Mitt crushes Newt in Florida

With 49% of the votes counted in Florida, Mitt Romney has 48% of the vote, Newt Gingrich has 31%, Rick Santorum has 13%, and Ron Paul has 7%.

It has to be sweet for Mitt to win by a wider margin over newt than Gingrich did in South Carolina.

Isn't Florida the oldest state in the nation?  I thought the Ron Paul rEVOLution would do better there.  Then again, his biggest constituents are people under 30.

Florida CNN Republican Debate

8:00 - The opening intros feel like they could be the opening credits for the next X-Men movie.

8:04 - A local choir sings the National Anthem. Mitt & Rick sing along. Newt looks around confused. Ron looks like he's sucking on a cough drop.

8:07 - Wolf Blitzer feels the need to remind candidates how to introduce themselves. Rick starts, points out his 93-year-old mother's in attendance. She stands to applause. Rick wisely decides to just end on that note.

8:08 - Newt is thrilled to be in Jacksonville, site of the "next new nuclear aircraft carrier battle group." Mitt points out he has 16 grandkids. Ron introduces himself as a champion of the gold standard and rejects the notion of nation building.

QUESTION FROM AUDIENCE: Illegal immigration.

8:09 - Rick says we need to obey the laws in this country, says his grandpa was an immigrant. He has this way of looking like his teeth are clenched when he speaks, but his tone sounds sincere. "Immigrants bring a vitality and a love of this country."

8:11 - Newt says he's pledged to control the border by January 2014. Wants citizenship to be easier, but deportation easier too. Rick & Newt support Mitt's option of "self-deportation." Newt points out he wouldn't deport grandmothers and grandfathers here, proposes a panel to determine if they can at least have residency.

8:12 - Mitt: I don't think anyone's interested in deporting 11 million Americans, excuse me, 11 million illegal immigrants. We have a responsibility to those millions waiting to become legal citizens.

8:14 - Ron: the weaker the economy, the more resentment against illegal immigrants. The way we're handling our borders is hurting our economy. We worry too much about the obrder of Afghanistan and Pakistan; we should worry more about our own.

8:16 - Wolf asks Newt about his comment that Mitt was "anit-immigrant." Newt says "you need to be realistic in your indignation." Yes, Newt said that about someone else. Would make some exceptions for some humanity. Wolf asks if he still views Mitt as anti-immigrant. "Of the four of us, yes."

8:17 - Mitt launches into the most awesome take-down of any debate that's ever been televised. He calls Newt's comment "inexcusable." "My father was born in Mexico." Says the idea is repulsive, goes off on Newt's "over the top rhetoric", says he should apologize for it. Thunderous applause from audience.

8:19 - Newt says what would you call it when you want to deport a grandmother? Mitt says he's pro-immigrant, he wants immigrants to come who have vitality and something to contribute, and to indicate that someone willing to follow the law is anti-immigrant is wrong. Newt goes on to categorize Mitt's heartless view toward grandmothers. Mitt counters "our problem is not 11 million grandmothers." ((Laughs from crowd.))

8:20 - Wolf asks about a Romney ad that says Gingrich called Spanish "the language of the ghetto." Mitt says he hasn't seen the ad; is it true Newt said it? Newt said no, he didn't say Spanish, he meant any language from the ghetto and that Dade Community College has 94 languages on its campus. ((I've seen the full quote. He didn't say the word "Spanish" but that's definitely what he meant. And on Twitter, someone pointed out Newt said Dade had 86 languages on campus last week.))

8:21 - Mitt says he doubts it's his ad, but he'll look, but he gives his stance on English as official language, says he and Newt agree on English immersion.

QUESTION FROM HISPANIC LEADERSHIP COUNCILWOMAN: Trade policy with Latin America?

8:22 - Ron: Free trade is the answer, including Cuba. Handful of claps, one "Woo!"

8:24 - Rick: I'm not with Ron Paul or Barack Obama on this. The US govt let down Honduras, Obama sided with Chavez and Castro against the people of Honduras. We didn't stand up for Colombia. Obama sides with the leftist, terrorists, Jihadits, etc. (I'm struck by the notion that I never would've predicted Rick Santorum would've made the final four.)

8:25 - Ron: You're talking about force, we can't be bullies to the world.

8:26 - Rick: I don't know what you're responding to, it wasn't my answer. I'm not talking about force in dealing with military socialists, narco-terrorists.

8:27 - Wolf says we just double-checked and the radio ad has you at the end saying "I'm Mitt Romney and I approved this message." Mitt: Okay, did he say it? Newt: I said in general. Period. Mitt: We'll see.

8:29 - Wolf shifts it to the foreclosure crisis in the country. Mitt uses the opportunity to criticize Newt's $1.6 million he pocketed from Freddie Mac. Newt rolls up his sleeves and say he was shocked - SHOCKED! - to find out Mitt owns shares in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, and he owns shares of Goldman Sachs, who is foreclosing homes in Florida, so maybe Mitt should disclose how much money he's made off of home foreclosures. Crowd responses with some boos and some applause.

8:30 - Mitt says "I know something you don't. I'm not left-handed either." First of all, his finances are handled by a blind trust so he can't have conflicts of interest. Second, he doesn't own any stocks, he owns bonds and mutual funds. "But, Mr. Speaker, have you checked your own investments?" And the suspense is palpable for that two-second pause before Romney drops the bombshell. Newt also owns mutual funds that invest in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

I notice here that Newt Gingrich uses the high-school / college debate-team style of looking at your judges / audience when attacking your opponent. Mitt Romney looks you in the eye.

Mitt keeps going, piles on further about Newt's $1.6 million.

8:34 - Newt looks uncomfortable in his defensive response.

8:35 - Ron Paul - "That subject really doesn't interest me a whole lot." Loud applause!

8:36 - Rick S: "Can we just concede that Newt was a member of Congress and Mitt's a rich guy and move on?" Loud applause!

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8:39 - Wolf comes back with a quote that Newt said about Mitt, and Newt says it's a silly question, let's talk about real issues. Wolf Blitzer sticks with it, gets booed, Mitt says "Hey, I'm standing right here, say it to my face." Newt says okay, rattles off his critique of Mitt's Swiss bank account, Mitt comes back explaining it in more detail, says Republicans really shouldn't attack people for being successful.

8:42 - Wolf brings it back to taxes. Newt wants a flat-tax, wants to shrink the government to match revenue, not raise revenue to catch up to government. Rick says he wants the 28% tax rate Reagan had (*cough!* for one year *cough!*) but thinks the ultra-rich should still pay some taxes. Ron Paul says get rid of the 16th amendment, cut taxes, restore sound monetary policy. So bottom line, they all want Romney to pay less taxes.

8:48 - Wolf now asks Ron Paul about his age. Ron Paul has sweetheart response about challenging any candidate to a 25-mile bike ride through Texas. Also jokes about age discrimination laws. Wolf has a chilling aside of "I look forward to seeing those medical records."

8:50 - The moon! The moon comes up!

8:57 - Phew, losing steam watching this. Mitt, Rick, Ron all pokes holes in Newt's claim he'll have a moon base by 2020. With this economy and the spending they all plan to cut, how could Newt push for a lunar base?

8:58 - Mitt slams Newt's style of promising projects for whatever state he's campaigning in, which gets big cheers. Newt says we can set priorities with spending and get things done, touts his balancing the budget four years in a row. Ron Paul points out the national debt went up a trillion in those four years.

9:00 - Rick laments how Obama won't get our fiscal house in order. We need to quit promising projects and special spending when we had a $1.2 trillion budget deficit last year.

QUESTION FROM AN UNEMPLOYED WOMAN WEARING A FUR COAT THAT LOOKS LIKE IT WAS MADE FROM THE MUPPETS' RALPH THE DOG - Health care.

9:02 - Ron Paul: Medical care insurance should be individual, not tied to your job. When govt gets involved, costs go up. Govt has inflated cost of health care.

9:03 - Newt: repeal Obamacare, repeal Dodd-Frank, repeal Sarbanes-Oxley. Reform insurance system, grow economy.

9:04 - Mitt talks about how Obama's promised a lot of things but he'll actually do them.

9:07 - Rick S says that all sounds great, but Mitt created RomneyCare, predecessor for ObamaCare, and Newt was for individual mandate. Newt defends it at the state level. Mitt stands by RomneyCare, says it's flawed but it has a lot of benefits. Rick S passionately protests any version of individual mandate at federal or state level. Mitt calmly responds by explaining it in more detail. Rick S slams it more.

9:10 - Mitt: "It's not worth getting angry about." Lead balloon in this room. Mitt goes on to explain how his plan is different than Obama's. Rick: "What he said is factually incorrect!"

9:13 - Wolf asks Ron Paul who's right. "I think they're all wrong."

QUESTION FROM SPOUSE OF MARINE - Which Hispanic leaders would you consider in your Cabinet?

