What a rather feisty debate between the Republican candidates! I found that a thoroughly enjoyable watch (you can see the whole video on http://www.youdecide2008.com) because it was both good television, and I think a good debate overall. I don't think any candidate significantly under-performed, though I'm still cold on Romney, and I think it was a great opportunity for what was at times a pretty substantive debate on the issues (see the health care discussion.) As much as I've ratted on some of the candidates in the Republican field, Romney and Thompson, I'm excited about the field of candidates in this race, on both sides, and I'm excited about the prospects they bring for a great next governing cycle.Let's look at the candidates one by one, and see how they did.
Mitt Romney - He knew he was going to come under attack tonight, as both Huckabee and McCain need to take him down. And boy did he come under attack. I don't think it helped that he was essentially sitting dead center with McCain and Huckabee off to either side, because he was literally being battered from all quadrants. And I'm not sure he comported himself all that well. He became very angry at times, though some might say understandably since he was the butt of a couple of witty jabs (Romney: "Governor, stop trying to characterise my position" Huckabee: "Which one?" and McCain: "I do agree with you on something Governor, you are the candidate of change" cue huge grin.) But having said that I wasn't completely unimpressed with Romney in the same way that I have been throughout the rest of the campaign. He had more gravitas in this debate, but I am a little frustrated that he kept criticising candidates for personal attacks while he continues to fill the airwaves with negative advertisements. That was pretty cheap political hackery, but there was substantive discussion on issues, a lot of it from Romney, and so for once I'm going to have to give him some credit.
John McCain - I felt McCain was particularly good tonight. He looked very comfortable up there on that stage and it showed. He was funny, consistent, likable and when you watch McCain you don't think about his age despite the fact that he's quite a bit older than some of the other candidates on stage. He had a tendency to keep talking over candidates who were trying to rebut him, see the split screen McCain/Romney dust-up over immigration, and I have no clearer idea of the truth about the whole Z VISA thing than when they started talking, but he was consistent and a lot of other candidates were trying to adopt a McCain strategy - right from the start on so many issues.
Mike Huckabee - He sat out much of the mudslinging tonight, which was good. Huckabee's too likable to get down and dirty with Romney, though he strayed into that territory early in the debate, see the quoted Romney barb (and I think checked himself on it for the second half.) Even Charles Gibson commented on how above-the-fray Huckabee had been in the discussion, particularly over immigration, though we should also remember that he's been hit hard on immigration in the past too and so may have merely been trying to avoid criticism by not getting involved (which as a strategy, worked.) Giuliani was right in saying that no candidate had a perfect immigration record, not even Ronald Reagan, but Huckabee was most strategic about not showing his imperfect record for the network audience to see.
Rudy Giuliani - It's nice to hear from Rudy again. Sitting off to the right he was a little bit out of it, and he seemed very happy going after Ron Paul on foreign policy (but then, everyone went after Ron Paul on foreign policy), but he was very reasonable tonight. I was particularly impressed with what he said about immigration and how none of the candidates had perfect records. It's nice to hear a candidate admit that, rather than have them each attempt to glorify their own records and diminish their opponents, because it makes for an extremely messy discussion (McCain/Romney.) He wasn't as dour as he has been in previous debates, which was good. Rudy has a sense of humor and it does make him likable. Without using that sense of humor it's just 9/11, all the time, and that's pretty depressing.
Fred Thompson - I finally get the Thompson thing, because it was more effective tonight. In previous debates where the candidates had been standing I have said that Thompson was boring and didn't seem to care all that much. Now, while seated, I recognise that what he's trying to do isn't to be bored and unengaged, but laid back and straight forward. He is trying to be presidentially disengaged from the mud-slinging, and he was more effective at doing that tonight than previously, but not completely effective. I still felt that he spent too long pausing and questioning the other candidates, almost as though he were the moderator.
Ron Paul - Unfortunately Paul didn't get to talk about what makes him a conservative in this debate. He seemed to be forced to talk, or he chose to talk, about the thing that sets him apart form the rest of the Republican field which is the Iraq War. He seemed to pivot back to that issue every time, which considering that every candidate jumped up and down all over him for it the first time you would have thought he would learn not to do. He wasn't able to talk about the way in which he was more of a libertarian than the other candidates, but only about foreign policy and Iraq. The other candidates wanted after him to test their anti-Democrat sound-bites.
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