To deal with russia. We want to talk about all of this with abby phillip and audie cornish, who are here now. Abby, whats your take away . I think what youre raising about abortion really speaks to something that i could not ignore, which was that this was a republican audience in the state of iowa about the republican caucuses. But she was speaking to a national audience. She was really trying to present herself, i think very differently from many of her other colleagues in this race. But she was also trying to leave herself a lot of room on some issues like abortion. I thought it was so striking to me, just the tonal difference here. This was almost like a republican candidate circa the george w. Bush era, incredibly hawkish on Foreign Policy, serious and very substantive on a number of other issues, whether its on entitlements or government spending, even things like guns and the border and china. But i was keeping track. It took her 70 minutes to say the word woke after she was ask
to deal with russia. we want to talk about all of this with abby phillip and audie cornish, who are here now. abby, what s your take away? i think what you re raising about abortion really speaks to something that i could not ignore, which was that this was a republican audience in the state of iowa about the republican caucuses. but she was speaking to a national audience. she was really trying to present herself, i think very differently from many of her other colleagues in this race. but she was also trying to leave herself a lot of room on some issues like abortion. i thought it was so striking to me, just the tonal difference here. this was almost like a republican candidate circa the george w. bush era, incredibly hawkish on foreign policy, serious and very substantive on a number of other issues, whether it s on entitlements or government spending, even things like guns and the border and china. but i was keeping track. it took her 70 minutes to say the word woke a
the bar constantly gets lifted, and people start drilling down on your answers, and the things that worked tonight for her will not work a month or two months from now or on a debate stage. so she s got to decide where she s going to plant her feet even if at times it means saying, no, i don t think six weeks is appropriate or, no, i don t you know, i don t think you win this by trying to finesse your way through the process. i don t think that s going to work. one of the things she did i think that came from being out on the campaign trail is taking big policy issues and making them relatable. she took ukraine. there s been a lot of conversation about should we have continued support for ukraine? a lot of people say there needs to be certainly more transparency. she took the policy issue and made it personal in terms of this is about freedom. this is about freedom in the world and if russia succeeds just remind people what she
did extraordinarily well. if we re comparing it to the town hall of the former president from last week, we re talking about quite a different tone. a high energy event tonight versus a low energy event a high energy event tonight versus a low energy event the other night. let s not forget she checks a number of conservative boxes. she talked a lot about the fiscal issues that we talked about, both the republicans and democrats are responsible for out of control spending, for debts and deficits in washington. and those are important conversations that need to be had and things she talked about what she was governor. some of the things that i hope she continues to talk about in iowa and new hampshire and south carolina are the accomplishments that she had as governor. the accomplishments she had as ambassador, and i think she ll continue to do that because as you saw tonight and as people have seen in the more than two dozen events she s done in iowa, she s good. she s tailor
say, hey, i can use the election integrity line here and not offend those who are enthralled with donald trump and the maga movement and committed to the election lies without subscribing myself to the election lies. to your point, abbey, if indeed she s the nominee and if this progresses, it seems to me she s going to be pressed to take a much firmer stand when it comes to the integrity of elections and accepting election results and whether or not there s a place for any kind of lies about the but it also puts into question maybe it puts into focus actually where she thinks she needs to play in order to get the most votes. and it isn t against donald trump right now. it s against ron desantis and the other people running against donald trump because there are others who argue the only way to really topple donald trump is to really take him on. and the only way you re going to be the nominee is if you take on the front-runner. she s not there right now. she knows it s early, s