Rick: Marco Rubio.

Newt: Susanna Martinez, Rubio.

Mitt: Sandoval, Martinez, Diaz, Mel Martinez, Rubio, Gutierrez....

Ron: I won't name names, but Hispanics are attune to non-intervention foreign policy.

9:17 - Before going to break, Wolf says his next QUESTION will be about why your wife would make a great First Lady. And Newt has the break to sweat.

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9:23 - Ron: We've been married 54 years, author of a cookbook.

9:24 - Mitt: We've been married 42 years, she survived MS and breast cancer.

9:25 - Newt: These 3 women would make great First Ladies. (He's referring to the other candidates wives, not his 3 wives.) But Callista would bring music appreciation and patriotism.

9:26 - Rick's wife was not in attendance, but he gave a heartfelt tribute to her.

9:28 - Back and forth with Newt & Mitt about the mantle of Reagan. Yawwwwn.

QUESTION FROM CUBAN IMMIGRANT - How should US handle Cuba?

9:32 - Rick: Obama's encouraged the cancer in Cuba and it's spread to Venezuela. We're rewarding this thuggery, this Marxism, these jihadists in central and south America.

9:34 - Ron: Sanctions help Castro, don't hurt him. Sanctions help the dictators. The Cold War is over. I don't think people see jihadists under the bed at night.

9:36 - Mitt: Obama's ignored Latin America. Also mistake to give in to Putin or Castro or Chavez or Achmadinejad with what they want. Dictators look for weakness. Newt: We need to help Cuba move to freedom once Castro dies.

QUESTION FROM PALESTINIAN REPUBLICAN - How will you help bring peace between Israel and Palestine?

9:38 - Mitt and Newt respond with pro-Israel views, and the questioner looks like the loneliest man in the room.

QUESTION FROM PUERTO RICAN WOMAN - Where do you stand on Puerto Rico becoming a state?

9:42 - Rick: Me and the governor of Puerto Rico used to go to church together. Puerto Rico has high unemployment and we need to help them. I take no stand on them becoming a state; it's up to them.

QUESTION FROM ATTORNEY - How would your religious beliefs impact your decisions as president?

9:45 - Ron: My religious beliefs affect my character and the way I live.

9:46 - Mitt: The Creator endowed us with unalienable rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

9:47 - Newt: If you're "truly faithful" it should affect your life. Then slams anti-Christian bias of secular media and religious oppression of the state.

9:48 - Rick: The Constitution is the How of America, the Declaration of the Independence is the Why of America. We have God-given rights. If rights come from the state, then everything the govt gives you, they can take away.

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QUESTION FROM WOLF - Tell us why you are the one person on this stage to most likely beat Pres. Obama.

9:53 - Ron: My appeal to freedom and the Constitution crosses party lines. I do well against Obama in national polls.

9:54 - Mitt: To change DC dramatically, you need someone from the outside. Pretty much gives a mini stump speech.

9:55 - Newt: I was there in 1994 and now I'm running for my two grandkids.

9:56 - Rick: I was against govt bailouts, both bought into cap-and-trade, both bought into global warming hoax.

Some great entertaining clashes in there. Other dull spots, and I'd attribute that to the questions.  Seriously, we've had several debates, and look at the selection of questions.  So how'd they do?


NEWT GINGRICH - His big selling point was he could out-debate Obama.  Well, he wilted tonight.  Romney disemboweled him early and he never recovered.  Even the First Lady question, Mitt was able to point out his wife had MS and cancer.  The unspoken point was to Gingrich, who left wife #1 when she got cancer, and left wife #2 when she got MS.  Newt lost.  He'll lose in Florida, and he'll shrivel up.

RON PAUL - I don't think he'll win any states, but he'll get a percentage in every state.  He was good tonight.  I think his response on his age was great.

MITT ROMNEY - He tore Newt Gingrich apart.  Had the debate ended at the half-hour mark, I'd say he was going to coast to the nomination now.  He had a couple flounders in there, like backing away from an ad that was actually his, but he rolled with the punches and found ways to flip them back on his opponents.

RICK SANTORUM - One of his best debate performances.  His earnestness had an "I'll fight for the little guy" populism to it, especially when talking about manufacturing, or the clear love he has for his wife.  I think the anti-Romneys will wake up from their Newt stupor and some will shift back to Rick Santorum.

Does Character Count?

When Mitt's wife was diagnosed with MS, he said "In sickness and in health." When Newt's wife was diagnosed with MS, he said, "If you won't consent to an open marriage, I'll just take what's behind Door #3."

Fox News South Carolina GOP Debate

Yep, another one.

Questioners are Bret Baier, Gerald Seib, Kelly Evans and Juan Williams.

First question to NEWT GINGRICH, and Bret Baier didn't let him off lightly. Newt justifies his attacks on Mitt Romney so soon after he said the Republicans should stay positive and not savage each other. Of course, Newt said this when he was in first, but now that he's not, it's Earth-scorching time. Baier pushes Newt on it, and Newt keeps trying to say he's not attacking capitalism, it's just that Bain was evil. Reagan.

MITT ROMNEY responds, defends his record, and ends with how he'll defeat Barack Obama, which gets loud cheers from the audience. Baier moves on.

RICK PERRY is asked to defend his comment on "vulture capitalism." He says he visited a steel mill that Bain picked over and people lost jobs. Hey, I released my tax records. Mitt, you need to release yours. I think that's fair. As Republicans we cannot "fawr" our candidate in September. We need to know the answers now. Anyway, repeal Dodd-Frank; regulations are strangling us.

ROMNEY - We invested in that steel mill for 7-8 years.. China's dumping of cheap steel into our economy caused 40 mills to be closed. I will crack down on trade cheaters. BTW, we opened a new steel mill with new technologies on cheaters. I agree with him on regulations.

Next is Gerald Seib, who looks like the kind of guy found guilty of murder at the end of a CSI: Miami episode. He points out one instance where Bain made millions off a company that went bankrupt.

ROMNEY - That company was still open when I was at Bain. They bought another paper company down the road and consolidated. Every time we invest it, we try to grow the company, create jobs. You look at Staples and other companies, my record's pretty darn good. The prez has no job plan. I have a jobs plan and I'm not even president...yet.

Next is Kelly Evans, a hot brunette Wall Street Journal reporter. Asks Ron Paul about negative campaigning.

RON PAUL - If you're exposing a voting record, it's quite proper. I did one on Santorum where I couldn't get everything in that I wanted. He was for NCLB, Sarb-Ox, prescription drug benefits, etc.

RICK SANTORUM - He's getting some of his quotes from CREW, a left-wing George Soros organization. I'd repeal No Child Left Behind now.

Juan Williams asks Santorum about personal attacks.

SANTORUM - I've run a strong positive campaign. Romney's Super-PAC put out an ad saying I support felons voting. I would ask Romney right here, does he support felons who've served their time, fulfill their sentences get to be able to vote?

ROMNEY - First of all I can't tell Super-PACs what--

SANTORUM - Just answer the question.

ROMNEY - I'll get there. I would hope Super-PACs who have anything inaccurate would remove those or correct those. As for felons voting, it says you did that?

SANTORUM - Just answer. I voted to restore voting rights to felons who've repaid their debt to society. This is MLK Day. I was supporting that becuz of the disproportionate amount of African-Americans who go to jail and lose their rights.

ROMNEY - I don't believe violent criminals should ever regain their vote.

SANTORUM - Interesting. In Massachusetts, the law was that not only could violent criminals could vote while on parole let alone after they served their time. If you're going to have someone criticize me for supporting that, why didn't you change that in Mass?

ROMNEY - I had an 85% Democratic legislature. I could nto get many changes that I wanted to, and I did not send anyone to criticize you, I have no control over Super-PACs. I've had some outrageous, inaccurate accusations made against me by Super-PACs...

SANTORUM - I want to keep talking. Your Super-PAC was inaccurate in attacking me and if I had a Super-PAC doing that, I'd say stop it!

PERRY - Here's a great example of the insiders up here having a conversation. These should be state decisions.

ROMNEY - I agree; this should be at a state level. I agree with Ron Paul about the mistakes Santorum's made in his voting. He voted against right-to-work becuz he said his state was against it. I was in a state that wanted felons to be able to vote. Same thing.

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Baier asks Romney about previous Huntsman quotes, asks Twitter question about how can they trust Romney to not change his positions again.

ROMNEY - I get asked this, and it's usually on my position on abortion. When I saw those embryos that would destroyed, I wrote an op-ed saying I was pro-life and I served as a pro-life governor. I've always been against gay marriage but I am for equal rights. I believe Obama is turning us into a European socialist state, I want to restore America. I believe in this country, I will fight for its values.

Juan asks Perry about SC's new law on voter registration. Are you suggesting that on MLK Day, the fed has no business investigating election laws in a state where minorities were once not allowed to vote?

