HANOVER, NH — Billed as a crucial test for the faltering candidacy of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Tuesday night’s Republican presidential debate here at Dartmouth College will also be a departure from the six previous GOP debates.
First, it will be devoted exclusively to “issues related to the economy, debt, deficits, taxes, trade and jobs,” according to a spokesman for Bloomberg News, which is co-sponsoring the debate with the Washington Post. The debate will also be the first that does not involve the candidates standing on stage behind lecterns; at Dartmouth, the candidates will be seated around a large circular table. But perhaps most importantly, it will be the first debate since Perry entered the race in August in which Perry and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney are not placed next to each other.
There have been three debates since Perry declared his candidacy: the September 7 MSNBC debate at the Reagan Library in California, the September 12 CNN debate in Tampa, and the September 22 Fox News debate in Orlando. In each of those debates, producers stood Romney and Perry next to each other in hopes the two frontrunners would engage in the sort of fireworks that make debates memorable. The placement made for some extraordinary moments and striking camera shots. But at the same time, the emphasis on Perry and Romney irritated some viewers.
After the Fox News debate in Orlando, several delegates to the Florida straw poll who had watched the debate in person told me they had grown tired of what some called the “Rick and Mitt Show.” “I don’t like the situation where they have Perry and Romney next to each other in a food fight,” said a delegate from Port St. Lucie, Florida. “They’re talking to each other — they’re not talking to us.” “They always seem to put Perry next to Mitt Romney,” said a delegate from Venice, Florida. “Let’s hear what they all have to say.”
Organizers of the Dartmouth debate decided to seat the candidates in order of their standing in national polls. That means Herman Cain, who has surged to second place in recent surveys, will be seated next to frontrunner Romney, with Perry next to Cain and Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich and the rest of the candidates completing the order. The arrangement, which some might dismiss as an insignificant detail, could affect the substance and dynamics of the debate: a feuding Romney and Perry probably won’t be able to dominate if Herman Cain is seated between them. But whatever happens, it seems likely that the Dartmouth debate will not be the “Rick and Mitt Show.”
