This January, the Republican Party will choose their nominee for the Presidential candidacy of the United States for the 2012 elections. The battle is getting stiffer, deeper, and more fierce within the GOP for front place in the primaries.

The battle to bypass the on-field verbal attacks among candidates with their so-called campaign related flip-flops, finger pointing and mind-wavering comments along with loads of unhealthy criticism has been going on between the Republican candidates as they struggle to reach the height of US politics.

These are the brave individuals who are ready to step in and potentially navigate the country through the rough tides that the Republican Party has been experiencing. One candidate who has entered the foray is former speaker of the house, Newton Leroy Gingrich, who announced his candidacy for Republican Presidential nomination for 2012 in May of this year.

Michele Bachmann, another Republican Presidential candidate who is a three-term Minnesota Congresswomen, is the current chair of the congress Tea Party caucus.

Ron Paul, US Representative from the State of Texas and a former medical doctor, is also a candidate for the Republican Presidential elections. Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts, is a serious contender and a clear favorite for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination.

Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and their fellow contenders for the presidential nomination will be facing state-by-state battles that will eventually decide their fate and mark an end to the intra-party race. As the Iowa Caucus approaches, Republican Presidential nomination hopefuls are getting desperate to out-smart each other.

Linda Upmeyer, Mr. Gingrich’s Caucus co-chair women, denounced the Romney campaign for buying 3 million dollars’ worth of ad buys in Iowa intended for negative ads against the Georgia Republican. She further said that it is Romney’s desperation and panic and she believed that it is not going to be comfortable for those who want to move forward.

Recently at the latest Presidential debate hosted in Des Moines, Iowa, Newt Gingrich received character-based aggression from his Republican opponents. Bachmann and Paul criticized Mr. Gingrich as “hypocrite” who profited from his contacts. Mr Gingrich shot back at Mr. Romney and said “the only reason you didn’t become a career politician is because you lost to Teddy Kennedy in 1994”.

Gingrich rose to the top of the polls largely because of how he performed in the other debates this year. However, a few days ago Gingrich’s criticism of Paul Ryan’s plan as “right-wing social engineering” and then his denial of his own attack, is typical of Washington politics, and has led his competitors to question some of his platforms.

Politics has been the center-stage for this type of verbal war and an instrument to prove self-worth from a very long time. Perhaps what matters the most, keeping aside all of the “va-va voom”, is the articulation of promises made during the campaigns.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/iowapolitics/

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Health care was a major issue at the November 9 Republican presidential debate hosted by CNBC titled, “Your Money, Your Vote: The Republican Presidential Debate.” With each Republican presidential candidate stating that they would repeal ObamaCare, the debate gave them the opportunity to address the steps to reform health care once elected to office.

Ron Paul, who has had previous experience in the medical field as a doctor, addressed the issue by stating that the solution to heath care was to get the government out of the business altogether. He stated that there should be the right to “opt out of ObamaCare,” as well as any health care program to bring health care back to patient-doctor relationships.

Paul also discussed the need for patients to have medical savings accounts, which would drive down the prices on major medicines. Rick Perry believes that Medicare should allow more options for people to choose from. He also said that the best solution was to send money to the states and have them decide on what program fits best for their state.

Mitt Romney, who is currently taking the lead in recent polls, has received criticism in the past on his stance on health care. His plan is often referred to as “RomneyCare” because of its similarities with ObamaCare. During the debates, he responded that he would appeal ObamaCare and the solution would also be to send money to the states and allow them decide which health care plans are best for their state.

Romney also stated that Americans should be allowed to purchase their own insurance, instead of being forced to receive it through their company. He also agreed with Paul, saying that health care should work like a market so that Americans have a stake in the quality of their insurance. Michele Bachmann also held the same stance. She also maintained her true “malpractice liability reform” stance.

Newt Gingrich stated that there was a need to restore patient-doctor relationships, as well as turn over the funds to the state level so that they can craft a plan, similar to what John Huntsman indicated. Gingrich then stated that there has to be more concentration and funding for research on brain science.

By finding cures for many leading diseases and illnesses, people wouldn’t have to pay for such federal programs. Senator Rick Santorum thought that many other candidates lacked his experience in the health care field, and that other candidates such as Romney were not consistent in their plans.

He stated, “I was always for having the government out of the health care business and for a bottom-up, consumer-driven health care, which is different than Governor Romney and some of the other people on this panel.” Though each candidate has different plans for repealing ObamaCare, health care will continue be a hotly debated topic in future debates.

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The Republican debate on Wednesday night was all about Rick Perry. Even Rick Perry noticed it, stating he felt like a “piñata.” Almost all of the other candidates gleefully swung at the frontrunner, while the Texan governor decided to support all of his controversial statements in his book “FED UP!”

For all the talk about job creation on the stage at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, the words, “middle class,” was only mentioned two times in two hours. TWICE! It is clearer than ever than Republicans are not the party for the middle class. I am unsure if Democrats are either, but I know for sure that Republicans are not.

The debate was primarily between Rick Perry and Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney about who had the better state and who created more jobs. Interesting debate since all of the Republicans claim the government does nothing for job creation and it is left up to the private sector.

The governors were prepared with a number of job-related facts to throw out. “Michael Dukakis created jobs three times faster than you did, Mitt,” said Perry.

Romney countered that Texas created more jobs under Perry’s predecessor, George W. Bush, than under Perry. He also defended his record and minimized Perry’s by noting that Massachusetts and Texas have different political and economic conditions. “States are different,” said Romney.

“Texas has zero income tax. Texas has a right to work state, a Republican legislature, a Republican Supreme Court. Texas has a lot of oil and gas in the ground. Those are wonderful things, but Governor Perry doesn’t believe that he created those things.” Perry continued to assert that social security is a “ponzi scheme” and a “monstrous lie.”

He stated if he was president, he would eliminate social security while reassuring people that depend on that income, they would be okay. Romney stated he believes social security is successful but that it is facing a funding problem, which he would fix. Bachmann barely talked at all and did not deviate from her talking points, even when pressed by moderators.

Every other part of the debate was predictable. Not many social issues were touched on by NBC and Politico moderators, although Brian Williams sort of asked Rick Perry about the death row inmate that was killed who is probably innocent, without mentioning the man’s name.

Williams simply asked in general if Perry had ever struggled with the idea that someone who was killed via capital punishment was innocent. The weak sauce allowed Perry to wriggle off the hook: “No, sir.

I’ve never struggled with that at all. The state of Texas has a very thoughtful, a very clear process in place of which — when someone commits the most heinous of crimes against our citizens, they get a fair hearing, they go through an appellate process, they go up to the Supreme Court of the United States, if that’s required.”

Image Courtesy of  Robert Scoble (originally posted to Flickr as Tweeting the Gov) [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

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