SC Debate Post Mortem
+William Stodden and myself broke down last nights debates over roughly 271 microblogs last night, however to make it easier to follow I’ve complied my thoughts on the results here for you to absorb and enjoy:
Winner: Gingrich
Runners Up: The rest..
Romney spent his time trying to view the others from his ivory tower and it showed and probably hurt him more than anything. From avoiding a very simple tax records issue, being defensive almost the entire 120 minutes, and then pimping his book at least twice in answers. (Yeah, go back and look, he definitely quoted his book in answers..I can’t stand that..If you closed your eyes you could almost hear Obama saying the exact same thing..and that’s not the look Romney is going for and he should know better.)
Paul gave a decent showing, but he lacked life. I’m not sure if the schedule is catching up and he is slowing down or if his interest is starting to falter, but either way Ron lacked some of the early debate fire last night. Though as an aside, his loyal followers did do him a solid by forcing John King to eat crow for a second time and allow the doctor to actually comment on the abortion issue towards the end.
Santorum played the part of cornered pitbull last night and though a candidate with fire can be good, Rick simply looked upset and almost out of control at times. Raising his voice, shaking his head violently in disgust at answers, to his random uncalled for comments just didn’t do much for his position. For me, I basically stopped listening when he decided to take the first jab at Gingrich right after the other candidates didn’t take CNN’s bait on the “moral” issue up front.
..and of course that brings us to Newt. The clear winner in this contest, Newt did what Newt does best: He slayed dragons. John King looked like he wanted to crawl into his suit after asking the first question about the ABC piece on Newt and Gingrich shoved it right back in his mouth and spewed fire all over him to a very supportive crowd. He then followed up the next 100 minutes or so with confidence, prose, and his typical swagger that is simply easier for people to follow and support when compared to the actions of the other candidates.
All of this considered, recent polls, and the minimal fallout from Nightline’s piece last night, I am willing to say that Newt pulls SC on saturday and makes Florida all the more important for all candidates.
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