Otto: Fear is a factor in GOP primary

Column

Holy mackerel, it's TAMPA … TAMPA … TAMPA!

It sure didn't look like it over the weekend, when the Romney camp suggested its man might be a no-show at tonight's Republican presidential debate at the University of South Florida.

Of course, the way he's been doing in recent debates, that was like saying Custer was rethinking his plan to go charging into that Indian village.

On Friday, the NBC network told its affiliates there was a chance they might not broadcast the debate and would instead run an episode of "Fear Factor."

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Actually, that sounded like a good idea to me, especially if the network could get the four remaining Republican candidates to go on the show, which specializes in having contestants do things such as climbing into crates filled with roaches or snakes. We could learn a lot by watching these presidential wannabes demonstrate a willingness to eat a bowl of live toads or perform one of the other stunts they have on the show.

But it was a short-lived fantasy.

By Saturday morning, someone in the Romney camp apparently noticed the candidate was getting pulverized in a state he had owned only a week or so earlier — despite claiming he once shook hands with Steve Spurrier.

He had no choice but to agree to come to Tampa, where suddenly the USF campus was beginning to look like the Alamo for some of the remaining contenders.

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In fact, tonight's debate — and these things are running longer than hockey season — has the potential to eliminate everybody.

These debates aren't like a flying commercial: You can't check your baggage. It's all carry-on, and each candidate has so much out there for the world to see.

• Ron Paul is the most likeable of the bunch, but when you look closer at his baggage you discover that he is probably from a planet where a grip on reality is not a requirement for survival.

• I like Rick Santorum as well. I like his values and even his sweater vest. Maybe it's just that he reminds me of Pat Boone, and I picture in my mind a guy crooning and strumming a guitar while sitting with other world leaders arguing nuclear treaties.

• I began to suspect Mitt Romney several weeks ago when I saw him grinning uncontrollably while he was being eviscerated in a debate. He reminded me of the characters in Disney's "Hall of Presidents." He isn't real. I think Romney was kidnapped by a band of tea partiers, and this is an audio-animatronic robot.

• That leaves us with Newt, the Gingrich who stole the nomination. But it's OK. He has been redeemed and is no longer the Darth Vader of politics. Right.

I think it wouldn't hurt to keep your eyes on the man behind the curtain. His name might be Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels; it might be Jeb Bush. It just might be that when everyone comes back here in August, for the first time in years, it will be a fun convention.