The GOP Debate: Who Won?
Posted on December 12, 2007
Michelle has a great roundup, and says that overall it was dull. Kinda glad I missed it. So, bottom line. Who won?
Bryan Preston says Fred Thompson scored points, but that Mitt Romney won.
Frank Luntz’s focus group says Romney too.
Of course Hugh Hewitt gives it to Romney. He’s got a roundup of others and quotes.
However, it’s clear that Mitt Romney won this debate. Huckabee didn’t hurt himself, but Romney had eloquence, poise, and serious content in his performance. He looked presidential and sounded even more so. He also seemed spontaneous and good-humored, mixing it up with Fred Thompson and keeping it light. He never really went after Huckabee, choosing more to focus on his own record.
Will this debate help him reverse the momentum he’s lost to Huckabee in Iowa? Only if enough Iowans stayed awake during this droning, dull, and ultimately pointless exercise.
Liberty Pundit gives it to Romney and calls Fred the loser.
Dan Riehl says Romney wins and Huckabee was the loser.
This was Romney’s day. Listen, I called Huckabee in the first tier in the middle of the last debate. After this, watch for him to start his slide. Mitt got himself back on track and I would watch for it to start to show in the polls and in the coverage. From here on, Iowa and NH may be Romney’s to lose. If nothing else, he laid the groundwork for a political surge.
California Yankee gives it to Romney.
John Hawkins says Fred won and ranks it like this.
Winner: Fred Thompson. Good substance, good personality, and his I won’t raise my hand for an answer question reminded me of Reagan say “I paid for this microphone.” Fred definitely won.
Top Tier Loser: Mike Huckabee. The fast format appeared to take him off of his game. He was very flat.
Rankings from bottom to top.
Alan Keyes: Came off as mildly nuts.
Ron Paul: Probably happy Keyes was there to make him look more reasonable.
Mike Huckabee: Very flat.
Duncan Hunter: He did Ok.
Tom Tancredo: He gets better every debate.
John McCain: Very average performance from a guy who usually does better.
Rudy Giuliani: Solid, but not spectacular.
Mitt Romney: He got back on his game without the frequent attacks.
Fred Thompson: His best performance yet.
Rich Lowry gives Thompson major points too.
Judging by This Debate So Far Romney’s main threat in Iowa should be Fred Thompson.
Fred Thompson was smart, funny, irascible and consistent, and probably helped his standing here. He even got in a good dig at Romney.
Frankly, the candidate who had the best afternoon I think was Fred Thompson. This was easily his best debate performance and he seemed to shine in this subdued format.
Winner: Thompson. Don’t know if it will be enough, but he ought to get at least a little bump out of this. The moment he basically told the moderator where she could stick her “show of hands†question – well, I was inspired.
Fred Thompson was the only candidate who stood out. He was funny, charming, and peppy. Here was a guy who wasn’t afraid to speak hard truths, and who displayed knowledge of the policy issues–especially on entitlements. But the moment of the debate, the moment that will be talked about should he defy expectations and go on to win the nomination, was when he refused to raise his hand at the behest of the moderator. This demonstrated conviction, showed he was able to stand up for his principles, that he was a man who valued substance, a leader rather than a follower, and somebody who is running a different kind of campaign. In short, today Thompson was everything that conservatives had hoped they’d be getting when he announced his candidacy.
That seems to be the soundbyte of the night: Here is the video via Hot Air:
Sounds to me like the winner was either Romney or Thompson. Word is that it was a Huckabomb. I’ll let my readers tell me who they think won.
Hmmm…speaking of Romney vs. Thompson. At least I know who won this jab fest.
After Governor Romney answered a question about taxes, Thompson jabbed Romney saying he wants to get into the situation Mitt is in, digging at his wealth. Romney poked back saying, “I would like to get into your situation!†Thompson wins by biting back, Well, you are starting make a pretty good actor, actually! The press room erupted in laughter.
» Filed Under 1st Amendment, News, Politics As Usual, Video
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If you look at your poll results so far, it looks like Ron Paul won. He’s a master debater and he has a lot of good ideas, but he wouldn’t make a very good President in the current two party system.
Romney rocked this debate! Fred came in second. Everyone else might as well go home.
Uh, Jay? It seems that every single person here and at all the other blogs and everywhere else in the world cannot understand debates. Here’s the verdict from ABC. Thank goodness for a little unbiased reporting from the dependable mainstream media. Are y’all just really dumb or just really biased?
link
But if you actually read the comments at the article I linked above, it was CLEARLY Ron Paul who won! Geez, y’all really don’t know anything, but I guess neither does the person who wrote the article for ABC.
Way to go Fred! I loved the smack-down of the NEA and the dipstick moderator! I remember hearing him talk of how disappointed he was in the current “debate” format, which isn’t a debate at all. He would prefer an hour length with only one subject with a smaller group. I agree. At least you would get some substance that way and not just the MSM waiting for a “gotcha” moment.
Well, anyway, I think I’ll go outside and wipe off the dirt from my Thompson 2008 bumper sticker!
Won’t it be an epiphany when Davey gets off his [edited] and does his homework on Willard Romney??…”Uhhh, I never heard of the bum.”
I liked Alan Keyes but I got the idea he is trying to bring the pro-life issue front and center instead of winning either the debate or the election. From what little I saw most of the candidates came across very well so personal bias of the viewers will probably decide who won. The crowd I saw seemed to be partial to Romney. We will see if he gets a surge out of it.
Ron Paul won, hands down.
I thought Romney did alright, but he always seems so plastic and I always feel like I’m getting some kind of rehearsed answer. I’ve not paid much attention to Ron Paul before this debate, but I have to admit that he made the most sense in this debate. He seemed to give real responses to the questions and after thinking about it, he seemed by far like the most traditionally conservative candidate up there. Was it just me, or did the other candidates seem a lot like Democrats, in that all they wanted to do was increase the size and scope of the federal government?
Ron Paul won that one. Anyone who will abolish the Federal Reserve stands high in my books. Ron Paul is the only one that doesn’t have a liberal voting record. Fred Thompson’s support of gun control, and abortion doesn’t fly too high in my books. McCain is a nutjob, and Rudy is a homo loving liberal. Romney lost the conservative vote during the last debate when he said that the “Confederate flag should not be hung outside in public.” Oh woah there Romney, you shouldn’t have said that. I am from Mississippi, and we have the bars and stars in our state flag. You lost 3 million votes buddy when you said that. Hucklebee wants more illegal aliens over our borders, and wants to give them Amnesty. Ron Paul was the only one on that stage that didn’t sound like Hillary to me.