Brain Trust - Warren Smith

Warren Smith, Associate Editor of World Magazine, joined the Brain Trust to discuss the Republican presidential hopefuls and the Occupy Wall Street movement. Here are the "CliffsNotes" of his segment.

Thoughts on tonight's debate?

I am not sure if it really is do-or-die for Perry, he has had a great period of fundraising.  He does have to do well tonight though.  I don't think people are expecting him to suddenly transform into a great debater, but Rick Perry must do better tonight.   

Herman Cain is very interesting, he is great in the debates, he is good for media sound-bytes.  But in the end whoever raises the most money is likely the one who wins this contest. Perry and Romney have shown they have what it takes in this regard.   

I am not sure Herman Cain can raise the kind of money it will take to win the whole thing.  Barack Obama and his friends are going to raise close to a billion dollars to fund his re-election campaign.  I only see two GOP candidates that can compete with that level of money: Romney and Perry

Is Romney's Mormonism a problem for him?

If you look at his last run at the nomination I believe that his Mormonism was a real reason that he didn't make it farther in spite of his tons of money raised and spent.   

I do think that enough of the conservative evangelical voters have enough doubts that it eventually really hurts Romney.  And I might add, that it must be an enthusiastic movement of conservative voters before this issue will really trip of Romney. 

What is the impact of Occupy Wall Street?

I think the backlash is going to become a real positive for the Republicans.  It isn't really the 99% against the 1%, over 47% of Americans didn't even pay income tax last year.   

So when the facts start to come out, due to the excessive media coverage, will shine the light upon the negatives of the underlying philosophy of these folks sitting out there on the streets.