Okay, we’re here doing live coverage of the loser candidates who didn’t make the cut into the real debate.
5:07 PM: The painful subtext of every question, even from the Foxbot questioners, seems to be ‘You’re really unpopular and your campaign is a joke, why are you even running?’ Pretty hard to come back with a good answer on that.
5:09 PM: For the over 40 crowd, the debate stage here has a vague feeling of the 70s-era Love Boat. Vaguely entertaining, but mostly ‘Oh yeah, what ever happened to that guy.’ Yeah, I’m looking at you, George Pataki.
5:10 PM: Wow, question for Jim Gilmore is the most brutal yet. Basically “Jim Gilmore, why the F are you even running?” Not a bad question. Think I’m kidding? “You were the last person on stage to declare your candidacy. You ran for the White House once and lost. You ran for the senate one time and lost. You haven’t held public office in 13 years. Similar question, is it time for new blood?”
5:20 PM: If you’re not watching this debate you’re missing nothing. The crushing weight of the irrelevance of the candidates overwhelms every word.
5:24 PM: Main question of round two seems to be, “When are you going to crack down on American Muslims?”
5:35 PM: I’d had to reassure the TPM staffers covering this debate for us that from my years of experience, this debate is challenging for the sheer level of unremarkable banal stupidity. But we’re going to persevere.
5:38 PM: Foxbot host asks candidates how they will combat the epidemic of loaferism among Americans.