PERRY - I'm saying the state of Texas is under assault from the fed govt, and SC is at war with this fed govt. At war! This administration is "at war!" with churches. This admin is out of control.

Bret asks about national debt and extending unemployment benefits.

SANTORUM - I don't support extending benefits to 99 weeks. When you're that far away from a job, you lose skills. I believe, like welfare reform, we send it back to the states, give them flexibility to implement their programs. We're not doing people any favors by keeping them on unemployment for long periods of time.

((When I was laid off in 2004, they explained to me unemployment lasted 26 weeks, but I believe that was state unemployment; I never got federal unemployment that I know of. There must've been significant changes in the law since.))

GINGRICH - All unemployment compensation should be tied to job-training. The help we should give should be connected to a business run. 99 weeks is an Associate degree. It tells you everything about the difference between Obama and the five of us. We actually think work is good. We think maximizing dependency is terrible for this country.

Kelly asks about some European downgrades.

ROMNEY - We want to keep our financial insitutions running, but we've learned some lessons. We can't give the prez a blank check choosing and picking which friends or which industries he wants to save. It's time for us to recognize that the free enterprise system works. The best way to get the US economy going to push govt out of it. Our tax rates are too high, our regulations are too burdensome, we have an energy policy that doesn't take advantage of our resources. This prex has opened up no new markets. That's the answer, not bailouts.

Gerald asks Paul about defense spending cuts that would cost SC military jobs.

PAUL - Your question suggests you're very confused about my position. I want to cut money. I want to close bases overseas, maybe have more bases here. The military is behind me more than the others. I get twice as much money from active-duty military than the other four combined.

You call for pulling military spending to 2006 levels, that would cut jobs.

PAUL - You still don't understand. There's a difference between military spending and defense spending. Building a military base in Baghdad bigger than the Vatican. You call that defense spending; I call that waste. We're supposed to be conservative. Spend less money!

Bret asks what is the highest federal income tax any American should have to pay.

PERRY - 20% flat tax. Keep it simple. ((Perry likes simple.))

SANTORUM - My highest would be 28%, same level as Reagan when he cut taxes. ((And raised them one year later.))

ROMNEY - I'd like to get it down to 25%. Right now it's 35%, paying more than 25% I'm against.

GINGRICH - I'd like to see flat tax of 15%.

PAUL - We should have the lowest tax and up until 1913 it was 0%. What's wrong with that? What our seniors are getting hit with is the inflation tax; let's see that zero.

Kelly asks again about tax records, since Romney never answered the question earlier.

ROMNEY - I looked at what's been done in past campaigns; the tradition has been to release them around April, tax-time. I'll keep my options open.

So you'll release them around April?

ROMNEY - That's probably what I'll do. ((Some murmurs from the audience on that one.))

Juan points out Romney's father was born in Mexico. ((Some boos just at the mention of Mexico.)) Aren't you alienating Latinos with your hardline stance on immigration and being against the Dream Act?

ROMNEY - Latinos like all people look at us an opportunity nation. This prez looks around and says "It could be worse." I can't believe saying that. The American people say it's gotta be better. As for immigration, I don't believe special privileges should be given to those who come illegally. We have to follow the law. I love legal immigrants.

Juan points out unemployment's 20% for blacks.

SANTORUM - A 2009 study showed 3 things can be done to avoid poverty: work, graduate high school, and get married before you have children. ((Applause from audience.)) It's a huge opportunity for us, but what is Obama doing? He has a policy targetted at at-risk youth, regulating that marriage can no longer promote marriage to young girls, they can no longer teach abstinence. This admin is deliberately telling organizations to not tell girls what good choices are.

Juan points out blacks, jailed 4 times more than white, are usually arrested for drug charges.

PAUL - There is a disparity. With blacks, they're arrested disproportionately, they're tried and convicted disproportionately, they suffer the consequence of the death penalty disproportionately. Rich white people don't get the death penalty very often. ((Would've loved to see Perry's face right then. He loves the death penalty.)) The drug war unfairly hits the minority. MLK would agree with me on the drug war and foreign wars. ((Faint applause.))

Juan asks Gingrich about his quote on how blacks should demand job not food stamps, poor people's work ethic, and his quote about having kids be janitors. Can't you see how this is insulting?

GINGRICH - No, I don't see that. ((Applause.)) My daughter's first job was a janitor. She liked working and getting paid. I've had fifty people write me about their first jobs at 11,12,13. What I tried to say, Joe Klein pointed this out to me, union janitors in NYC are paid an absurd amount of money. You could hire thirty kids for the cost of one janitor. Only the elites despise earning money. ((Applause.))

My question's on work ethic. Are your comments not intended to belittle the poor and racial minorities? ((Boos.)) You called Obama the food-stamp president. It sounds like you're intentially belittling people. ((More boos. Boos for the black guy asking about racism on MLK Day.))

GINGRICH - More people have gone on food stamps under Obama than any prez in history. I know the politically correct don't like facts that are uncomfortable. Obama hasn't done anything that's really helped the poor. ((Wild, rousing applause. People clinking beer mugs, a guy strumming his upright bass in the corner, square-dancing in the mezzanine, etc.))

Bret asks Paul about foreign policy. You said you were against the operation that killed OBL. You believe international law should have stopped from killing the man who committed the most heinous attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, the demon from hell who rose up with his bony hand and crushed the heart of America, the man who burned a flag while urinating on a Justin Bieber picture?

PAUL - No I didn't say that. After 9/11 I voted for the authority to go after him. My frustration was we didn't go after him. We used it as an excuse for nation building.

My question's on international law.

PAUL - We communicated with Pakistan on giving us KSM, and they handed him over. But when you don't respect the sovereignty of other nations, we keep bombing these countries trying to get our enemies, we reduce them to civil war, they're getting money from us to rebuild. It's a deeply flawed policy. When they waited ten years, I don't see why they couldn't have done it the way they did KSM. Say a Chinese dissident came here, we wouldn't endorse "Well, they can come over and bomb us trying to get him..." We wouldn't expect him. There are proper procedures. We keep digging bigger holes for ourselves. Iraq's getting worse, we're still in Afghanistan...

I understand. They found there were plans for further attacks. On this topic, GOP candidate Ron Paul would be far to the left of Barack Obama on hunting down terrorists. <>

PAUL - We captured Saddam Hussein. His country hung him, he had a trial. We gave Adolph Eichmann a trial. Why can't we question them first, get information?

Bret asks Gingrich about would he kill OBL even if it meant the end of relations of Pakistan.

GINGRICH - OBL plotted to bomb the USS Cole and killed 3100 Americans on 9/11. He was not a Chinese dissident. His analogy is "utterly" irrational. When you give a country billions and you learn they've been hiding the biggest terrorist in the world, you go in and bomb him. Now let's talk about Andrew Jackson. he had a clear-cut idea about America's enemies: kill them. ((Holy crap, did he just bring up the founder of the Democratic Party and notorious racist Indian-killer Andrew Jackson as a standard for 2012 foreign policy?))

PAUL - We ought to consider a Golden Rule in foreign policy. Don't do to other nations what we wouldn't want them to do to us. ((Ongoing boos.)) This idea that we can't debate foreign policy, we just need to start another war. These people can't wait to start another war. We should quit the ones we're in! ((Applause.))

Bret asks Romney about negotiating with the Taliban.

ROMNEY - Of course not. Newt's right. Take out our enemies whereever they are. These people declared war on us. They killed Americans. We go where they are and kill them. OBL recived the right course of action, a bullet to the head. The Taliban is killing Americans. Obama announced the date of our withdrawal. He announced the date he wants to pull out altogether and now he wants to negotiate? We're under attack. The right way is to have a military so strong that no one would think of testing it. We do not negotiate with the Taliban when they're killing American soliders. We need to streghten the Afghan military force.

Bret asks how Santorum would deal with Syria.

SANTORUM - Obama's been as bad as possible. He props up this dictator which endangers Israel. We need to rally the international community, remove Assad, I don't support us going in, but us supporting policy that would remove him.

Bret brings up Turkey. Do they still belong in NATO?

PERRY - Turkey's ruled by Islamic terrorists, it's time to cut off all foreign aid to them. Do they have America's best interest? They were an ally in the 1970's. We need a prez who will stand up to Turkey and Syria and Iran and let them know we need to be dealt with. I served my country in the Air Force. When our Sec of Defense call what those Marines did ((urinating on the corpses)) "utterly despicable", I'll tell you what's despicable, those people who cut Danny Pearl's head off!

PAUL - I too served in the military from 62 to 68. i was in the Afghan/Pakistan region. Let me tell you something, the Taliban were our allies when they were fighting Russia. The Taliban is against foreigners. It's al-Qaeda who wants to come here and kill us, let's not confuse the two.\

Kelly asks Romney about the NDAA. Would he have signed it as written?

