PHOTOS: Seeing Red (And Lots Of It) At The Republican Debate

by Justin Fenner | 12:58 pm, September 14th, 2011

We’ll leave the critiques of what the Republican presidential hopefuls said at last night’s CNN Tea Party debate in Tampa to our friends at Mediaite. But as far as we’re concerned, what they wore spoke volumes.

Most of the Republicans vying for their party’s nomination last night wore some shade of red. Former Govs. Jon Huntsman, Mitt Romney and Gov. Rick Perry wore red ties with their blue or black suits, as did Godfather’s Pizza founder Herman Cain. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann wore a simply cut one-button jacket. It’s as close to a trend as we’re going to get from any of the upcoming debates, and it makes complete and total sense. Red is the official color of the party, and in a very direct and primal way it expresses power and hunger and urgency. For people trying to get noticed on a national level, red certainly seems like a fast, easy way to jar someone’s lower-level cognitive functions.

Then again, maybe if too many people are wearing a color, wearing something else is a good way to stand out? Congressman Ron Paul wore a blue and gray striped tie, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich wore a stroped white and purple tie and former Sen. Rick Santorum. What each man was trying to say with his sartorial choice, we’ll never know — but for what actually came out of their mouths, we’d suggest looking at the transcript of the debate.

Check out our slideshow of the candidates’ looks below and tell us who you think won major style points last night.