Ten Republican Men, One Stage

The Republicans kick off their debate schedule tonight in California at 8pm EDT. The event is being held in the ever so (in)appropriate Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley. The stage is overflowing with candidates, even more so than for the Democrats.

The lineup includes the frontrunners, McCain, Giuliani and Romney. Then come the second tiers, Sen. Brownback, fmr. Governors Jim Gilmore of VA, Mike Huckabee of AR and Tommy Thompson of WI. The bottom three on the list is comprised of the military contractors' favorite Duncan Hunter, immigration nut Tom Tancredo and finally Ron Paul.

The general consensus for tonight is that no one wants to get roughed up or come out looking bad. That is especially true for the top three. All of them have serious problems with their campaigns as it is and a major hit could be particularly devastating. I'm looking for trouble from the bottom tier, especially from Tom Tancredo. The guy is trying to keep immigrants out of our country made of immigrants at all costs. Any moderate position on that will definitely draw fire from Tom.

I'm not too sure I can watch the whole thing honestly. I am going to try to listen for reasoned, principled ideas....but I feel that those type of things don't exist in the Republican party anymore. Instead, I will expect empty rhetoric, the heavy usage of fear in their responses and of course, bashing Democrats. I'll hang on till I get that nauseating feeling, then shut the thing off.