ROMNEY - Yes I would have. ((Boos.)) If you join a group that wants to kill Americans, that's treason. I disagree with the prez on a lot but I have faith he will not abuse this power. I would not abuse that power. You have elect someone with the values and character to not abuse it. Our military is shrinking. We're not giving our veterans the benfits they deserve.

SANTORUM - Whines about time, invokes habeas corpus, says the NDAA should not have passed. You should have the right to go to court.

PAUL - We're going in the wrong direction of our liberties. The Patriot Act wiped out the 4th Amendment. Now we have a policy of pre-emptive war where we don't have to declare war, this NDAA is major. It says an American citizen can be held indefinitely by the military. Don't give up on our American judicial system so easily, I beg of you.

PERRY - We need to cut the tax rate down where people feel comfortable investing. That's why I support 20% flat tax. Does his Timothy Geitner line again. Pull back regulations! They're strangling jobs. Let's pass a Balanced Budget Amendment.

Kelly says so you wouldn't do anything to help tyhe housing market?

PERRY - I think I just said two things that are pretty powerful.

Gerald asks Romney about Social Security.

ROMNEY - I won't touch for anyone 55 or older. I'm sure the Democrats will start showing ads of Republicans throwing old people off of cliffs ((laughs)) but don't forget Obama cut $500 billion from Medicare to pay for Obamacare. I'd lower the rate of inflation growth for higher-income recipients. I'd raise the retirement age a year or two. Repeal Obamacare.

Gerald asks Gingrich about his SS plan, which includes privatization. But you said the givt would pay the difference if the private account doesn't pay what it would have if stayed in SS. Is that really a free market solution?

GINGRICH - I'm a historian. Anyway, in Galveston TX and Chile, they tried this and it works. These are historic facts. it gets the govt out of telling you when to retire. It makes every American an investor.

SANTORUM - We need to keep American jobs, not ship them off like the mills here were. The foreign competition is cheaper to do business, but it's because of govt taxes and regulation. Make the little guys pay the same as the big guys. I want to make a point about mitt's plan. it's not bold, and Newt's is not responsible. We're running a deficit in SS. Our debt would go up by hundreds of billions. We'd have to borrow more from China. First balance the budget. Privatize SS now is fiscal insanity, and Romney's not bold.

GINGRICH - The plan on my website shows we'll deal with 185 bureaucracies that deal with low-income Americans, consolidate and send back to the states. It's a sound plan, and I say that as someone who balanced the budget four years in a row.

SANTORUM - We can't do that now due to the deficit.

GINGRICH - As someone who baolanced the budget four times, I'm confident I can make it work w/o balancing the budget.

ROMNEY - Rick is right. It's going to be tough to get our budget balanced and our deficit cut. We should allow people to have a voluntary savings account.

Juan asks Romney about his 2nd amendment record. Signed assault-weapons ban in Massachusetts, increased fees on gun owners 400%.

ROMNEY - In my state we had legislation drafted by pro-gun and anti-gun lobbies. The pro-gun folks liked some of the pieces in it and supported. We found common ground. I believe in gun rights.

Have you gone hunting since you talked about hunting "varmints."

ROMNEY - I've been elk hunting and pheasant hunting. I'm not the serious hunter Perry is.

Perry swells with pride.

Juan asks Santorum about his anti-gun votes.

SANTORUM - Sometimes you have to pass something so they won't pass soemthing much worse. I have an A+ record with the NRA. Contrast that with Paul, I protected gun manufacturers. We banned those lawsuits. Paul voted against that bill; he would have wiped out the 2nd Amendment.

PAUL - Hardly. You don't have national tort law, that should be at the state level. I'm trying to repeal gun bans. That's an overstretch.

SANTORUM - I need to respond. W/o a natl bill, people would have gone to Massachusetts or New York and sued the gun manufacturers out of existance.

PAUL - This is how our Constitution gets nibbled away. Tort law should be a state's issue.

Gerald asks Gingrich about his support of China's one-child law.

GINGRICH - It's "explicitly" a falsehood. It's an absurdity. It'd be nice if Romney would display leadership and call his former colleagues running his Super-PAC to take inaccuracies off the air.

ROMNEY - I said in our last debate that any Super-PAC, whether it's supporting me or supporting you, should take flasehoods off the air. Now I can't contact them directly because that would be against the law. Is that correct?

GINGRICH - Absolutely.

ROMNEY - Alright, so I can't do what you just asked me to do. ((Upper cut!)) I can say publicly I hope any Super-PAC that has falsehoods would remove them from the air. Now, Newt, you have a Super-PAC running an ad with the biggest hoax since Bigfoot. This ad is entirely false, this documentary describes events I had nothing to do with. To imply we have different standards is not quite right.

GINGRICH - I've called on them publicly to edit them. I would hope you'd call on yours to do the same.

ROMNEY - Look, we'd all like to get rid of Super-PACs to tell you the truth. Let people donate what they want to campaigns, let candidates be responsible for their own words. McCain-Feingold was a disaster. ((Applause. Except at the McCain household.)) We don't want this strange situation where we can't control what ads our supporters put up.

Kelly says border crossing is at a 40-year low.

PERRY - The reason it's at a 40-year low is becuz of this economy. I've spent 11 years dealing with this issue. Americans wants us to spend the money to secure the border.

GINGRICH - I'd get rid of No Child Left Behind. The correct answer is to "radically" reduce the Dept of Education and send it back to the states.

And that's it.

So how'd they do?

5. RICK PERRY - Wants to put a chip on his shoulder and go kick dirt on the shoes of Iran and Syria and Turkey. Wants South Carolina to secede so Texas can follow. Kept using phrases like "under assault" and "at war." Even more he said "taxes" and "regulation" about twenty times each. No reason for him to still be there.

4. MITT ROMNEY - There were times he had cool, confident answers. Other times he was knocked on his heels and tried to hedge his answers and leave himself wiggle room. He's the front-runner, he'll be the biggest target. But his tax-return answer was weak, and his support of the NDAA made my jaw drop. He's still alandslide front-runner, but if I were him, I'd start backing out of some of these debates. We've had a ton.

3. NEWT GINGRICH - He did really well in the room, but when you look at his answers, my goodness. Doubled down on making kids the janitors of their own schools, somehow made janitors sound like some overpaid elitist union job, and his outrage over the Super-PAC was muted by Romney's responses. And his Andrew Jackson line... staggering. And yet crowd reaction would suggest he won. Fox News seems to think it'll help Gingrich move up in the polls. I can only shake my head.

2. RICK SANTORUM - Showed toughness against Romney, against Gingrich, against Paul. Don't know why he thought saying that making the little guy pay as much as the big guys would be an applause line. I don't see why people who've supported him to this point would abandon him now.

1. RON PAUL - Sounds like the only guy who wants to reverse the course of our neverending military-industrial complex. The crowd booed him more than anyone else, and yet, what doesn't fly in South Carolina flies in other parts of the country. I don't agree with him on everything, but I really wish some of his attitudes would catch on with the other candidates.

Huckabee Forum 2

MIKE HUCKABEE
in
FORUM 2: SOUTH CAROLINA PRIMARY!!

Huckabee is on a stage with a live audience. They're in line to ask questions.

8:00 - Huck introduces Gov. Nikki Haley. She is rocking it in the black dress with knee-high boots.

8:02 - Mike Huckabee's intro is starting to lull me to sleep, but he wakes us up with an applause line about how the candidates are not allowed to attack each other. Ron Paul won't be here, but Jon Huntsman will. Innnteresting.

8:03 - Rep. Tim Scott has rehearsed lines to sing the praises of South Carolina's importance.

8:05 - First up is MITT ROMNEY. First question is about the housing market. "What will you do to protect Americans' rights to own their homes" and how will you restore the housing industry?

Some people ask what govt can do to help, but I want to stop govt from doing what hurts. I don't want to go back to those "years of yesteryear." Not going to return to the days of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae just handing out mortgages to people who couldn't possibly repay them. Interest only mortgages got us in real trouble. With 9.9% unemployment here in SC, we need to get this economy going, get people jobs.

Follow-up: Will you continue to keep mortgage interest as a tax deduction?

Yes.

8:08 - Question on separation of power. Seems like the Prez is assuming a lot of power that isn't really there.

The Prez has taken extra-Constitutional powers and is appointing his friends to positions of power, most egregious was the National Labor Relations Board, paying back organized union labor, put "union stooges" on the board. Obama came in with Dem house and Dem senate so he didn't feel he needed to reach across the aisle. He wants to jam through what he likes to do.

Commercials.
8:12 - Question: I'm a Ron Paul supporter. After RomneyCare and supporting TARP bailout, how can we believe you and Obama aren't two sides of the same coin?

