POLITICO.COM : Monday Night Republican Debate : Tim Pawlenty loser, Mitt Romney Winner - Pawlenty did not follow the Obamneycare attack on Mitt Romney - "A moment of strength that became a moment of weakness" - Michele Bachman will steal voters from Pawlenty

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I would not bet a single dollar or penny for Tim Pawlenty after what I saw on Monday Night. -

POLITICO.COM -
Pawlenty beats hasty N.H. retreat -
By JONATHAN MARTIN & ALEXANDER BURNS -
June 14, 2011


Pawlenty beats hasty N.H. retreat


Some excerpts :

“Debates are competitions - they are alpha dog battles,” explained longtime GOP ad man Alex Castellanos. “To win one, you have to create what I call an ‘MOS,’ a moment of strength. Tim Pawlenty had a chance to get in the ring tonight with the heavyweight champion and create such a moment. He refused to enter the ring.

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And Jason Miller, who worked on Rudy Giuliani’s 2008 campaign and is now a media consultant, said Pawlenty may have turned off the electorate he was hoping to impress.

“Republican primary voters are looking for a presidential candidate who’s going to take the fight directly to President Obama,” Miller said. “If you’re not comfortable following through on a criticism of one of your primary opponents in person, why should voters think you’ll be able to man up and follow through on a criticism of the President when you face him in the general election?”

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Just as worrisome for Pawlenty, Monday’s debate marked the emergence of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) as an articulate and unapologetic conservative standard bearer. Her continued rise could spell trouble for her fellow Minnesotan both at the Ames Straw Poll this Summer and at Iowa’s caucuses next winter.

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Yet every day that Romney is allowed to continue toward the primary unbruised by his GOP rivals is another day that he gets stronger as a frontrunner. And throughout the 120 minutes here, he was able to deliver his economy-and-Obama message without having to duck any blows from his fellow candidates.

“It was a very friendly debate, to say the least, which helps Romney,” said longtime conservative PR man Greg Mueller, a top aide on Pat Buchanan’s 1996 presidential campaign. “No one took center stage and emerged as the main challenger to Romney. Bachmann got close in the beginning but did not take it far enough in my view. Consequently, Romney wins as he comes out unscathed and largely an unchallenged frontrunner. Someone will emerge to challenge Romney from the right — it is for the taking. But it did not happen tonight.

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