Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn made an off-handed remark at a symposium this week that the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee was a "clown college."

I hope Flynn watched the debate because he would have seen this was anything but a bunch of clowns. These guys (and one woman) are deadly serious about the  real and sometimes fanciful solutions to some of the problems we have in this country.

Most of my friends and family are Democrats. Some way out on the left, others more toward the middle. I have never voted for a Republican in over half a century of voting.

The temptation to join Flynn and just make fun of the group onstage at this debate is a strong one. But there’s a warning here: If Democrats are content poking fun at these candidates, don’t be surprised if Hillary Clinton doesn’t become the first female president in history come next year.

What’s happening is that many people are lumping all these people into one group that is Donald Trump/Ben Carson dominated. We tend to think that since these guys are such comic figures with no chance to be president, all of the candidates on stage are comic figures.

Not so.

I think what we are witnessing is a battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party. And this battle is good for the party, as opposed to the coronation march going on for the Democrats.

The battle is between the Marco Rubio/Jeb Bush wing of the party and the Ted Cruz wing. Rubio and Bush clearly are somewhere in the middle of the political spectrum. Cruz stands solidly on the far right wing.

Republicans have been great at electing members of congress but not so good in electing presidents. And they aren’t going to throw someone like Trump or Carson into the arena against Clinton.

The problem with those two, which was overwhelming in Milwaukee, is that neither one knows very much. They both argue with platitudes, and almost never show any grasp of complex and difficult issues.

There are people who say that voters aren’t really moved by specific platforms. But voters are moved by a candidate who seems like he knows something.

Cruz, Rubio and Bush do seem like they know something. They have facts at their fingertips. Cruz may well be the smartest guy on the stage. He may have outrageous positions, but he also has his set of facts to go along with those positions.

The ideological battle for the GOP can best be seen in the discussion of illegal immigration.

Both Bush and Rubio support immigration reform that has versions of an amnesty program that can lead this country’s 11 million illegal immigrants to citizenship.

Cruz is deathly opposed. He doesn’t go so far as to embrace Trump’s wacky idea to take all 11 million and ship them home. But he is riding the tide of anti-immigration fervor in evangelical voters in places like in Iowa.

Cruz is the darling of the Tea Party, and they lead a movement for candidates who are devoted to bedrock Republican principles. There is nothing so evil to the Tea Party than a Republican candidate who can even see the middle ground. And Tea Party members think they can ride Cruz to a takeover of the party.

If you are a Democrat, you can hang out in a fern bar and laugh at all of this back-and-forth on the television screen. But making fun of some of these presidential candidates could well come back to kick a Democratic ass next year.