Obama and I would take the country in two very different directions. He wants to weaken the military, cut a trillion dollars in spending. He wants to spend way more than we have. Like Ron Paul and others, I want to cut spending and balance the budget. Like Ron Paul, I want a free economy where govt gets out of the way.

8:14 - Question: I'm on Medicare. What will you do to keep doctors from opting out of Medicare so they'll continue to serve seniors and military families?

Obama and co. want to put in price controls and tell docs how much they can be reimbursed. It hasn't worked; we have the highest health-care costs in the world. I want to treat health-care like a market. Like Paul Ryan described, I'd reshape Medicare where individuals can choose traditional Medicare or private Medicare plans. The way to keep costs down is competition.

8:17 - Question: As a Christian, I am disturbed there are growing anti-Christian sentiments in this country. It seems like there are more restrictions against religion all the time. What will you do to protect freedom of religion?

I will stand up for the ability of all Americans to worship God how they choose. I don't believe in the secularization of America. People should be able to put up manger scenes at Christmastime, or menorrahs for Hannakuh, etc.

8:19 - Question: Can you convince me - (Mitt gives a 'heh' laugh here which makes her pause a fraction of a second) - as a true conservative why we should vote for you, a moderate Republican, against any of the other candidates? Will you flip-flop on any issues once elected, and will you break campaign promises like Obama has?

You have an opportunity to get to know me through my record. I think you'll find I served as a conservative governor. We balanced the budget every year, we cut taxes 19 times, I empowered our police to enforce immigration law, I implemented English immersion in our schools, I cut the spending in our budget my first year. Read my book No Apology. I love America.

----

8:23 - Next is JON HUNTSMAN. First question is what would you do in first 30 days that would have positive impact on people who vote for you.

Plugs that he and Huck last appeared on stage together with REO Speedwagon.

I would lead. There's a certain rhythm to politics. If you don't strike right away, you're never going to get it done. 1.) Tax reform 2.) Clean up the regulatory mess. 3.) Take steps toward energy independence. Within 30 days, we'd have a roadmap laid out.

8:25 - Three-part question. So many people out of work, will you continue to sanction people coming in, taking our high-tech jobs.

We need to fix our immigration problem. We need to secure the southern border. For those who go to our universities, I would incentivize them to stay, to grow our economy. We need to increase tourism. We need a leader who can reform the Dept of Homeland Security.

8:28 - You are pro-life but you place stipulations on rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. If every life is of God, how can you place stipulations on these lives?

I'm clear on my pro-life philosophy. Points out his daughter he adopted from China, she was abandoned at two months, but he's glad her mother gave her life. I've studied it and I have those three stipulations and I hope that's good enough for you.

8:30 - The ultimate candidate could face $1 billion of dirty tricks. Do you anticipate an undercurrent of religious prejudice, and if so, how do you intend to defend your beliefs?

I intend to defend my faith, my family, my beliefs by being who I am. They'll come to know the family of the candidate. All you can do is be your best. The good people of this country will get to know you.

Commercials.

8:34 - We put a man on the moon, but now we can't put a man into space w/o hitching a ride with Russia. What would you do to save space program?

The space program inspires the next generation. I was 9 when man landed on the moon. There's the economic benefit. I will not subcontract our space program out to any other country. I will make sure we have an economy that can support a solid space program.

8:36 - Dept. of Education has grown exponentially, and yet no progress. Where do u stand on that Department.

Simple answer. So long to the Dept. of Education. I've had seven kids. We did public school, private school, homeschooling, international schooling. A one-size-fits-all approach to education won't cut it. We need to focus on early childhood development.

8:38 - Question on foreign aid. We spend millions rebuilding mosques in Syria, sewer system in Egypt, we have a trade deficit with China yet we gave them $7 million to fight air pollution. How would you strive to change this?

If our invested dollar doesn't have a return to the US by expanding our economy or creating jobs, I want nothing to do with it. My foreign policy is to get our house in order.

----

8:43 - Next is NEWT GINGRICH. First question is from a pregnant woman who was laid off. What is your plan to create jobs nationally and specifically in SC?

Nationally I worked with Reagan and we created 16 million jobs. I worked with Clitnon and we created 11 million new jobs. (Is he listening to himself?) I'd repeal Dodd-Frank which is killing jobs. We should develop offshore natural gas here in SC. We should take part in the royalties from the natural gas. Thru tax policy we need to rebuild infrastructure in SC.

8:45 - The Founding Fathers were opposed to a national bank.

I wrote a series of books on the founding fathers. I'd want to be more like them, which is why I'd want Bernake fired my first day in office. I'm against the Fed propping up the Euro.

8:47 - People in economy understand creative destruction. How do you defend attacking that?

I don't attack it. Gov. Romney... (boos) Okay, let me rephrase. Our candidate needs to be prepared to answer the tough questions before we nominate them.

8:49 - I voted for Obama in 2008. People in this country are sick of partisan gridlock. How can we make progress?

With Reagan we had to get a third of the Democrats. As Speaker, we had Bill Clinton as president. You look at DC today, you're not going to fix that mess with speeches. You need to work together.

Commercials!

8:53 - How do you address the class warfare rhetoric of the Obama administration?

Reagan, Reagan, Reagan, we created millions of jobs. Obama's created more food stamps. I don't believe in 99% and 1%. I believe in 100% working for more jobs.

8:55 - I'm a federal worker. How are you going to cut the federl budget without cutting federal jobs?

When we talk about federal workers, we're talking about border security, our military, etc. An intelligent conservative wants the right employees carrying out their duties in an efficient way. The EPA is committed to dictation not cooperation.

8:57 - My fed taxes increased last year and now my health-insurance premiums have increased. If elected, how soon will you reverse this?

We need a run a team campaign. We need more senate seats, more house seats. I'd ask on my first day for Congress to repeal ObamaCare, Dodd-Frank, and Sarbanes-Oxley.

8:59 - If you could change anything about election laws, what would it be?

I'd get rid of all the Mickey Mouse laws, let individuals contribute as much as they want as long as it's reporting each night, get rid of SuperPacs, get rid of negativity. The candidates would be responsible.

----

9:02 - Next is RICK SANTORUM. Many of us are pro-life like you. What would you do to win over liberals to beat Obama in Novewmber?

I've been elected five times, drawing people from both sides to win. Folks trusted me, knowing what I was doing. We didn't have to agree on everything. I have a proven track record.

9:04 - My husband's been unemployed for four years. Our 401k is gone, the IRA is gone. We moved south becuz it's cheaper. What can you do for people in our position?

You chose a lovely state to move to, we vacation here. My economic plan is a bold plan, the WSJ called it the best. I believe we need to revive manufacturing, it's a robust sector that can grow. We need to compete with those other countries who are taking our manufacturing jobs.

9:07 - I bought 12 items from an outdoor shop. All of them were made in China. What will you do to correct the trade deficit?

We're selling sweater vests online. We're losing jobs becuz our govt is creating the imbalance with high taxes and regulations. I support legislation that require Congress to approve these regulations. Bush and Clinton tended to add 60 regulations a year, Obama's added 150 a year. We need regulation reform.

9:09 - How can you call yourself a true conservative when you've voted to raise the debt ceiling six times?

It was five, according to Ron Paul. When in Congress, you can work toward lowering spending, which I have. I authored the welfare reform bill, I've led on Social Security reform, I've led on Medicare reform. When dealing with debt ceiling you have to address entitlements.

9:11 - I'm concerned about the unemployed over 50. What say you to those who don't have resources?

Folks with experience can take it and use it to build their own business. This admin has crushing tax burden and regulation burden. Republicans are the party of small business. Obama loves big business. Then he can send in his regulators and embed them in the corporation and create a symbiotic relationship.

9:13 - You're pro-life, but you support the death penalty, and you support abortion in cases of rape and incest. How can you justify taking an adult life?

I don't have an exception for rape and incest. With death penalty, we're not talking about an innocent human life. The court rules you cannot be executed for rape, but the same court upheld that a child conceived from that rape could be killed. That is a country that has its morals upsode-down.

----

9:18 - Next is RICK PERRY. Having lived in NYC, I've seen people taken extreme advantage of welfare and disability. What would you do to reform welfare?

At fed level, we need HHS department that audits out fraud. In our state we saved $5 billion by combining some agencies but also by appointing an inspector general.

9:20 - As a businessman, I need to factor in tax code to any business decision I make. How will you simplify the tax code.

You'll love my plan. 20% flat tax. Steve Forbes and Club for Growth love it. It's the best plan. We get rid of capital gains, keep deductions for mortgage, charity, put it on a postcard and we'll reshape the IRS as we know it. Even Timothy Geitner could get his taxes in on time.

9:22 - When considering a vice-president, would you want someone who just makes appearances like Joe Biden, or someone integral in decision-making like Dick Cheney?

