On Wednesday, September 7, 2011, the nation’s conservative population turned its undivided attention toward the fifth and largest major presidential debate of the year: the Republican Candidates Debate. The Debate was televised on MSNBC and moderated by NBC Nightly News Anchor Brian Williams and Politico reporter John F. Harris.

            The event was held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California (41 miles from Los Angeles). In the Air Force One Pavillion, the candidates debated under the large Boeing 707 that was a retired Air Force One. This plane is historically significant, and as Oklahoma’s Daily Times Herald mentioned, it “served seven U.S. Presidents from 1973 to 2001” (www.carrollspaper.com). However, even more dramatic than the scene of the debate were the actual issues being mulled over.

The debate began with arguably the most pressing issue currently facing American politicians: job creation. Initially, Governor Rick Perry of Texas and former Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, each dismissed the other’s gubernatorial public sector job creation. Then, Rick Santorum, a former Senator from Pennsylvania, and restaurant tycoon Herman Cain discussed jobs and tax reform. Former Utah governor and ambassador to China, John Huntsman, as well as Pittsburgh-raised Ron Paul, proceeded to diversify the debate. Interestingly, in the initial debate, the former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who has established himself as a respected elder in the GOP, put himself in a populist position by bridging the divides between Perry, Romney, and Huntsman.

As MSNBC mentioned in a post-debate analysis, Rick Perry used many bombastic terms. For example, Perry went against the messages of fellow GOP leaders Dick Cheney and Karl Rove by calling publicly funded social security a “Ponzi scheme” (www.opinions.latimes.com).

Afterwards there was lots of speculation as to who the “winner” was. Senior academician Paul Austin responded to the question of who the best candidate was by saying, “Jon Huntsman because he keeps it real. And that he believes in widely accepted scientific facts, unlike the majority of the other candidates.”