Lacking committed candidates, GOP debate postponed

The postponement of an upcoming Republican presidential candidate debate in California is the latest indicator that the GOP primary is off to a slow start, but many insiders said the delay won't hurt potential contenders.

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation announced Wednesday its May 2 primary debate, co-hosted by Politico and NBC News, would be moved to Sept. 14.

John Heubusch, executive director for the foundation, said in a news release, "Too few (candidates) have made the commitment thus far for a debate to be worthwhile in early May."

Melissa Giller, a spokeswoman for the foundation, said no criteria had been set for the debate in May but stressed it was a GOP "presidential debate," meaning participants would have had to express their interest in the office in some official capacity.

Though the list of potential Republican presidential candidates is long, former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty remains the sole major GOP candidate to announce a presidential exploratory committee. Former House speaker Newt Gingrich stopped short of announcing his exploratory committee this month.

The South Carolina Republican Party said Wednesday that its debate will remain as scheduled on May 5. Joel Sawyer, executive director of the South Carolina Republican Party, said the group is thrilled its debate, co-hosted by Fox News, will be the first in the nation.

He declined to say which potential candidates will attend the debate or what the criteria for participating will be, but he indicated the party had received enough behind-the-scenes commitments from potential candidates to proceed.

Potential GOP campaigns contacted Wednesday were unfazed about the schedule change — a sentiment shared by several veteran GOP strategists.

"Candidates want to think about this race on their own terms and on their own timeline," said Matt McDonald, a former adviser to Sen. John McCain's 2008 campaign. "The race to be first out of the gate (in 2008) didn't work out well for everybody."

But McDonald said candidates should not wait too long to jump in, given the amount of fundraising and groundwork needed to compete against President Obama.

"It makes no sense for anyone to rush out and engage the president," said Steve Lombardo, a former adviser to Mitt Romney's 2008 campaign. "Especially when that president is trying to govern."

Lombardo said that if a candidate challenges the president, it has to be a "high-level" discussion to avoid the appearance of simply playing politics.

Republican pollster David Winston said the only real deadlines are filing deadlines for primaries.

He noted potential candidates no longer have to declare their candidacies early to receive news coverage.

"If a potential candidate says something of interest, it is all through the news," he said. "That is certainly a function of present-day communication."