Politex

Fort Worth's, TCU's Bob Schieffer to moderate third presidential debate

Fort Worth's and TCU's Bob Schieffer will get the last word in this year's presidential debates.

The Commission on Presidential Debates has chosen CBS Face the Nation host Schieffer to moderate the third and final debate, a head-to-head on foreign issues Oct. 22 in Boca Raton, Fla.

PBS veteran Jim Lehrer will moderate the first debate Oct. 3 in Denver, covering domestic issues. CNN's Candy Crowley is a newcomer moderating the second debate Oct. 16 in Hempstead, N.Y., a town-hall with questions from undecided voters.

Martha Raddatz of ABC will moderate the vice presidential debate Oct. 11 in Danville, Ky.

--Bud Kennedy

 

Perry in spin room explains flub: "I stepped in it" (with video)

Gov. Rick Perry was mobbed by reporters in the spin room following a CNBC debate where he could only remember two of the three federal agencies he wants to eliminate.

The Texas Tribune posted this video of Perry answering reporters' questions:

 

In first third of debate, Cain decries "false accusations" and Perry gets little airtime

The Republican candidates for president stuck to their talking points and avoided attacking each other in the first half-hour of CNBC's 90-minute debate.

The audience booed when one of the moderators asked Herman Cain about sexual harassment allegations against him. 

Cain insisted that his supporters have not been deterred by “false accusations”

“Over the last nine days, the voters have voted with their dollars and they are saying they don’t care about the character assassination and they care about leadership and getting this economy growing,” Cain said.

When a moderator then asked Romney if he had just taken over a company with a CEO with Cain’s issues, would he have let him go, Romney drew applause for not taking the bait.

“Herman Cain is the person to respond to these questions. He just did,” Romney said.

Gov. Rick Perry drew relatively little air time in the first 30 minutes. His first response used the European debt crisis to criticize the U.S. federal government's previous bailout of private companies. 

"The next president of the United States needs to send a powerful message...that America is going to be America again, that we’re not going to pick winners and losers from Washington, D.C," Perry said.

He added later: "It doesn’t make any difference on whether its Wall Street a corporate entity or some European country: if you are too big to fail, then you are too big," Perry said.

-Aman Batheja

Paul distances himself from opponents via foreign policy

US Rep. Ron Paul drew cheers from the audience and rebukes from some fellow candidates as the libertarian-leaning Texan called for cutting military spending during tonight's CNN debate.

Paul refused to accept that such cuts might impact national security.

"To cut military spending is a wise thing to do. We would be safer if we weren't in so many places...We have an empire. We can't afford it," Paul said.

Rick Santorum disagreed.

"I would absolutely not cut one penny out of military spending...The only thing that the federal government can do that no other level of government can do is protect us," Santorum said.

As the debate shifted to whether to cut foreign aid spending, Paul again used the opportunity to push for defense spending cuts.

"We have more weapons than all the other countries put together essentially and we want to spend more and more and you can't cut a penny?" Paul said.

Paul also advocated for cutting foreign aid spending, which prompted moderator Anderson Cooper to ask if Paul would cut funding to Israel.

"That foreign aid makes Israel dependent on us...They should have their sovereignty back," Paul said.

US Rep. Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota disagreed with Paul.

 "We should not be cutting foreign aid to Israel," Bachmann said. "Israel is our greatest ally."

-Aman Batheja

Perry accuses Romney of hiring illegal immigrants

Gov. Rick Perry walked onto the stage in Las Vegas armed with what his campaign views as a powerful weapon against primary opponent Mitt Romney.

About 40 minutes into the debate, Perry pulled the trigger.

Pivoting off a question from Anderson Cooper about the high rate of uninsured Texans, Perry accused Romney of once employing illegal immigrants.

Romney laughed the charge off but Perry wouldn't let the issue go.

"You hired illegals in your home and you knew about it for a year," Perry said, calling Romney's behavior "the height of hypocrisy."

When Romney later tried to defend himself, Perry kept talking over him.

"Are you going to keep talking?" a visibly annoyed Romney asked Perry.

"You stood here in front of the American people and did not tell the truth that you had illegals working on your property," Perry said. He later added: "A newspaper came to you and brought it to your attention."

Perry was referring to a 2006 Boston Globe investigation into the Community Lawn Service with a Heart that Romney employed for his home.

From the story:

As Governor Mitt Romney explores a presidential bid, he has grown outspoken in his criticism of illegal immigration. But, for a decade, the governor has used a landscaping company that relies heavily on workers like these, illegal Guatemalan immigrants, to maintain the grounds surrounding his pink Colonial house on Marsh Street in Belmont.

The Globe recently interviewed four current and former employees of Community Lawn Service with a Heart, the tiny Chelsea-based company that provides upkeep of Romney's property. All but one said they were in the United States illegally.

The employees told the Globe that company owner Ricardo Saenz never asked them to provide documents showing their immigration status and knew they were illegal immigrants.

"He never asked for papers," said Rosales, who said he had paid smugglers about $5,000 to take him across the US-Mexican border and settled in Chelsea.

The workers said they were paid in cash at $9 to $10 an hour and sometimes worked 11-hour days.

Romney never inquired about their status, they said.

 From later in the story:

Asked by a reporter yesterday about his use of Community Lawn Service with a Heart, Romney, who was hosting the Republican Governors Association conference in Miami, said, "Aw, geez," and walked away.

Several hours later, his spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom, provided the Globe with a statement saying that the governor knows nothing about the immigration status of the landscaping workers, and that his dealings were with Saenz, who is a legal immigrant from Colombia.

Romney said he fired the company that hired illegal immigrants. (Perry's campaign countered in a press release that Romney waited a year after the Globe story to fire the company.) 

As Romney tried to talk further, Perry continued to interrupt him.

"I'm speaking.  I'm speaking.  I'm speaking...You get 30 seconds.  This is the way the rules work here, is that I get 60 seconds and then you get 30 second to respond.  Right?" Romney said to Perry.

A moment later, as Perry refused to cede the floor, Romney said, "You have a problem with allowing someone to finish speaking. And I suggest that if you want to become president of the United States, you have got to let both people speak.  So first, let me speak."

-Aman Batheja

Two Ricks -- Perry and Santorum -- gang up on Romney

Mitt Romney endured a shellacking on his health care record from five of the six other candidates on stage with him, starting with a testy exchanges between Romney, Rick Santorum and Gov. Rick Perry.

After Romney said repealing "Obamacare" was his priority, Santorum was the first to criticize Romney's record on healthcare.

 "You just don't have credibility when it comes to repealing Obamacare...you have no track record on that that we can trust you're going to do that," Santorum told Romney.

As Romney tried to explain that he never suggested that the plan he helped pass in Massachusetts should be adopted nationally, Santorum and Perry began talking over Romney, accusing him of lying.

"You took it out of your book," Perry said more than once.

"You're allowed to change your position but you're not allowed to change the facts," Santorum said, practically yelling.

"I haven't had a chance to respond because you've been interrupting me..." Romney complained. He finally got the chance to say that he does not support "Obamacare."

Then Michelle Bachman and Newt Gingrich joined in and took turns criticizing Romney's healthcare record.

"It's not Obamacare, that's not a fair charge," Gingrich said of the MAssachusetts healthcare plan. He then decried it as liberal and "big government."

Romney, grinning, responded, "Actually Newt, we got the idea of from the individual mandate from you."

After a brief argument, Gingrich conceded that he had supported the indivudal mandate as put forth by the conservative Heritage Foundation during the fight over the Clinton administration's attempt at healthcare reform.

-Aman Batheja

 

Report: Perry planning to flout debate rules tonight

After appearing overshadowed by others in last week's presidential debate, Gov. Rick Perry hopes to make himself a more visible presence in tonight's CNN debate in Las Vegas.

In last week's debate in New Hampshire, Perry appeared to be missing for long stretches from the conversation among the candidates, though in the end, he spoke longer than any other candidate but Mitt Romney. Perry's campaign tells The Washington Examiner's Byron York that the perception came about because Perry was more respectful of the time limits imposed by the debate moderators than some of his primary opponents.