Mike, what do you have going on next year? (Laughs.) "Hosting this show." He was my neighbor so I know he can compete. My VP would be someone who shares my philosophy, you want someone who's a partner. Needs to be someone who shares your passion for this country, for small business, for defense.

9:24 - What executive action would you take with the out-of-control withe the NLRB?

Get rid of it, make it part of Dept. of Labor. Each of our states are under assault by this administration. They're actually at war with SC. Their justice dept wants to take on your sovereign right to have immigration laws in place, or your voter ID laws.

Commercials!

9:27 - Question: cuz Fed govt spends $4 billion a day more than it takes in, what's your plan to cut budget?

It's on my website. It outlines how we'll balance the budget by 2010. Ask yourself, Are you better off today than you were $4 trillion ago? The CEO of Coca-Cola said it's easier to do business in communist China than in the US. Cut the taxes and regulations!

9:30 - Will you eliminate the EPA and if not, why?

No state has been more under assault by the EPA than Texas. They are out fo control, spewing out regulations. I trust the state's legislatures to make rulings on their environment than some DC bureaucrat who's never set foot in this state.

9:32 - Will any manufacturing jobs that went to China come back?

They'll come back. We overtaxed and overregulated those jobs out of here. We need to not tax overseas profits that Americans try to bring back into the country. We need to give entrepreneurs incentive to innovate in this country, not drive them out. Drop corporate income tax.

Commercials!

Closing remarks

Mitt Romney - This election is about more than removing a president; it's about the soul of America. We should be an opportunity nation. Take risks, pursue dreams. Obama wants to make us an entitlement nation. He wants to make govt bigger, I want to make it smaller. I want to cut, cap and balance our budget. I want to restore America to its principles.

Rick Perry - I was a pilor in the US Air Force, but we need to bring change, real change, to DC. An outsider who has the background to bring change. It's my purpose to serve this country. We need a president with a tax plan, we need to radically change Congress to be part-time.

Rick Santorum - I want to return the power to the people of America. This is the most important election of our lifetime. We need a prez who recognizes and shares the values of America. Be bold, be strong in your vote. SC voted for Reagan in 1980. Believe! We can restore this country to greatness.

Jon Huntsman - I want people to remember I will always put my country first. I instill that in my two boys in the Navy. I want to bring term limits to Congress and get rid of them turning right around and becoming lobbyists. I want to get our troops out of Afghanistan and I want to rein in those banks that are too big to fail.

Newt Gingrich - If Obama wins reelection, he will be so radical, having been vindicated, that he will bring down this country. I'm going to make sure I mention Reagan more than anyone else. I created millions of jobs as Speaker. We need a conservative who can win the debates against Obama.

Commercials!

Huckabee asks audience members what they thought about the answers they had. First audience member he asked was the Ron Paul supporter who dissed Romney's answer. Of course.

Next audience member was a Santorum questioner. "My husband's 60, so I don't see how bringing back manufacturing jobs is going to help him."

Next was a Gingrich questioner. "I was disappointed he still wants to keep the Fed." Great that he wants to get rid of Bernanke. We see under Obama how we shouldn't let one person make so many appointments.

Next was a Perry questioner. "I liked his enthusiasm." But he felt he didn't get anything specific on what sectors of the economy would grow.

Next was Huntsman questioner, on the space program. Liked his line about not subcontracting out the space program, but we need something quickly.

Okay, so no audience member was satisfied with any candidate on any question. Interesting. What is Huck doing? Now he asks Rep. Scott if it helped him decide which candidate he wanted to support.

What intrigued me most about this is that these are Republican voters, but they are real middle-class people who are hurting and many of them were like "Don't take away my safety. What will you do for me in government?"

In the room, my hunch is Santorum fared best and Gingrich fared worst. I think Huntsman opened some eyes on South Carolina voters who didn't really know him. Perry's like a puppy-dog. Happy to be there, wagging his tail, not going to be president. Romney stuck to his stump speech talking points.

Mitt Romney wins New Hampshire primary

So Mitt Romney has done what no Republican has done.  He was won Iowa and New Hampshire.

Ron Paul can claim he and Romney are the only GOP nominees to finish in the top three in both states.

Right now CNN is saying the order as such:

Romney - 36%
Paul - 25%
Huntsman - 17%
Gingrich - 10%
Santorum - 10%
Perry - 1%

Part of me is hoping Santorum winds up clinching fourth to encourage Newt to drop out.  I'm also hoping Buddy Roemer can beat Rick Perry.

So what is being said about this win?

UPDATE:

Rick Perry isn't even going to get 1%.

Meet the Press GOP Debate

Pre-game - I would sure love it if they brought up copyright and patent reform, NDAA, SOPA and PIPA, but since all TV news are owned by big corporations, it's just not going to happen.

David Gregory thanks the candidates for being there.

"I didn't say you were a Manchurian candidate, Jon. I just said you visited Manchuria a lot and you're a candidate for president.  People like to quote me out of context."

NEWT GINGRICH - Who's most likely to survive in the long run against Obama? We need a bold Reagan conservative, not a timid Massachusetts moderate. I worked with Reagan in the 1980's. Obama's going to have a difficult re-election effort.

MITT ROMNEY - I'm proud of my record, and New Hampshire was our neighbor, they saw how I did. We have to replace a lifelong politician (Obama) with someone who is not a lifelong politician (me!)

RICK SANTORUM - If Mitt's record was so great, why not run for re-election? Why bail out? When he ran against Ted Kennedy who ran from conservative principles. ("But you endorsed Romney in 2008.") Vis a vie John McCain, yeah.

MITT ROMNEY - I got Massachusetts working, I did what I wanted to do, if I'd run again, it would've been about me. ("But, but...!") Rick, Rick, it's my time.

NEWT GINGRICH - I realize the red light doesn't mean anything to you becuz you're the frontrunner. (Some boos.) Can we drop the pious baloney? You've been running since the 1990's.

MITT ROMNEY - I didn't plan on getting into politics, but when I saw Ted Kennedy running unopposed, I as a ctitizen tried to put a stop to it.

RON PAUL - This whole debate has been superficial when we're not talking about spending or the debt or these foreign wars. We really have to talk about real cuts. Character's important, motivation's important, but in the debate format, it's less significant than what we really believe in.

RICK PERRY - Who can beat Obama, invigorate the Tea Party, make real change? And as I look down the row to Santorum I see insiders (thus excluding Huntsman). Who can stand up and lead the Tea Party? It was their power in 2010 that brought the House to Republican control.

MITT ROMNEY - The people in NH see what I did as governor. I wrote a book and described my view for the country. I've seen government tries to solve problems and it doesn't work. It's frankly made me more conservative as time goes on.

JON HUNTSMAN - I'm sure the people are confused by all the political spin up here. I was criticized for putting my country first. Yes, I was serving my country with China under a Democratic administration, but it shouldn't matter, just as it doesn't matter to my two sons in the US Navy.

MITT ROMNEY - I don't disrespect his decision. I just think the person we put against Obama shouldn't be someone who called him a marvelous leader and worked for his administration for two years.

JON HUNTSMAN - The reason this country is so divided is because of attitudes like that. (Applause!) I agree with the Paul Ryan plan for the budget; there will be no sacred cows. There will be means testing, Social Security, Medicare. I won't tie the defense budget to GDP.

RICK SANTORUM - I agree with Huntsman with means testing. We ought to reduce SS benefits for the retired wealthy. To subsidize high-income seniors doesn't make sense to me.

NEWT GINGRICH - I find it fascinating that highly-paid DC insiders talk about pain. Who's going to be in pain? On theft alone, we could save $100 billion a year on Medicaid/medicare expenses if the govt were competant.


Ron Paul & Newt Gingrich applaud Rick Perry's ability to count to 3

RICK PERRY - I'll get rid of the Departments of Energy, Education and Commerce. (Laughter.)

RICK SANTORUM - I'd return more federal programs to the states.

MITT ROMNEY - I'd cut Obamacare, that'd save $95 billion a year.

JON HUNTSMAN - It's silly to have us raise our hands. We are so full of loopholes and deductions. We need to ger rid of them and say "so long" to corporate welfare.

NEWT GINGRICH - Compromise can be done with real leadership. I worked with Clinton on welfare reform.

MITT ROMNEY - I was governor in a state with 85% Democratic legislature. I met with them personally, found those issues we agreed on, we could work together.

RON PAUL - I'm cutting the budget by going back to 2006 budgetary levels and dropping foreign wars. When people get more freedom and get more of their money back, they don't feel any pain.

RICK SANTORUM - Paul's never been able to pass anything or work with anybody. What he could do as CiC is pull all of our troops out of countries everywhere and create vacuums. What Republicans like about him, he couldn't do, and what they're afraid of, he'd do on day one.

RON PAUL - We can't keep up this Woodrow Wilson foreign policy. They have elections overseas that we don't even accept.

