Southern Fried Debate

Last night, the GOP had a debate in the Palmetto state of South Carolina. The motley crew of speakers included Ron Paul this time, after being left out of the last debate. It seems they didn't sling as much mud toward their opponents this time, as they seemed to go after "liberals". It was very interesting viewing. I want them to all stay in the race so we can see more of these debates. Some of the zingers had me rolling on the floor. (or as my aol friends would say...rofl). I think last night, there was a clear winner and a clear loser. Here are my grades.

Fred Thompson-A+
Someone woke him up out of his coma in a BIG way. He came out swinging, pointing out differences between his plans and other canidates. He mesmorized the crowd, not so much with what he said, but the fact he said anything at all. After the last two debates of basically sitting there, he showed that he was serious about this whole election thing. He has his eyes on SC, and feels that Huck is the person in his way, which is true. It should be interesting come primary day. I believe there were a lot of undecideds last night who have made up their minds, and Fred is that choice. Great performance.

John McCain-A-
It was McCain v Romney all night long and Mac got the better end of the deal. He clearly stated his positions and has the records to back them up. He took dings on immigration which will be his biggest weakness. If you can overcome that, I believe he will be the nominee. He was absolutly truthfull when stating that some of the jobs that Michigan has lost will never come back. You have to be able to tell people the hard truth and not just what they want to hear. He accomplished getting his foreign policy platform out there as well.

Mitt Romney- B-
It wasn't attack Mitt night tonight, and you better believe he was very thankful for this. He was concentrating on taking on Mac for Michigan. He got his policy ideas across and was much more positive this time. I have no problem with him saying that he will fight for every job to come back to Detroit, but he needs to let people know, that not every one will come back. I think that was his biggest dent last night. You need to tell people the truth, even if it is the unpopular thing to say. Much better debate tonight.

Mike Huckabee- C
Funny, honest, staightforward on most things last night. Foreign policy is his major weakness. He needs to figure out what his platform is. This is the thing that will prevent him from getting the nomination. He won over the Christian vote, and stuck to his guns on his beliefs. That is what he needed to do in SC, but I don't think it will help him out as much on Super Tuesday.

Rudy- D
For speaking to the nation, he didn't say much, so he gets a low grade. He spent the entire night speaking to the people of Florida. He got his point across to them. That is the make or break for him.

Ron Paul - D-
First off, just because I won't be voting for Paul, does not mean I don't support any of his ideas or think that he would be a horrible canidate. Being said, last night, he was just plain awful. Every question came back to the war. He was given plenty of air time last night and didnt make the most of it. He has to convince the voters out there, that he is a viable canidate. He has failed to do this. I don't agree with Romney saying that he gets the press releases from Iran, that was a low blow, but I got his point. Saying we should let Isreal defend itself was non sense as well. What part of being an ally doesn't he understand. When half the world doesn't like the US, we shouldn't go around alienating the friends we do have.

I thought it was cute how all the Paul supporters crammed the ballot box in the Fox News "Who Won The Debate" poll. I was honestly suprised to see people thought Huckabee had a strong showing. The way things are turning out, here is what I would love to see:
Romney- Wyoming, Michigan
Huckabee-Iowa
McCain- New Hampshire,Nevada
Thompson-South Carolina
Florida-Guilianni

If the primaries fall like this, it will make super tuesday even that much more important. I would love to see us go to the convention without a canidate with the min. number of delegates. That would be incredible.