[George W. Bush]

Hunter drops slightly because of this, as a lot of his confidence seemed to come from the fact that he largely stuck to his talking points, even if they only had a loose relationship with the question asked.

Hunter did well. Not well enough to move to the first tier. I think Tancredo will lose support, especially financial. The closed-border crowd had better pick one candidate, the same that the conservative base needs to settle on one candidate to stop the leftwing mayor.

Tommy Thompson gets a bump up. I think I mistook his quiet thoughtfulness for lack of confidence the first time around, as he seemed to genuinely want to answer every question directly, honestly, and completely.

No charisma. He'll prove, yet again, that resume isn't everything.

Overall, my list of winners and losers stays roughly the same. Romney was the biggest winner, followed by Hunter and, to a lesser extent, Paul. ... The biggest winners, though? Fred Thompson and Newt Gingrich, because, aside from Romney, no one was particularly impressive.

I still agree. I'd add that Thompson and Gingrich might be more tempted to enter but also that Ron Paul's performance and the stronger-than-expected response he'll get in the polls will tempt Hagel to enter as well. Ron Paul as the last constitutional conservative, Hagel as the last living Eisenhower Republican.

[The Pack Knight]

No charisma. [Tommy Thompson will] prove, yet again, that resume isn't everything.

Of course. I was just correcting my initial impression that he wasn't prepared. I appreciated his straightforwardness, but no, he doesn't have the charisma or presence to win the nomination, much less the election.