Is it me or were the Rupublicans salivating at the prospect of running against Hillary Clinton?   The republican candidates mentioned Clinton’s name several times as though she were already the democratic nominee.  Do you think this is a strategy on the part of the republicans.  All the candidates were eerily civil to  each other last night.  During the democratic debate, the democrats, unwittingly pushed McCain to frontrunner status by invoking his name as a fete accompli for the general election. Did the republicans intentionally do the same?  The candidates last night were very jovial and and very polite. I felt like I was on the 19th hole of the golf course rather than a presidential debate.  It’s almost like they agreed before-hand that they were going to do the exact opposite of the democrats.  Are they trying to lull the democrats into a false sense of security?  Do they continue to invoke Clinton’s name as the nominee because she is the easiest person to beat?  Most of the pundits speculate that Clinton is the most polarizing of all the democratic candidates and the candidate most likely to galvanize the republican base.   Are the republicans in fact simply trying to increase the possibility of extending their stay in the White House?  Something to think about….