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HORSERACE

Scoring Sunday’s GOP Debate

Winner: Arthur Branch. Okay, I know he goes by the stage name, “Fred Thompson,” but don’t tell me that just as “Law and Order” comes back to the airwaves with new episodes, we just happen to see a deep rumbling baritone from a big guy sitting behind a desk, using a combination of homespun aphorisms and legal arguments to put some wet-behind-the-ears young feller in his place.

I have to go back and check the transcript, but it appears that he just took Huckabee to school on the legal rules regarding captured al-Qaeda at Guanatanamo Bay.

Over in the Corner, Rich described him as “the cranky conservative one-man truth squad,” and that’s a role that fits him. He doesn’t overpromise, he doesn’t seem too much like an overeager car salesman. Whether that will sell in New Hampshire is another question...

The focus group on Fox hates him. Ah, what do they know?

Silver: Rudy Giuliani. Mr. Mayor, you had me at, “I told him where he could put it.” [Referring to the Saudi Prince and the $10 million check that came with criticism of U.S. policy.]

The only flaw is that you can see the mental checklist of points he wants to hit – “the terrorists’ war on us” “Ronald Reagan” “raise taxes like the Democrats would” “when I was the number three in the Justice Department” “my twelve commitments,” etc.

Bronze: John McCain. Tonight’s jovial performance actually makes last night’s look worse. In retrospect, there was something peevish and small about the visible glee with which he jabbed at Romney. Tonight he was a bit more laid back, and there was something constricting about the “ball control” style he displayed much of last night. Tonight he looked like a man who knows he’s going to do well Tuesday, and thus he’s going to enjoy it.

Most Improved: Mitt Romney. If he disappoints on Tuesday, his folks will wonder how things would have gone if he had performed as well as he did tonight. The blood was flowing; for the first time in a while, you could see what gets his fans in the Corner and elsewhere so enthusiastic.

For what it’s worth, it seems Frank Luntz’s focus group really liked him.

May Have Stumbled a Bit: Mike Huckabee. I can’t help but get the feeling that tonight was the first night where you could see the seams, so to speak, where his endlessly affable style may have not worn well. Huckabee has a great attitude, but any time he has to get into the policy nitty-gritty, he seemed to want to step back to generalities. Something slippery about the way that he said, ‘I’ll let Wallace be the moderator’ instead of taking on the candidate challenging him.

01/06 09:37 PM