The results are in, and there seems to be a consensus: Carolyn Washburn did a lousy job. Fred files at the Campaign Standard:
Debates normally don’t amount to much in presidential primaries, but this year they’ve been important. Without debates, Mike Huckabee would still be a no-name and John McCain wouldn’t be rallying from his low point last summer. Even so, the moderator of today’s Des Moines Register debate in Iowa among Republican presidential candidates managed to turn 90 minutes of questioning into a boring and insignificant event. This was not easy to do. But Carolyn Washburn, the Register’s editor, was up to the job. She kept nine candidates from spelling out the differences among them – differences that might be of interest to Republicans who’ll vote in the party caucuses on January 3. And she kept them, for the most part, from even being interesting. I don’t mean to be harsh, but this was a miserable excuse for a debate. The only good part was that it lasted a half hour less than usual for a televised debate….
Dean Barnett has his analysis up at THE DAILY STANDARD under the headline “Fred Wins, Iowa Loses”:
Here we were on Wednesday, a nation of political junkies gathered around our televisions to watch the candidates debate each other one last time, and we had as a moderator one Carolyn Washburn, the editor of the Des Moines Register. I don’t mean to go all East-coast-elitist on you; I’m sure there are people in Iowa who could capably moderate a presidential debate. Unfortunately, and obviously, Carolyn Washburn is not one of them.
Stephen Hayes also scores it a win for Thompson, and, of course, the Cardinal weighs in as well:
Thoughts on the first few moments of the debate … 1) This Des Moines Register moderator is very scary. Like the meanest 5th grade teacher in America. … She makes Hillary look like Mother Goose. Even Rudy looks afraid of her.
A lot more over at the Campaign Standard.
