Lets face it, the Democratic Debate was a great example of how the Democratic Party has learned a few things. The candidates were mostly civil, they learned to attack the opposition party more then each other and they learned to be “more inclusive” by bringing Kucinich & Gravel to the forefront thereby limiting the ability for people like Ralph Nader to criticize. They also in the process made things a bit boring for the debate.

It has been my belief all along that Republicans are going to have a difficult time this year. Not simply because of the opposition to the president but because there are pretty divided wings of the party. There is one clear frontrunner in the polls, Giuliani, who shares almost none of the values of a large percentage of the party. The rest of the candidates need to get that across. Their only avenue? Attack!

Which brings us to this weeks Republican debate. There are, as of right now, ten candidates confirmed for the event. That is two more then the Democrats had. All those candidates leave little room for actual questioning. They do leave room for quick and repeated attacks. A minute and a half or two or whatever they will end up getting isn’t enough time to drive home the finer details of an economic or health care plan. It is a perfect time to say “candidate X isn’t christian enough or candidate y wants to raise your taxes to pay for his plans.”

So far the Republicans have been attacking each other with more passion than the Dems. The ’second tier’ candidates could use it as a perfect time to deliver the final blows to the McCain campaign, to start putting in the doubt of the Giuliani campaign.

It might not happen in this weeks debate. There are plenty scheduled over the next few months but I do believe it will be the start and it will at least down the road get ugly. The party is in a tuff fight to remake itself and with the debates seeming more like a traveling tour (some might say sideshow) for both parties, these people are all going to spend a good deal of time together on stage, hearing the opposing arguments, formulating counter-attacks.

For my money I think if you want interesting, explosive shows look to the Republican debates more so then the Democrats this election cycle.