Republican Congressman Steve King says the weekend debate he moderated between Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain was a bit like a prize fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frasier.
“I expected that and it unfolded that way,” King said Sunday evening. “Newt — he’s got all the policy, all the moves — floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee. He didn’t really sting anybody. He was very congenial though and I thought…’That’s real good Newt, but you’d better watch out for Herman’s right hook,’ and it was kind of how it went.”
The 90-minute forum was held in Houston, Texas, and King described it as discussion in which the two men aggressively laid out their ideas.
“Newt used up more airtime than Herman did,” King said. “But when Herman used his airtime, he landed good blows.”
King let Cain ask the last question of the night.
“He asked Newt what he’d like his first directive to be if he were vice president,” King said, laughing. Gingrich joked that he would not go hunting, a reference to the 2006 accident when then-Vice President Dick Cheney shot a hunting companion in the face. Cain has indicated Gingrich would be one of his top choices for a running mate.
Saturday night’s event was a fundraiser for the Texas Patriots Political Action Committee.