The establishment-press questions were to the point and focused on issues of importance to Republicans looking for the best nominee to represent them in the general election in November 2012. The questioners refrained from trying to make the debate about their own cleverness.
Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey once again walked through his successes in rolling back the overly generous government-worker pensions and compensation. He pointed out he was able to do this by making it clear that tax hikes were off the table.
Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana again apologized for his initial effort to increase the Indiana income tax but pointed out that after that error he had fought for school choice and was now leading the fight for the right to work in Indiana.
Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi gave examples of how he managed the clean up from Hurricane Katrina, highlighted his proposal for an 18 percent flat tax and no capital-gains tax, and he thanked the media for not asking a bunch of questions about gay marriage and contraception.
Gov. Perry of Texas ran through his three reforms on energy policy, a 20 percent top flat-tax rate, and bringing his state’s success in making Texas’s government fully transparent to Washington.
Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin was able to give the highlights of his “Roadmap to Prosperity” already passed by the House that would cut federal spending by $6 trillion over the next decade and reform Medicaid, Medicare, and all means-tested spending programs.
Auntie Em is interrupting me now . . . and it turns out the Red Queen isn’t really beheading anyone, and those folks were just playing cards. . . .