Romney:
Maybe he was just off tonight but that was a really lackluster speech. The audience there was having trouble just staying interested for most of it. Awfully generic too.
I compare that to Hillary's speech - both the candidate who came in second, and Romney's speech was just terrible compared to the job Hillary did carrying the audience with her.
Huckabee:
Boy is he good. I'm glad he didn't win because I think he could have beat Obama. He had the crowd going.
Interesting speech - a lot of it was about how America is great and why. There were some hits at us Dems but it was more just about American being great and riding that meme.
He also sold McCain at the end as a person who gave a lot for this country and therefore deserved to be president. That is one of the main thrusts of the campaign but it strikes me as an insufficient argument. He never ties McCain to being the one to solve the problems we face.
So good speech, but it isn't a closer.
Lingle:
Watching the Lingle speech. This is interesting - she is normally a very very good speaker. But she is also a very moderate Republican. My guess is that what she is saying is way outside what she would normally say and as such her heart isn't in it.
Mostly a generic message of support for Sarah Palin - nothing terribly specific about why though other than she's a mayor, she's a governor, and she's a woman.
The thing is, Lingle is all of that too and is a much much more qualified candidate. It must grate on her to have to make that speech.
Giuliani:
He landed a number of good blows as an attack dog. Some fair, some unfair, but good blows. And he delivered it well.
He dilutes it though with the Snidley Whiplash chuckle after the best ones. That will turn people off a little and it changes the focus a bit from the attack to how clever Rudy is.
I also thing the "ZERO ZERO" thing won't work well for them. First it's the combined McCain/Palin executive experience, which actually is the Palin executive experience (McCain's command experience is so very long ago, it doesn't count for much). So when it's Obama vs McCain, ZERO doesn't make much sense.
But it's also disrespectful. Voters do seem to want a level of civility in this campaign as shown by both candidates saying nice things about the other. Calling the other a zero could easily backfire.
All in all though, Rudy was effective. And I loved his nasty chuckle and just wish he had a mustache he could twirl while chuckling.
But in terms of affecting the race, I don't think he offers much.
Palin:
One really good item in the speech - she will pull in a number of votes from parents of children with special needs. That was powerful and for those parents, that is a very compelling argument. Regardless of her and McCain's voting record on this vs Obama/Biden - that was strong.
The rest of her speech was good, but not great. She can deliver the lines. And her pacing and presentation was good. But I really got the feeling that she had been wound up and delivered the speech she had been given. Sort of like Paris Hilton did with her video.
Aside from the parent of a child with special needs and occasionally when speaking to her experience as an executive, I didn't get the feeling that it was from her, and I didn't see the delivery coming from her.
So on a prepared speech, I think she can do well. But when it comes to debates, press interviews, etc., who knows.
On the small town girl with some executive experience schitk - I think that backfired big time. We need to wait a couple of days to see but my focus group's (my wife) response was that no way no how is she qualified. It's a great story for a movie, but it reinforced the narrative that she just doesn't have the experience to be a V.P. and definitely not to be president.
And finally, and this may be just me, but when her family came out at the end, she treated tham like props. When Obama's family come out he is holding their hands, hugging them, clearly giving them time and attention. And Biden and his wife are apparently incapable of walking together without their arms around each other. Clearly they all care for each other. I don't think Sarah Palin even touched all of her kids.
The closing:
The absolutely incredible image that did more damage to McCain than all the positives of the evening. The glorious finish.
When McCain walked out and it looked like Grandpa was joining the family. The age difference from the infant up through McCain finished out the evening with a visual of McCain is too old and Palin is too young.
I think this age difference is going to be a negative for the rest of the election. Hopefully they keep putting them on stage together.
