America is not purple...

If anyone thinks there is little difference between Republicans and Democrats, last Thursday’s Republican debate was a reminder of the stark differences that still divide our country. The GOP candidates were so much more conservative in tone and content than last week’s Democratic contenders that we should expect another divisive general election.

For the most part, the contenders in the first GOP showdown of the 2008 presidential campaign played it safe and stuck to their well-rehearsed scripts. They jockeyed for Reagan’s mantle—without engaging in much meaningful discussion of what parts of that legacy they liked, and what parts they didn’t. They slammed President Bush for his conduct of the Iraq War—but were careful not to otherwise distance themselves too much from the leader of their party. And they barely criticized each other, thus honoring Reagan’s fabled 11th commandment that Republicans should not to speak ill of one another. But in a debate featuring 10 candidates—seven of whom are barely known to the American public—the lack of combat didn’t do much to help clarify voters’ choices.

Republicans were much more hawkish on matters of war and peace. A week ago, Hillary Clinton got praised from pundits for promising “retaliation” against any power that attacks two American cities. Last Thursday, Romney tried to reclaim ground he lost in recent comments on Osama bin Laden, when he insisted that it wasn’t worth moving “heaven and earth” to search for just one man. “He’s going to pay, and he will die,” Romney declared in the debate.

McCain tried to top that, in perhaps one of the night’s stranger moments. “We’ll capture him[ bin Laden]. We will bring him to justice,” McCain vowed, gesticulating forcefully and growing more intense by the second. “I will follow him to the gates of hell.” Evidently proud of his answer, he then undercut the power of the moment with a staged and awkward grin.

Those proclamations are a far cry from Obama’s promise to confront terrorist attacks by focusing on first responders and studying the lessons of Hurricane relief to take care of the displaced and injured.

Republicans also struck a tougher tone against illegal immigrants and abortion. The Democratic field all defended the practice of partial birth abortion, while Republicans were overwhelmingly pro-life. That may be why Rudy Giuliani’s worst moment for Republican voters was when he said overturning Roe v. Wade would be “okay.” And not overturning it would be “okay.” Okay? Good grief, he needs to get a pithy comeback on abortion and repeat it several hundred times.

Last Thursday’s debate also showed huge differences between the reporters who cover such events and Republican voters who follow campaigns. It’s not a shock to anyone that most journalists covering D.C. politics relate to Democratic views much more than those held by Republicans. Most reporters do a good job of putting their biases in check, but many are tone deaf when figuring out why Republican primary voters would embrace a guy like Mitt Romney who is now pro-life, pro-family and pro-everything-that-evangelical-voters-could-want-him-to-be.

Mitt Romney carried the mantle of Reagan off the stage last week. Like Romney, the 40th president was derided as a right-wing nut. The greatest Reagan moment for the former Massachusetts governor came when he was asked what he hated most about America.

“Clueless.” “After all these years and all those Republican victories, the press still doesn’t get it.”

But Romney does, and he delivered an answer that would have made most reporters (and Democratic candidates) wince. It was an unapologetically delivered sermon on American Exceptionalism. The same sort of speech that made media elites roll their eyes at Ronald Reagan while American voters were electing him in landslide margins.

Most media analysts seemed to downplay Romney’s victory, and also overlooked John McCain’s stumbles. Reporters gave his uneven performance a little notice. GOP voters may not be so forgiving. I’m not saying that Romney is Reagan and I’m not predicting the collapse of John McCain’s campaign. But there were clear winners and losers in last Thursday’s contest. Among those Red State Republicans (who will elect their party’s next nominee), Romney won while McCain and Giuliani failed to meet expectations.

America is not purple. It is very red and it is very blue.

The debate was broadcast nationally by MSNBC. If you missed the debate, you can view it here.After you have watched the debate or reviewed the highlights, you can also rate the candidates and see how others have rated them.