GOP in SC - Pre-debate Items of Interest
Update [2007-5-15 16:6:31 by Ross Smith]: We mourn the passing of Rev. Jerry Falwell, 73. Academic debate had no better support from a university president than the support he gave the Liberty team. The team, encouraged to argue and understand both sides of even the most controversial social issues, was his pride and joy. Their Director, Brett O'Donnell is on leave to work as John McCain's debate advisor. Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Liberty debate family.
Check back for our liveblog and "First Analysis" posts for more on tonight's 9 p.m. EDT debate and join us at 11:30 p.m. EDT on 
.
Meanwhile, read more below for the pre-debate items of special interest. Check out the preview post below, too, worth its pixels for Alan Coversotne's comment alone.
: Republicans, 2008 elections, debates, debate, presidential primary, South Carolina, moderators
Social issues dominate the headines of the
Washington Post's pre-debate story today, showing that the media lens is still focused on Giuliani and abortion.
The debate is an opportunity for the "dirty tricksters" to get attention from South Carolina's newspaper of record for their dump of anti-Mormon material which, while not naming Romney, has no other target. Debates matter.
A peak at the thinking of the some of the players is provided in Fox's discussion with tonight's moderators of their game plan and preparation, as well as in politico.com's comments from some of the candidates' debate advisers.
The politico.com article still uses the "near unanimity on Iraq" meme in spite of the fact that the candidates' differences have not been probed. Will they be tonight? My preview piece suggests they could be.
Immigration is also in the news. As the Senate is set to take up the bill once known as McCain/Kennedy, the Washington Post describes the frontrunners' attempts to distance themselves from the positions they took not so long ago. Will Tancredo and Hunter get opportunities to highlight this fissure in the party tonight? Will Romney be able to get away with being opposed to "amnesty"?
Romney is using the debate as a vehicle for building his grassroots support numbers. This looks like a really smart move, integrating the web and debate watching parties with a goal of enlisting 24,000 new small donors in a 24 hour period. The debate gives the campaign a good hook for basic movement building.
McCain's blog will be liveblogging tonight. Might be interesting to see whether commenters there are anything other than fans.
NYT Caucus blog has good links to other debate news.
Add your own items of interest in the comments . . .
