A Feisty Debate

They Came to Play
Here is my quick review of debate performances from last night from the GOP candidates for President:
Mitt Romney -- on point, on message, side-stepped questions about his moderate record and venture capital past deftly. Lacked the passion to inspire the right, who didn't like him anyway, but continued to solidify his status as the mainstream front runner, a status he will need when Rick Perry gets in this weekend.

Michelle Bachmann -- a sub-par performance versus her coming out party at the last debate. Engaged in pointless squabbling with Tim Pawlenty which helps neither of them. Pawlenty is at about 3% in the polls...why is Bachmann wasting her venom on him when Romney is the real opponent?

Ron Paul -- debates just aren't his specialty. I have a soft spot for Paul and his credible and consistent commitment to libertarian values. But he is far too professorial and not nearly engaging enough at these forums. He wins points for being out front on auditing the Fed, a step the entire field has jumped on now but that Paul has been advocating for years.

Jon Huntsman -- utterly uninspiring. I give him points for sticking to his guns on his moderate positions, although that won't likely help him with the GOP primary and caucus crowd, except in open states, but Huntsman had very little in the way of original ideas or inspiration.

Newt Gingrich -- one of his best performances. For the first time, looked and sounded like a credible candidate, put forward real ideas and took on the moderators. Probably too little, too late for Newt, but fun to watch.

Tim Pawlenty -- didn't miss his second chance to go after Romney. Did a much better job of exposing his record than last time and had much more concise, coherent answers. Still a bit of a bore.

Herman Cain -- the fact that Romney was praising him shows you all you need to know -- Cain is a side show with no real chance.

Rick Santorum -- unexpectedly strong performance from the conservative firebrand. But he is in dead last in the polls, having failed to bring in even his conservative base. May not even get invites to future debates.

Winners?
Romney and Gingrich

Losers?
Bachmann (how fast is her star fading?), Huntsman

In my view, the door is still wide open for Rick Perry. I don't think any of the rest of the field can take down Romney.

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