The worst part about this article is the line about Romney’s debate performance being dominating. LOL! He was channeling Gore with his dour looks at the other candidates. Santorum clearly won that debate, not Romney.
I guess we saw a different debate. Yes, Santorum did well, IMO; but that is insignificant because he is an also-ran at this point. I thought Romney came off very well. I tuned in to see Newt smack him down. That didn't happen. My wife would ask me why I kept saying "Dammit!" during the debate. It was because Mittens kept scoring points off Gingrich. At the very start, as they stood together, Romney smiled and appeared very gracious to Newt. Sure, it's an act, but he pulled it off well. When Newt tried to flash a smile, it looked forced, as if he never smiles in real life. In some debates, Romney adopts an Obama-esque air of superiority when someone dares to criticize him. I thought he held that in check during the last Florida debate (except for the "it's not worth getting angry" comment).
On the immigration question, I actually like Mitt's "self-deportation" idea. It's what we've been clamoring for on FR for years. Newt's response about deporting "Grandpa and Grandma" smacked of Perry's "heartless" comments which upset so many Freepers.
If you looked at the debate as one of the sheeple would, you'd have to say Mitt came off well. I hate to say it; but that's how it came off when I watched it. I knew Newt would lose Florida after that debate.
Of course, Romney was also helped by a pro-Romney crowd and an idiotic "moderator" in the person of Wolf Blitzed. He started the debate by asking Mitt and Newt to respond to each others' accusations, which is not a proper debate at all. That was when Newt should have tried his "what has this got to do with a debate?" approach. By the time he did, he was already muddied from the mudfight. Like it or not, I think an average person who is not a political junkie like us would have said "that Romney seems to be a right nice feller".