COMMENTARY | Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign announced Thursday that the candidate would not be attending the Newsmax sponsored debate at the end of December, according to CNN. His announcement was followed by a CNN report the next day that another presidential hopeful, Rep. Michele Bachmann, was declining to attend. Why are so many shying away from the debate after having attended nearly a dozen? Although none of the candidates are saying it aloud, with businessman Donald Trump as the debate moderator, they likely wish to avoid the circus effect he so often brings to events with which he is associated. Then there is the party reasoning, where GOP officials like Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus have voiced reservations, as noted by Politico, about a debate moderated by an individual that could possibly be an independent candidate in the future.
So, with five candidates not attending the Newsmax Republican presidential debate, which is set for Dec. 27, will there even be a debate? Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum have accepted the invitation to attend. A debate could take place between the current poll frontrunner and Santorum but will it have an impact without the rest of the field of candidates?
Media Matters reported that talk radio personality Don Imus asked if the debate would even be held with only two of the Republican contenders agreeing to attend. Trump, who had expressed disappointment in Bachmann’s refusal to attend after having met with her four times in the past few months, replied, “I don’t know. I have to look into it.” He added: “They really want me to drop my status as a potential person to run as an independent, and, honestly, I don’t think I’m going to do that. I’m not going to drop it.”
Trump made noises about running for president earlier in the year at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February and even vaulted into the top tier of candidates for a few weeks before announcing in mid-May he would not seek the Republican nomination. As the presidential preference polls have displayed a propensity for several candidates to rise and fall to contend with former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (often referred to as the anti-Romney candidate as Romney’s poll numbers have remained relatively steady throughout) for the nomination, the business mogul and reality show star has noted that if a suitable contender did not present themselves to run against President Barack Obama, he might enter the race as an independent candidate.
But Trump has courted controversy from the start, aligning himself with the birther movement (those who believe President Obama is actually an extranational and his birth certificate and American citizenship are bogus) and calling Republican contenders like Rep. Ron Paul and former Utah governor Jon Huntsman “joke” candidates. He is considered as a non-serious player in the Republican Party and has had the “joke” label applied to him as well. Earlier in the week, journalist Charles Krauthammer, speaking on Fox News, referred to the upcoming debate where Trump would endorse a candidate afterward as a “joke.”
And now, because of widespread ridicule and reservations about Donald Trump’s presidential motives, the Newsmax debate might not take place at all.
But if it should take place, it might proceed something like: Two politicians and a businessman walk into a debate…