08 January 2012

New Hampshire Saturday Night Debate

I hope that everyone had a good holiday season... now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

It's been a busy few weeks - Iowa has come and gone, and New Hampshire and South Carolina are around the corner.

Tonight's debate was interesting. I was surprised how well Rick Santorum held his own on his first time out as a frontrunner.

Jon Huntsman needed to come out strong tonight and he wasn't able to. He did try unsuccessfully to sell us his platform and credentials - even speaking in Chinese - but didn't take any opportunities to take it to Romney or Santorum. Huntsman skipped Iowa to focus on New Hampshire. His showing seems to be decent there, but if he doesn't come in 2nd to Romney I think that it'll be time for him to bow out.

Rick Perry overall did okay tonight. What may have lost him the nomination was his willingness to return immediately to Iraq. I'm sure his campaign manager cringed. At this point, Perry's focus is on South Carolina. If he doesn't do well there - he's done.

Newt Gingrich also did a good job tonight. I'm concerned about what I'm hearing about him focusing more on destroying Romney than on getting the nomination. I didn't see that tonight, but it is a possibility. I hope that it's not true.

Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney both did great jobs tonight. I liked hearing more from Santorum. I feel like he has a good handle on all the issues that were thrown at him. He's still young though, I wish he'd have more executive experience whether in government or in private business, but he is articulate and I like his ideas.

Romney was also very good tonight. I liked when he threw the contraception question back at the moderator calling it "silly". It was what some would call the "real" Romney versus the scripted one, and it was good to see.

A good debate tonight. It'll be fun to see how the race shapes up over the next month.

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