CNBC Republican Presidential Debate November 9, 2011 (Detroit, GOP, Romney, Cain, Perry, Ron Paul, Bachmann, Gingrich, Santorum)

Tonight CNBC is conducting yet another in a very long line of worthless debates, this time a GOP debate in Detroit in conjunction with Oakland University. Feel free to leave comments below before, during or after the debate. This post will be updated after a transcript becomes available.

Participants: Mitt Romney, Herman Cain, Rick Perry, Michelle Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Jon Huntsman, and Rick Santorum.

Suggested reading: the links in the list of candidates above, debates, and most importantly of all the alternative to bogus political debates. That plan would ensure that the presidential candidates promote vetted policies with only known side-effects. All the debates so far simply allow candidates to give their stock speeches without being challenged on the flaws in their plans.

UPDATE: A transcript is here. There was only one (1) mention of immigration in the entire debate. That's despite the fact that immigration is a very vital and fundamental issue that directly impacts government spending, jobs, and other economic issues. And, that single mention of immigration was in an unprompted comment from Bachmann:

But beyond that, we have to legalize American energy. And here is something else that we have to do that will help the economy. We have to build the fence on America's southern border and get a grip on dealing with our immigration problem.