Brain Trust - Hunter Baker

Hunter Baker is the Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences at Union University, and a blogger at First Things. He joined The Matt Friedeman Show for the Brain Trust segment. Here are the "CliffsNotes" of his interview.

Talk to us about the GOP debate: What's going on?

[Rick Perry] has a big advantage from being the governor of TX.

Mitt Romney looks better than him in the debates to me, but Perry has a huge advantage. Romney is still the one-term governor of Massachusetts.

We'll have to see. I thought Perry looked terrible in the first debate, but in the second he was stronger.

The word is that he's a fast learner. I'm looking for him to step up again in the third debate.

You can tell Michele Bachmann really has her eye out for her main chance.

She very briefly rose to the top of the heap, then Perry displaced her.

She's circling him like a shark in the debates now.

Does the New York Nine election tell us anything about the mood of voters in general?

I think it does. This is a district that has been Democrat for about a hundred years.

This was a very solid Democrat district. It's a very Jewish district.

I think [the Jews] are sufficiently alarmed about Obama's views on Israel that they are reconsidering.

Are there other people groups that Obama should be concerned about?

He probably is a lot stronger with American Muslims.

The big question is Latinos, and whether or not Republicans can win the Latino vote.

It's tough to say what their vote will be.

Is Obama staying in or going out?

If we get the right nominee, he'll probably be defeated. If not, he'll stay in.

And the right nominee is?

I think Mitt Romney can beat him. I'm not sure Perry can.