Santorum did very well tonite. Made some good points, and tried to stick to substance. I thought he lost his composure a bit in the exchange with Romney on Healthcare. But otherwise one of his better debates. Liked his stance on the space program. And liked that he tried to get the debate back to substance.
Paul - one of his better debates. He is really good on economic issues. And tonite there wasn’t too much on foreign policy, so he didn’t seem to wacky. And he always makes the debates fun. Pokes fun at everyone. And defuses the tension at times.
Romney - pretty good debate. Had Newt rocked back early in the debate. Biggest debate stumble was not knowing about the ad on ghetto slur. He won the exchange on Fannie and Freddie.
Newt - had some good moments. Looked very unhappy at the start of the debate. Let Romney get in some good blows, especially early. And I was surprised that Newt served up a couple softballs for Romney and Paul to hit him on. But a great closing.
Debate - started good. I liked it that all of them are taking the “Newtster” approach to hit back at stupid media questions. (King, now Blitzer - hooray) Last half of the debate, was OK, but almost too civil. Question that will be answered over the weekend if Newt did enough to stop Romney’s latest surge in Florida? And Santorum’s good performance could impact who wins between Newt and Mitt. And all the early voting is a wild card. Both Mitt and Newt have had poll surges during the early voting. So who knows?
I hope all 4 get back to issues and quit the personal back and forth stuff. Lets focus on Obama, and now minutia which won’t matter in November.
I just don’t how we (Newt) get to “focus on Obama”, if we fail to take on Romney first, which in so doing would hand Romney the victory. Nobody beats Romney without a punch, because his opposition research operation swamps the rest. After all, Newt is enduring a full frontal assault right now and must be seen standing ground and fighting back.