney se consolida ganando en SC, puede eprfectamente sentir que ya no hay candidatos compitiendo a su mismo nivel y pensar que puede renunciar a debatir con ellos para evitar concederles un status que cree que ya no les corresponde.