RICK SANTORUM - I was able to get things done with Democrats. I was there with welfare reform.

JON HUNTSMAN - It comes down to trust. They hear the spin and still feel they're not being represented. My first press conference when I ran for governor was on ethics in government. We need term limits for Congress, and we need rules that stops them from turning right around and becoming lobbyists.

RICK PERRY - I hope I make Republicans uncomfortable when I talk about the out-of-control spending they did in the 2000's when they had control of both parties (Parties?!) DG: "You think you'll make the GOP uncomfortable by talking about cutting spending?" (Sounds incredulous.) You're darn right.

Commercials!

JON HUNTSMAN - We can't effectively confront our energy problems until we have energy independence. We need to break up oil distribution monopoly. (Applause.)

RON PAUL - Subsidies per se are bad economically bad policy. When it comes to energy, we should deregulate it. Prices go up when government gets involved.

MITT ROMNEY - We don't need a federal govt to be trying to solve poverty all over the nation. All these social safety nets need to be sent back to the states. You have all these govt bureaucrats administering these programs. I don't discriminate. I had a man in my Cabinet who was gay, I put gays on the bench. Right now.

RICK SANTORUM - I would be a voice for gays to be treated equally, but I wouldn't want them to change laws on marriage or adoption. Just becuz you don't agree with someone's desires to change the laws doesn't mean you dislike them personally. We can be respectful even if we don't agree. ("What if your son told you he was gay?") I would love him just as much as the second before he said it. (That sound you hear is a ball being knocked out of a park.)

RICK PERRY - Plugs Jim DeMint and winks at South Carolina before moving to "I'm not anti-union; I'm pro-job."

MITT ROMNEY - There are benefits from unions. Carpenters unions makes sure their members are trained. I agree with Perry on right-to-work. But we need to look at govt unions.

RICK SANTORUM - Unions also do good in the community. I worked with several labor unions in Philadelphia.

Commercials!

NEWT GINGRICH - It's not an "easy answer" if it's a statement of fact. Obama has killed jobs, increased oil dependence on foreign countries.

MITT ROMNEY - I don't blame Obama for the recession; I blame him for letting it go on so long.

I'm starting to get tired here. Newt talks about federal government incompetance, Perry talks about govt needs to stop trying one-size-fits-all solutions. Santorum would use premium-support model for Medicare reform.

RON PAUL - Entitlements are not rights. (Applause.) There's only really one right, the right to liberty. We should deal with the military-industrial complex.

JON HUNTSMAN - I've done 160 public events in NH. The people want a leader who will unite, it's not about taking groups and villifying. As president I'll attack the trust deficit as much as the budget deficit.

Commercials!

RICK SANTORUM - Why is it we cannot live with a nuclear Iran when we live with a nuclear North Korea? They're a theocracy. Achmadinejad has said martyrdom is great. Pakistan is not a theocracy. We have a president who's weak.

NEWT GINGRICH - I'm consistant becuz I believe in fact-based campaigns. I haven't seen the PAC ad, but the New York Times reported the bad stuff about Bain.

MITT ROMNEY - I can't control what the PACs do, but the ad I saw said (he rattles off 4 things) and those were all true. If they're wrong about something, I hope they take them down. And some of the names you've called me I found were over the top.

NEWT GINGRICH - We've put South Carolina TV stations on notice to fact-check the ads before they air them. (Veiled threat watch.)

RICK SANTORUM - I wrote a book "It Takes a Family." We need to support families.

RON PAUL - Our Founders understood what liberty meant. We need to defend liberty.

And.... scene!

Okay, let's look at this:

MITT ROMNEY

Best Moment - Rattling off all of the true things about Gingrich in one of the ads Newt was complaining about.

Worst Moment - Doubling down on criticizing Huntsman's service as ambassador.

Overall - After getting beat up in the beginning, Mitt was able to coast the rest of the way. I don't think he hurt himself, and I think he again demonstrated his skills at debate, and if beating Obama is a priority, the guy has to know how to debate.

JON HUNTSMAN

Best Moment - "The reason this country is so divided is because of attitudes like that." The most effective punch anyone has ever landed on Mitt.

Worst Moment - If you had the word "trust" in your Jon Huntsman drinking game, you shouldn't drive right now.

Overall - Great performance, maybe his best yet. This should solidify his support in New Hampshire. Don't know if it translates to any other states.

RON PAUL

Best Moment - Criticizing our "Woodrow Wilson foreign policy."

Worst Moment - His little ramble about debt and the budget and the Fed and... it just all merges together sometimes.

Overall - If you're not a Ron Paul believer yet, it just isn't going to happen.

RICK SANTORUM

Best Moment - "I would love him just as much as the second before he said it."

Worst Moment - That record-needle-scratching sound right after the reporter mentioned Santorum endores Romney in 2008 after Santorum had just been ripping on him.

Overall - Meh. He seems more concerned about knocking Ron Paul out of the race than Mitt Romney.

RICK PERRY

Best Moment - Making light of the three departments he'd cut.

Worst Moment - Saying that Republicans controlled both parties in the 2000's.

Overall - I know there's a chance he could resurrect his campaign in South Carolina, but it feels like a waste of our time to have him on stage, and it bugs me they still won't let Buddy Roemer debate but they let Perry hang around.

NEWT GINGRICH

Best Moment - Criticizing the media, but of course.

Worst Moment - Letting his inner Angry Newt out to create a new meme - "pious baloney."

Overall - It's never good for Newt to remind the electorate how bitter and unstable he can be. There's a fine line between being tough and being a jerk.

ABC New Hampshire Debate

7:00 - "The stakes couldn't be higher." Sure they could. You could say the two that do the worst will be thrown into an alligator pit. Them's higher stakes.

7:02 - Oh dear. Diane Sawyer is using that same patronizing tone explaining the rules she used in the last debate. Was she completely shielded from all criticism last time?

7:03 - Romney says Obama taking credit for job creation is like the rooster taking credit for the sun rise.

7:04 - Santorum says we need a leader and says no one has more experience in dealing with Iraq than he does. Of our enemies, "if they cross us, they should fear us." Santorum says we need a Commander-in-Chief, not a manager. The CiC is not a CEO. [Quick trivia note: Santorum was a lawyer until he was first elected to Congress at age 32.]

7:05 - Romney wipes out Santorum by trying to marginalize him as a manager.

7:06 - George Stephanopoulos quotes some of negative things about Bain Capital to Newt Gingrich. Newt dances around the answer, promotes the New York Times' acrticle that profiled a company that still failed under Bain. Newt says "the New York Times" four times. I had no idea he was such a fan.

7:07 - Mitt says he can understand why the NYT would demonize capitalism but is surprised "some people on this stage" would do the same thing. This is a free enterprise system.

7:09 - Jon Huntsman: "Scrutinize our records. Especially look at what the governors did."

7:11 - There's Huntsman, Paul and Romney on the left side of the stage, Santorum, Gingrich and Perry on the right. If the right side of the stage all dropped out, I'd be happy. Kind of annoyed that Buddy Roemer isn't allowed to be here but Perry is, as Roemer was actually ahead of Perry in a couple NH polls.

7:12 - George asks Paul about a quote where he called Santorum corrupt. Paul says he was quoting from a survey that found Santorum to be one of the most corrupt in DC due to how much money he took from lobbyists. Ooooh. Quotes the different big-government moves Rick made in the Senate, doubling the size of the Dept. of Education, and after he left office, he became a highly-paid, high-powered lobbyist.

7:14 - Santorum: "The group that called me corrupt was CREW, and if you haven't been sued by CREW, you're not a conservative, and you should know better than to cite George Soros-backed organizations. I'm not a libertarian; I do believe in some government. You put your own earmarks in bills." Rick's fighting back against Ron's charges quite effectively.

7:16 - Paul: "I vote against big spending. You vote for big spending, you're a big-government spender, not a conservative. Someone has to point out your record."

7:17 - Santorum: You're wrong about my record.

7:18 - Perry: This is why I got in this race. I am the only one, cept maybe Huntsman, who is an outsider of the culture of DC. Calls Paul a hypocrite for putting earmarks in spending bills and then voting on the bills.

7:19 - Paul: "I call it being a Constitutionalist. You designate every penny. Congress has more responsibility. Back to Santorum, he voted to raise the debt ceiling five times. What's your excuse?"

7:20 - Santorum: "I worked on welfare reform, tried to reform Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare."

Santorum and Paul are saying the opposite things about Rick's record. What is the truth?

7:21 - Huntsman: Being CiC is more than this political insider gobblety-gook we just heard. It's about being a leader. We need leadership that can be trusted. The American people don't trust their leaders. Everybody knows Congress needs term limits.

7:22 - Diane Sawyer asks Romney to respond to Huntsman's claim he'd speak best for the US. Romney: "Well, he'd be better than Obama, let's put it that way."

