Our team has been assessing the aftermath of the GOP debate and the roadmap ahead. The 3-Hour Debate on CNN was at times combative, entertaining along with the usual blame game and fear game as epitomized by Senator Graham's continued admonition that, "...they are coming!!" As our team continues its' broad assessment, we wanted to report on another milestone today:
This deadline is important in light of the profound focus all candidates had on Iran and the aftermath of the debate. The characterizations of the performance by Fiorina about hitting "home runs" is interesting to say the least as our team will share its' assessment as it has been assessing the broad spectre of analysis on all fronts. Her campaign released this earlier to fundraise:
After last night's Presidential Primary debate at the Reagan Library, I think we can all agree – Carly Fiorina is not just another face in the crowd.
Carly Fiorina has been underestimated all of her life, from the time she worked as a secretary at a nine-person real estate firm, to serving as the CEO for the largest technology firm in the world. And, last night was no exception.
Carly worked hard and earned her place on the stage for the prime time debate, and didn't just hold her own. She delivered an indisputable stand-out substantive performance.
Please don't take my word for it, though. Here's some of what others are saying about Carly:
| "Carly Fiorina really shined; you can see her extraordinary preparation." -Jim Geraghty, National Review
"Biggest winner, Carly Fiorina….. She looked presidential, serious, sharp, well-informed, non-establishment and tough." -Glenn Beck
"Carly sounds like a modern day Margaret Thatcher." -Tony Perkins
"Carly Fiorina commanded the stage all night, on every question. She is pure dynamite." -Monica Crowley
".....Carly Fiorina would be Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare in a general election debate." -David Catanese | |
But, unlike others who were on the stage last night, Carly is a political outsider and hasn't been running for office and raising money from special interests for years
We found it of interest how she neglected to note that she ran for the US Senate and served as a key surrogate for the McCain Campaign. Some of her comments as well as others were also being fact-checked. What was of keen interest to us what Fortune's Geoff Colvin's assessment of the campaign and his broad analysis of leadership which we received at our Virtual Studios earlier today--especially with the comments he noted on Carly Fiorina:
 | September 17, 2015 | |
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| If you had just landed from Mars last night at 8 pm EDT, having never heard of the Republican candidates or seen a polling number – if all you had to go on was what you saw in the debate on TV – whom would you have picked as the leaders?
You probably would have picked Donald Trump simply because of the attention all the others paid to him, plus the amount of talking he did, which was more than anyone else. And then you likely would have picked Carly Fiorina for her polished, presidential demeanor and command of policy issues, and Jeb Bush, who also talked a lot, spoke well about policy, and pushed back effectively against Trump’s bluster.
But I suspect you never would have guessed Ben Carson, who was hesitant, uncertain, and practically invisible in the early going. He got warmed up and asserted himself better as the interminable evening wore on, but he alone refused to attack Trump even when presented with obvious opportunities. And yet in all the polls – in Iowa, New Hampshire, and nationwide – Carson is the only candidate ranking anywhere near Trump in popularity.
A conundrum of this race, and a lesson for leaders everywhere, is that the two most successful candidates so far are the loudest one and the quietest one. That fact tells us a few things:
-There is no superior leadership style or any definable leadership personality. Style and personality are not what make a leader.
-Authenticity always comes through. As different as Trump and Carson are, they’re both real, and voters can sense it. They can also tell instantly, and generally dismiss, who’s delivering rehearsed, focus-group-tested talking points.
-Differentiation is key. Marketers will tell you that the most important factors in brand power are differentiation and relevance. Trump and Carson are in many ways at opposite ends of a spectrum, and much of their strength comes from being at the ends, not in the middle.
Other observations: Most of the commentary this morning focuses on Fiorina, and rightly so – she performed excellently and will certainly rise in the polls. It remains to be seen whether her record as CEO of Hewlett-Packard will become an issue. She and Trump sniped at each other over this until Chris Christie shut them down by calling their spat “childish” and irrelevant to the voters. He did Fiorina a favor by changing the subject because she was indeed a disastrous CEO. As she now gets more attention, we’ll see if anyone really cares.
Christie was hugely improved over the previous debate. But he still isn’t sufficiently differentiated.
Bush’s performance was once again a snooze until he went after Trump for bringing Bush’s wife into the debate. Then he became authentic and energized. A continuing problem is that he keeps talking about the importance of optimism, and it falls flat. He might heed some advice often given to writers: Don’t tell me, show me. That is, don’t talk about optimism. Be optimistic. |
This is as Trump continues to be the leader as eptiomized by this reported out by Real Clear Politics earlier today. along with this from the team +Reason :
How Ronald Reagan's Ghost Haunts The GOP The Republican Party will never command the future unless it gives up its ridiculous nostalgia for its last great figure. By Nick Gillespie What Drives Donald Trump? 'He's got money, he's got fame...Power is what's left' Trump biographer Jerome Tuccille on the secret compulsion behind the billionaire's presidential bid. By Nick Gillespie and Amanda Winkler Did the Trump Party Hijack the Tea Party? Glenn Beck, Rand Paul, and others with Tea Party cred sure seem to think so
(Update: This was just received from the Clinton Campaign which we found to be hilarious:)
We have also been assessing two distressing developments: The 8.3 Earthquake in Chile and the refugee crisis in Europe. As we went to press with this latest edition of "Notations", our team found the images from Hungary as refugees were removed from the barbed wife fence at the border one by one. We are also awaiting word from the Federal Reserve on a decision on Interest Rates which will have profound impacts on long-term economic development especially as the US Election Season gets under way.
