The clear winner on stage last night was Willard Romney. It was obvious that he came to the debate with one goal in mind, and that was to get Newt Gingrich.
Mission Accomplished.
Newt on the other hand, wasn’t Newt. He was either mentally missing in action or wasn’t prepared for the unusual aggression he faced from the Mormon, Mitt Romney. Yes, Gingrich tried his customary one line attacks against the media and his other opponents, but when they fired back, Newt hung his head in defeat. In a race where most polls say could be won by either Newt or Romney, history will call this debate the turning point at which Gingrich, The Historian, lost Florida and ultimately, the nomination… although we all know the GOP elites were never going to nominate Gingrich in the first place.
The post game wrap-up by the talking heads at CNN suggested that Rick Santorum had “a great night.” I’ll call his performance consistent, not great. Santorum has stuck to the same message since the beginning of this process. One thing you cannot accuse him of, is doing a Romney… that is, flip-flopping.
And Ron Paul was, well… Ron Paul. I’m not sure if anyone in the audience understood anything Paul said, but he has some of the most dedicated followers and as far as I can tell and his followers are the only reason Paul is still in the race. That, and the fact that he keeps the crowd entertained.
Yes, onstage Romney won. Offstage however, President Obama won another GOP debate.