"As a result, one could view the governor's performance as having less to say, when in fact he was simply trying to live up to the rules of the debate," the campaign source tells York.

Tonight, Perry plans to "pay a little less attention to the rules," the unnamed source told York.

"They've rarely been enforced, and we're not going to pay much attention to them," the campaign source said.  

The debate starts at 7 p.m., CDT. 

-Aman Batheja

How to watch tonight's presidential debate

Unlike recent presidential debates, tonight’s Washington Post/Bloomberg presidential debate at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire won’t air on one of the three major cable news networks.

The two-hour debate will air live on Bloomberg Television starting at 7 p.m., CDT.

In North Texas, Bloomberg Television is channel 277 on Time Warner Cable, channel 240 on Charter, channel 222 on AT&T’s U-Verse and channel 104 on Verizon FiOS.

The debate will also stream live at Bloomberg.com and Washingtonpost.com/debate.

As Star-Telegram Austin Bureau Chief Dave Montgomery reported Monday, tonight's debate is increasingly being viewed as a make-or-break moment for Gov. Rick Perry's presidential campaign. 

-Aman Batheja

Perry won't be at center of attention in Tuesday's debate

Ben Smith of Politico reports that a seating chart for tomorrow's Washington Post/Bloomberg debate shows a significant change from the last two debates.

In recent debates, Gov. Rick Perry and former Gov. Mitt Romney have held the center of attention and stood next to one another.

At tomorrow's debate, Romney will share the center of the stage with Godfather Pizza CEO Herman Cain. Perry will be off-center, next to Cain. On the other side, Texas Congressman Ron Paul will stand next to Romney.

The new seating appears to be a recognition by debate organizers that Cain has gained significant ground in recent polling, seemingly at Perry's expense.

It's anyone's guess how the layout will affect tomorrow's debate dynamics. What's more clear is that we're less likely to see another Perry/Romney photo like this one:

 

(AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

-Aman Batheja

 

Did Perry's campaign take Romney out of context in new ad?

Gov. Rick Perry's campaign released a new ad online today targeting Mitt Romney's past work and statements on healthcare reform. 

The attack suggests Perry plans to target the plan Romney passed while Governor of Massachusetts, widely seen as an important precursor to the federal health reform plan signed by President Obama, in tomorrow night's Bloomberg/Washington Post debate in New Hampshire.     

Judging by its hyperkinetic style, the ad appears to be the work of Lucas Baiano, a videographer that Perry's camp hired after making a name for himself with work for Tim Pawlenty.

Romney's campaign was quick to take issue with Perry's attack. In a press release titled "Perry's Problem with the Truth,' Romney's camp accused Perry of taking Romney's comments on a 2007 episode of Meet the Press out of context. Here's the part of the interview Perry's campaign features prominently in the ad:

RUSSERT: Why, if it's good for Massachusetts and it's working in Massachusetts, wouldn't you apply it to the rest of the country.

GOV. ROMNEY:  I would.

Romney's campaign thinks it was dishonest of Perry's campaign to leave out what came immediately after that on the show:

MR. RUSSERT:  A mandate?

GOV. ROMNEY:  No.  Let me tell you what I would do, just exactly as I described.  I like what we did in Massachusetts.  I think it's a great plan. But I'm a federalist.  I don't believe in applying what works in one state to all states if different states have different circumstances.

While Romney did suggest a states' rights approach to healthcare reform in this comment, later in that same show, he predicted that health insurance mandates would likely be the approach the entire country takes, and Perry's video also features part of this exchange:

MR. RUSSERT:  So if a state chose a mandate, it wouldn't bother you?

GOV. ROMNEY:  I, I, I think it's a terrific idea.  I think, I think you're going to find, when it's all said and done, after all these states that are laboratories of democracy get their chance to try their own plans, that those who follow the path that we pursued will find it's the best path, and we'll end up with a nation that's taken a mandate approach.

The entire transcript of Romney's 2007 Meet the Press interview is here. 

-Aman Batheja