I thought Bruce Bartlett on Bloomberg Radio earlier today gave a proper account of the lineup of candidates who will be "debating" tonight in Hanover, New Hampshire.

"The Republican candidates are all just pandering to the Tea Party".

While the debate is supposed to focus on the "economy" and "jobs" Charlie Rose will have his hands full trying to get any of these contestants to give an answer to a direct question which does not include the words "cut regulations", "cut taxes " or "stop class warfare". In fact those three planks are the sum total of the Republican platform to solve our unemployment problem.

Nor will Rose thwart candidates in their typical Republican debate tactic of ignoring the question which was asked--and in this case pivoting immediately to an attack--especially Perry attacking Romney. Questions on the economy will be ignored because the audience is not on the Dartmouth campus. The audience is the national "Tea Party". All they want to see is the possibility of "laying the wood to Obama"--as Matthew Dowd so bluntly put it. I don't think Romney will tea-pander as much as Perry and Cain because he can't afford to scare the Independents who apparently are giving him his lead in the New Hampshire primary polls as well as in head to head matchups with Obama. However, Romney has already publicly called for Perry to repudiate Rev. Wright's, er Rev. Jeffries' "cult" statements.

As Perry and Romney focus on each other, I wonder if Cain might get a pass on his 999 tax plan. My guess is that Cain will continue to be underestimated and his plan continue to go un-vetted. Romney has no incentive to come down hard on Cain right now. Perry is going to have trouble with the main target, let alone a second one. Perhaps the Bloomberg Terminal can be programmed to do the questioning of Cain's 999 plan. The Concord Coalition, formed in part by New Hampshire Republicans, has called the 999 plan "insane".

A Dallas Morning News editorial mildly chastised Rev. Jeffries but laid down a challenge for Perry to give a full throated condemnation of Jeffrey's unfortunate remarks about the LDS church. And of course the necessity for Perry to raise his "game" has been noted by everyone on the planet who follows politics.

My alternate title for this blog is,

"Dartmouth College President Jim Yong Kim as the Tea Party Anti-Christ"

Kim represents everything the Tea Party hates and is no doubt leading the world to final conflagration. He is the President of an "elite" University. He is a world renowned expert in Public Health. He headed up an Aid's program for the World Health Organization. And he wasn't even born in Americuh. In other words--things like necessary health care, science and education--very subversive ideas among tea partiers.

Kim was interviewed on Bloomberg Radio this morning. When a slightly facetious question was asked about "Occupy Wall St." and the involvement of "liberal arts" majors, Kim quickly pivoted, stating that he was on an international panel in Korea which is studying liberal arts education, social studies and humanities in America's best Universities because the Koreans, and others, want to broaden their educational experience beyond the focus on technical subjects. So  perhaps President Kim can teach those foreigners a thing or two about higher education before the Tea Party takes over America and decimates what's left of our educational institutions.

I think the audience which will include a major component of students and faculty will redeem America following the shameful former audience reactions in Simi Valley and Orlando. I am curious whether the Occupy Wall St. demonstrations will be launched into the debate--and I suspect there might be a groan or two from young people in the audience.

The debate begins at 7:00 EST and I will be forcing myself to watch--having the mute button on high alert, a six pack of Magic Hat #9 Beer from neighboring Vermont, and some aspirin.

Conclusion. In my opinion the winner of this debate, within the Republican milieu, was the Republican party, specifically the Eastern Establishment wing. The setting of candidates around a table created civility assisted by the excellent job of the moderators in keeping the focus on economics and jobs. Julianna was outstanding in keeping Romney's feet to the fire on the tarp bailout question, related to what may be needed in Europe.

Romney is clearly the best communicator and may be on a roll. He won for the first time a poll in Iowa of caucus voters.  

It's hard to conceive of Perry coming back in this race, even given his war chest and the Southern advantage. Apparently Perry has $20 million to spend attacking Romney in the early primaries, but his lack of stature and familiarity with anything outside of Texas is very telling and may be lasting and skeptical first impressions hard to overcome.

So, less of a cluster-muck-up than I had thought. 

Not one of these candidates has a plan to create jobs now. Nor was there any indication that any of these candidates would ever work in a bi-partisan manner to solve our country's problems. Thus, the losers from this debate are the American people.