Mandag kveld møttes 11 av de 17 republikanske presidentkandidatene på scenen i New Hampshire. 3 andre deltok via satellitt fra Washington, D.C. Forumet kan oppsummeres som en tam forsmak på torsdagens tv-debatt fra Ohio.
Kandidatene ble intervjuet hver for seg på scenen på Saint Anselm College i Manchester, New Hampshire. Én etter én tok de turen opp på scenen for å sitte på en barkrakk ved siden av moderatoren. De ti øvrige satt side ved side på første rad. Senatorene Rand Paul, Ted Cruz og Marco Rubio ventet tålmodig i et C-SPAN-studio i Washington.
Det så ut som speed-dating, og konfrontasjoner mellom kandidatene uteble. De fikk presentert seg selv til et stort publikum i en viktig fase av nominasjonskampen, og det var interessant å se hvordan de taklet formatet og hva de valgte å fremheve på den lille tiden de hadde.
Du finner videoer av de ulike kandidatenes opptreden i spillelisten nederst i saken.
«Fourteen Republican presidential candidates took turns fielding questions at a forum here Monday night, giving voters a snapshot of a packed and wide open GOP field mostly running as national security hawks, advocates for tighter border security and staunch opponents of the federal health-care law determined to remove federal funding for Planned Parenthood.»
«It was supposed to be an opportunity for the Republican presidential candidates to shine in the purest and most substantive way: a forum broadcast on C-Span, removed from the sensationalism of cable news and the spectacle of Donald J. Trump. Instead, what voters got from Monday night’s candidate forum in Manchester, N.H., was a lightning round of questions with hurried responses and awkward interruptions, a necessity when trying to cram 14 speakers into two hours of television.»
«Never pushed outside their comfort zones, they directed their attack lines at Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. They all adhered to the conservative orthodoxies of the moment: a stronger foreign policy, a harder line on curtailing illegal immigration, cutting funding for Planned Parenthood. All of the candidates were simply aiming to make a strong introduction — and, due in part to the speed dating-like format, their points of emphasis were painted with a broad brush.»
«Former Florida governor Jeb Bush appeared content to play it safe, as well as nice, praising the quality of his primary opponents. Lesser-known candidates knew they were being seen by many TV viewers for the first time and used their fleeting moments on stage to simply make a good impression. Predictably, President Obama’s Affordable Care Act was a big target during the evening. Nearly everyone on the stage also spoke out against illegal immigration — at times using the course language that has caused the Republican Party problems among Hispanic voters — arguing that any effort to overhaul the nation’s laws must start with securing the borders.»
Donald Trump deltok ikke i forumet, og ble heller ikke nevnt med et eneste ord i løpet av den to timer lange sendingen.
Det blir ikke tilfellet i Cleveland, Ohio på torsdag.
Voters First Presidential Forum ble sendt på C-SPAN i tillegg til lokale tv-stasjoner i Iowa, New Hampshire og South Carolina. Du ser hele forumet her, eller så kan du sjekke ut kandidatenes opptredener i tur og orden i spillelisten nedenfor:
