
Today is the South Carolina Republican primary election.
South Carolina is a small state, with a population under 5 million people, but since 1980, every candidate who has won the South Carolina GOP primary has gone on to win the Republican presidential nomination.
That said, this election has been unique in many ways, and may not follow the pattern.
For those of you who are interested, here is the South Carolina debate from Thursday night. It’s valuable to see what the candidates have to say, and how well they say it.
However, having been a faithful debate viewer for a long time, I believe that debate "performances" place undue emphasis on a candidate’s ability to please a crowd, and say what people want to hear.
We need to start evaluating real skills, specific track records, and a candidate's character and temperament before we vote, or we will continue to elect the wrong guy.
Americans can and must do better. No election in our lifetime has been more important!