Video: Candidates speak at the Republican Jewish Coalition Forum

The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) hosted a forum on Wednesday with six of the GOP 2012 candidates. The forum provided each candidate with ample time providing 20 minutes of speaking and 20 minutes of question and answer time with the audience. The day was broken into a morning and afternoon session to fit everyone in. Worth noting is that Ron Paul was not invited to this event as the RJC stated Paul was too “extreme” compared to what they call “mainstream” GOP candidates.

Here are direct links to the morning and afternoon sessions courtesy of C-SPAN. Each session is over 2 hours in length.

Morning Session Video – Santorum, Huntsman, Romney

Afternoon Session Video – Gingrich, Perry, Bachmann

Report from Investor’s Business Daily:

The Republican Jewish Coalition’s Republican Presidential Candidates Forum on Wednesday served as a good snapshot of the presidential race itself. Six GOP candidates spoke, and while Mitt Romney drew a strong audience response, Newt Gingrich drew a stronger one.

But if the attendees could have nominated somebody right then and there, they likely would have given it to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who also spoke but has opted against running.

Their speeches gave a good sense of why. Romney came across as experienced, polished and on point but somewhat distant. Gingrich exuded smarts, self-confidence and threw out grandiose ideas that could be inspiring but also suggested a lack of grounding. Christie mixed the best qualities of the two.

Realclearpolitics.com’s weighted average of polls shows Gingrich leading Romney nationally 31%-20.5%.

The downtown Washington event offered each candidate a platform to make the case for themselves for a half-hour.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., ex-Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, ex-Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and Texas Gov. Rick Perry also spoke, but all eyes were on the two front-runners — and Christie, who spoke at a separate lunchtime event.

Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, was not invited. The libertarian lawmaker, a longtime critic of foreign aid and American support for Israel, was called “too extreme” by the staunchly pro-Israel coalition.

From all accounts, Gingrich seemed to have stole the day getting the most enthusiastic reception.