My Twitter play-by-play is available here. I noted high's and low's throughout the two hour debate and shared some thoughts with and from others as well... if you missed the debate or want to get my take on the debate as it happened, take a look.
Based on applause lines and crowd reaction only, Newt won. Hands down. No question about it. The problem is that he talks between debates conducting interviews and such and all that forward progress is lost rather quickly. Newt was strong from beginning to end but no moment was stronger for him then his exchange with Juan Williams. Juan was trying to race-bait and Newt just wasn't going to have it and according to Frank Luntz speaking afterwards it was the first time in 16 years he had ever seen a candidate get a standing ovation mid-debate...ever. Newt had one of the more memorable soundbites of the night as well telling the country his strategy for dealing with enemies of the U.S. is to "kill them."
Rick Perry had a solid performance, although his inability to complete sentences is very aggravating. Rick Perry was the strongest on the military and deserves kudos for voicing his opinion first regarding the ongoing Marine saga. He was the first to talk about the "war on the church" and tax issues including pushing his 20% flat tax plan. He impressed me tonight but just didn't do enough when he had the opportunity. By far his performance tonight was his best thus far.
Rick Santorum (sweater-vest-swag) had a balanced performance although he missed a few opportunities and when another candidate says "Stop it!" to you and you actually do stop, one has to question why? Rick picked some odd moments to go after Mitt including a very strange but spirited exchange about felons' rights. Not sure how that came up or why but it is odd to say the least (and maybe slightly insensitive) to make it an issue on the same day the nation is celebrating MLK. I just didn't understand why it came up or why he brought it up. His strongest positions are regarding national security and he did very well on those questions and deserves credit for saying "I made a mistake" regarding some failed legislation he supported while in the Senate. If Perry drops out, admittedly its a long shot before the primary, Santorum is in the best position to pick up his supporters and it's worth noting that some from team Huntsman will find there way to Santorum as well.
On Ron Paul, I am sorry, I don't have much to say because I didn't understand him. He somehow appeals to extreme right and extreme left audiences. After tonight, I believe if he ran as a 3rd Party option he would hurt Obama as much as the GOP nominee because of his stances on war and foreign policy. In summary, his politics are weird and I don't understand them at all. He did or didn't want to kill UBL? He does or doesn't want to apply the golden rule to foreign policy? I understand his stance, from the pre-Civil War until 1915 the United States didn't get involved in international wars or international affairs (except for a short while with Mexico). Woodrow Wilson believed in the idea of exporting our freedoms and values and thus did so. Mr. Paul doesn't believe in that model and wants the United States to return to isolationism. A hundred years later, the world is different, economies depend on each other, and news travels from one side of the planet to the other as fast as we can type. It's a dated policy with a past due expiration date. (More on this later this week.)
Finally, Mitt Romney. As the front-runner, Mitt did what he was supposed to do which was focus on Obama, not his GOP competition. He let Newt attack on his private sector experience and deflected hoping he would hurt himself, and Newt had to change tactics because Mitt wasn't going to bite. Governor Romney was also the first GOP candidate as far I can remember to mention Bigfoot and turned a meant-to-be-attack regarding his Super-PAC advertisement into a "lets reform the system" statement that the other four candidates agreed to!! Simply brilliant in my eyes. He also did very well regarding the Dream Act, doubling down on his previous comments.
--My winners and losers in order by topic:
1) EconomyAll in all, the debate tonight in South Carolina was the first actual debate with all the candidates chiming in on a number of issues. The give and take was excellent and helped me (and I'm sure others) draw lines of comparisons. I expect the biggest impact based on polling percentage points to be in the form of a Romney drop in support, maybe between 4% to 8% percent with the majority of those voters splitting between Newt and Santorum.
Winners: Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Ron Paul
Loser: Mitt Romney
Push: Rick Santorum
2) Foreign Policy
Winners: Newt, Perry, Santorum
Loser: Romney
Push: Paul
3) Race Issues
Winner: Newt
Losers: Romney, Perry
Push: Santorum, Paul
Newt and Rick Perry helped themselves tonight, Santorum and Ron Paul held steady, but with all four of them still actively campaigning, nobody can mathematically or strategically beat Romney who has the ability to out spend them all (combined).
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Update 1: Links to other articles taking a deeper look at key points
Update 2: Watch the Debate in 100 Seconds