The occasional compliment to your opponent goes a long way with many voters.

7:25 - Josh McElveen points out Perry and Paul have military experience, asks Perry if military experience helps with being CiC. The prez shrinking the Dept of Defense will put Americans in danger.

7:27 - Gingrich points out his dad was in the military, he feels for veterans. I have a pretty good sense of what veteran families need.

7:28 - Paul: "People who get 3,4,5 deferrments have no right to send our kids to war. At least I went when I was called up. If you add up all the contractors and soldiers, etc., we've lost 8500 Americans in these two wars. Rick keeps bringing up "libertarian" but I am talking about the Constitution. It bothers me when we keep sending kids off to war, especially when many of these leaders got out of it when it would have been their time.

7:30 - Newt: "Ron has a long history of saying things that are inaccurate and false. I never asked for a deferrment. I personally resent the slander. I was married with a child at the time."

7:31 - Paul: "When I was drafted, I had a wife and two kids, and I went." (Applause.) George then asks him about the racist newsletter. "You're asking about something 20 years ago that I didn't write, it's a distraction. Let's talk about my work in race relations." Rattles of several stats about racial inequality, especially in selective law enforcement.

Commercials!

7:38 - George asks Romney if he thinks states have the right to ban contraception. Romney says no state wants to, and if he were governor, he'd veto it. George gets testy with Mitt about his answer, which prompts the crowd to jeer George. Mitt gets a laugh when he says "Leave it alone, contraception's working just fine." Paul then plugs the 4th Amendment for privacy rights.

7:40 - Santorum agrees with Mitt that Roe v. Wade should be overturned.

Diane Sawyer then takes forever to plug a Yahoo! question, aaking what your solution is for gay couples if they're against gay marriage. Newt talks about hospital visitation rights but says it's a huge jump to change the definition of the sacrament of marriage.

7:42 - Huntsman says civil unions are fair, that he's a traditionalist with marriage, but he believes in reciprical benefits rights.

7:43 - Josh asks Santorum about gay adoption. Santorum says it's a states-rights issue, but believes marriage is a federal issue, but will not seek any federal law about adoption. "What about those 1800 couples who are already married?" Santorum wants a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage, and therefore the Constitution would say they aren't married.

7:48 - Romney's for state-level benefits to same-sex couples but still wants the definition of marriage to be between a man and a woman.

7:49 - Newt points out the media bias and says how come we're never asked about the bias and bigotry against the Catholic Church? (Applause.)

7:50 - Mitt agrees with what Newt just said.

7:51 - George asks Paul about a possible 3rd-party run. Paul says he doesn't like absolutes, but he has no plans to run as 3rd party candidate.

7:52 - Perry brings up Obama's "war on religion."

7:53 - Huntsman rattles off all of the successes of the US military, and therefore for Afghanistan, it's time to bring our troops home. Mitt waffles on the topic. Huntsman comes back strongly, says the president makes the decision.

7:55 - Newt says we're asking the wrong questions, talks about Pakistan, Libya, we're underestimating all the problems. We need a "fundamentally" new strategy but it's not primarily a military problem.

7:56 - Santorum: "We need a strong president, and Obama's made the wrong decision at every turn, on Iran, on Libya, on Syria" etc. Calls out Huntsman for wanting to leave Afghanistan. Huntsman: "How long do you want to wait?" Santorum: "As long as it takes."

7:58 - Perry: "I would send troops back to Iraq." Says our withdrawal from Iraq as kowtowing to Obama's leftist liberal base. Every soldier that lost their life did so for nothing becuz of this president. Iran's moving in literally at the speed of light.

7:59 - Mitt counters with a more intelligent take on Iraq. Paul says he doesn't want Iran to have a nuclear weapon but we vote for a president, not a king. Congress has to declare war, but we went into Afghanistan and Iraq, and they want to go to Syria and can't wait to bomb Iran. Our policy may be well-intended but it has bad consequences.

8:00 - Santorum gives some neocon argument.

Commercials!

8:08 - Romney's asked about roads and bridges, Mitt spins it to a private-sector vs. public-sector argument, praises the entrepreneurial spirit of the American people. Says Obama wants to turn us into a European-style welfare state.

8:09 - Newt says we can't compete with China if we have poor infrastructure. I would have an energy plan that frees us from Iran and Venezuela. If you don't have a systematic infrastructure program, you can't compete.

8:11 - Huntsman says governors know how to pay the bills. He'd strip all loopholes and deductions from tax codes to the tune of $1 trillion.

8:13 - Santorum says he'd keep five deductions - health care, housing, pensions, children and charities. The other side is I'd cut corporate taxes in half, but I'd shrink manufacturing taxes to zero.

8:16 - George asks Mitt "Why not go to zero?" Mitt says of course we need taxes, but the spending keeps going up, we need to shrink government, lower taxes.

Diane Sawyer's starting to remind me of Jessica Lange's character on American Horror Story.

8:19 - Paul goes on his stump rant about the Federal Reserve, ecomonic bubbles, cutting spending, "you can't keep bailing out the debt." There's no plan.

8:20 - Perry: There is a plan! Create jobs! Allow our energy resources to be used, lower regulations.

8:22 - Huntsman brings up how Utah was #1 in job growth while Massachusetts was 47th for the 2nd time tonight. I sense a slight impatience from the audience. Jon boasts again he will get rid of all loopholes and tax deductions

8:24 - George asks Romney where he agrees with Huntsman, and Mitt respectfully declines it and asks himself a question of his own and proceeds to answer it.

8:26 - Newt says he's sure Obama's sincere about his desire to change us to a radical socialist European economy. (Laughs.)

8:28 - Santorum says Republicans should shrink from a phrase Mitt Romney used: "middle class." There are no classes in America. They may be middle income people. It's Obama's job to divide, separate.

8:30 - Romney: "My plan is broader than tax policy." Goes on about America's goods, trading. "We have to do something about regulations."

8:32 - Huntsman said it's nonsense to think you can slap a tariff on China your 1st day in office, as Mitt would do.

8:33 - Mitt: "Jon, you spent the last two years implementing the policies of Obama while the rest of us were trying to get Republicans elected." Romney said he'd tell China they have to play by the rules.

8:34 - Huntsman: Rattles off some Chinese, says what Mitt is advocating might get an applause line, but it would lead to a trade war.

Commercials!

George: What would you be doing on a Saturday night if you weren't running for president?

Perry - I'd be at the shooting range.

Newt - I'd be watching the college basketball championship game.

Santorum - *football*

Newt - Football, right. Sorry.

Santorum - I'd be with my family watching the game.

Romney - Football.

Paul - I'd be reading an economic textbook.

Huntsman - I'd be calling my two boys in the US Navy.

Diane Sawyer thanks us all for watching and to the candidates.

We're done!

We go to Jake Tapper first, and he says we were waiting to see if anyone would lay a glove on Romney, and no one really did. David Muir says the Romney camp is thrilled. Donna Brazile said Democrats think Romney's the weakest of the six candidates. (You know she's lying.) Mary Mataline has clearly had plastic surgery. Okay, that's enough. So how'd they do?

6. RICK PERRY - His first real answer, he tried to tie "hypocrisy" to Ron Paul, which doesn't work. Then he tried to say he wants to put troops back in Iraq, and that Iranians can move at the speed of light. He seemed to be answering as if he was in front of South Carolina voters. "I'd be at the shootin' range."

5. NEWT GINGRICH - The only time we saw his trademark petulant anger was when it was directed at Ron Paul or the bias against the Catholic Church. He debated like a man who knew he'd done horrible damage to his campaign with his nasty concession speech in Iowa. His pandering answer at the end was a flame-out.

4. JON HUNTSMAN - He needed to bring it and he was just okay. He did seem like the most willing to go against Romney, but nothing really stuck. His tax plan didn't seem that great to boast about when compared to Santorum's.

3. RON PAUL - Strong at times, doddering at other times. Those who love his foreign policy tend to hate his domestic policy. Those who love his domestic policy tend to hate his foreign policy. Then there are the libertarians who love both. Paul poked gaping holes in Santorum's claims, and he drew the ire of Santorum and Gingrich.

2. RICK SANTORUM - I hate to say it, but he did pretty well in his new position as the NotRomney. He was able to give longer answers to questions, got more questions, and his supporters are the kind that appreciate his digs against Ron Paul. His nitpicking over "middle class" versus "middle income" was just stupid, but his neocon arguments and his social conservative stances probably help him greatly in South Carolina.

1. MITT ROMNEY - Thanks for coming to the debate, guys. It's been great getting to know you all, and you're all fine individuals. Each of you has some good in you, has issues that I'd agree with. Oh, you're going to attack me directly? Let me slap you down with a smile. This nomination's mine, and there's nothing you can do about it. And none of you will be my vice-presidential pick, but it's cute to see you try.