There will be no column today. I'm going to become just a consumer of politics today, because there's so much going on, with the two Republican debates. I thought about commenting on just the first one (the "kid's table" debate), but instead of offering up snap reactions this time I'm going to let things percolate for a day.

Feel free to use the comment thread to offer up your own thoughts on the debate-a-palooza, though. For me, the day's just too hectic to do any sober analysis. So to speak. My apologies, and I'll see you all back here tomorrow for our usual Friday Talking Points.

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant

I have to begin by immediately offering my apologies to Rodgers and Hammerstein for that title, but the lyrics from The Sound Of Music's "Maria" have indeed been running through my head -- as I contemplate what all the other Republican candidates are going to do in the debate tomorrow night to differentiate themselves from their party's frontrunner, Donald Trump. Especially the ever-so descriptive line: "A flibbertigibbet... A will o' the wisp... A clown."

How do you solve a problem like The Donald, when he's standing center stage and everyone's eyes are on him? How do you deal with whatever Trump says from the podium? How do you stand out from the pack and make an impression on all the voters watching?

It seems to me there are four basic strategies the other nine Republicans on the stage have to choose from: ignore Trump, outdo Trump, attack Trump, or agree with Trump. Let's examine each, as well as which candidates are likely to choose each strategy.

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Breaking the July curse

Barack Obama doesn't usually have very good summers, as measured by his public opinion job approval numbers. Last month, he finally broke this curse and posted some solid gains -- the first time he's ever done so in July. The daily polling was a bit of a rollercoaster, though, so he could just as easily go back down in August, but let's focus on the good news for Obama fans first. Take a look at the new chart, for starters.

[Click on graph to see larger-scale version.]

July, 2015

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I just finished watching the first "candidates' forum" (don't call it a debate!) of the season, where 14 of the 17 Republicans running for president all appeared on the same stage in New Hampshire. The "one person on the stage at a time" format was an odd one, meant to get around the Republican National Committee's strict rules on how many debates they're going to tolerate this time around (it seems the more the public hears Republicans debate, the more it harms the Republican candidates).

Still, it was a chance to see very short performances of almost all of the candidates, as entry was not limited by poll standings (the way it will be later in the week, at the first official Republican debate). The three candidates who did not appear were: Donald Trump, Jim Gilmore, and Mike Huckabee (no explanation was given why they didn't show up). Three candidates appeared by video linkup, since they were in Washington for a late-day vote on defunding Planned Parenthood. They were: Senators Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz. Interestingly, Senator Lindsey Graham did show up in person, so I guess he must have skipped the vote (this fact was not brought up, though, so that's just speculation). The other candidates appearing tonight: Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, John Kasich, Chris Christie, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, Bobby Jindal, Scott Walker, and George Pataki.

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In normal years, this would be the official kickoff to the political Silly Season -- the dog days of August when Congress scarpers off for five or six weeks to have fun in the sun at taxpayer expense, and the political chattering classes have so little material to work with that they pick one silly issue and just absolutely obsess over it. This year, however, is not normal, as instead we're right at the kickoff of Presidential Debate Season, and the votes are already in -- the silly subject we're all going to obsess over this year is named Donald Trump. Whether this obsession takes the form of crushing depression (headline: "A GOP Led By Donald Trump Will Fail, And Deserve It") or unconcealed glee (headline: "Christmas Comes Early This Year -- Anticipating The Gift Of A Trump-Fueled GOP Debate") depends, of course, on the viewpoint of the pundit.

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Medicare turned 50 years old today. Only 15 more years, and it'll be eligible for itself!

OK, that was a pretty weak attempt at humor, I fully admit. This week also marks the official kickoff to the annual political "Silly Season," where Congress scarpers off for a month at the beach and political reporters desperately scramble to find something to talk about. This year, of course, we're not going to have that problem, because of the entertaining 2016 presidential race.

But I digress. Although this article's title doesn't admit it, today is mostly going to be a partial re-run of an older column. Because, right at the height of the frenzy that was the Obamacare congressional debate, I came across an extraordinary bit of political history: Ronald Reagan's entry into the political world. Ranting and raving about the evils of Medicare to the wives of doctors. Because these were earlier times, this was not done through YouTube, a blog, or even a newspaper. It was done instead through the magic of the long-playing record (for younger readers, these were flat plastic disks that spun around and around and emitted sounds -- pretty magical indeed!).

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It's time to think about what has previously been in the realm of the unthinkable: Donald Trump might just become the Republican nominee for president. Two months ago, that statement would have elicited nothing but a big old belly laugh from just about anyone who pays any attention to politics. Nowadays, though, nobody's laughing. The very concept has moved from the surreal to the possible. So it's time to actually think about what it would mean for the country and for the Republican Party.

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The August congressional break is almost upon us. The political silly season has already begun (see: Trump, Donald). Congress is about to scarper off for their taxpayer-paid monthlong summer vacation, after proving once again how pathetic the institution has truly become. I say this in condemnation of both parties, really, although with Republicans running both houses, the blame certainly falls on them in much greater proportion this time around.

Congress is no longer competent at even the basics of doing The People's business. Case in point: highway funding. Highway bills used to be fairly nonpartisan in nature. Everybody used to love infrastructure funding, especially so when it could be larded up with bacon to bring back to your constituents (see: Stevens, Ted; "Bridge to nowhere"). Instead of political bones of contention, highway bills used to be seen as somewhat of a free-for-all in Congress. Those days are over, mostly because earmarks have been curtailed (no more pork barrels). Even so, the mere concept of fixing bridges before they fall down used not to be politically contentious. Perhaps the amounts spent were haggled over, but the bills would always pass and the construction would begin.

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As I've been predicting for a while now, the fight for the final two slots in the first primetime Republican presidential debate has begun to heat up. When Fox News announced that they would be limiting the number of candidates invited to their debate to only the top ten in polling, it was inevitable that there would be a struggle to get on the main stage. But there will also be a "consolation prize" debate (better known as the "kids' table" debate) earlier in the day, which will feature those who didn't make the cut -- and it could wind up being even more interesting and quotable than the main event.

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Welcome back, everyone. This column went on hiatus last week, so we could attend Netroots Nation. So we've got two whole weeks to cover today, just to warn everyone in advance.

Two weeks ago, we kind of went out on a limb (the polling evidence was not all that clear when we wrote it) and subtitled our previous column: "Donald Trump, Frontrunner." Since that time, such a statement has gone from being a wild prediction to becoming an equally-wild reality. The first Republican presidential debate is happening in less than two weeks, and Donald Trump is not only guaranteed one of the ten slots, he will quite likely be at the center of the stage, since his poll numbers currently dwarf all the other GOP contenders.

Our reaction to this new reality is much the same as many Democrats: "Couldn't have happened to a nicer political party."

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