Category: Debates

CNN JACKSONVILLE FLORIDA DEBATE

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla.
CONCLUSION 1 a.m. ET: Excuse my long absence. Had to go to the spin room for the post-debate action, then write a column for The American Spectator. I was hesitant to say this earlier but, did Rick Santorum kick butt or what?

Because I wanted to believe he did well, I felt that maybe I was prejudiced. But then I saw Guy Benson’s post at Townhall:

What a night for the former Pennsylvania Senator … he definitely made a very serious case that he might be the best Not Romney in the race.

No argument. Newt was off his game tonight, and I’d score Romney the winner — that is to say, I think Mitt did what he needed to do to win here Tuesday. But I suspect a lot of people watched that debate and said to themselves, “Hey, that Santorum kid’s pretty feisty.”

9:30 p.m. ET: Newt talks about the “Romney attack machine,” defends his claim to being a latter-day Reagan.

9:25 p.m. ET: Admit it: Rick Santorum won the Best Wife competition.

9:16 p.m. ET: Rick Santorum wants Marco Rubio in his cabinet. Newt wants Rubio as VP. Romney recites the names of lots of Latinos who haven’t self-deported.

9:12 p.m. ET: Mitt Romney: “We’re insisting on personal responsibility.” This is good for Santorum to be able to go back-and-forth with Romney, thus ending the Mitt-and-Newt Show. Also, he name-checked Scott Plakon.

9:07 p.m. ET: Rick Santorum slams Newt and Mitt for their records on health care.

9:03 p.m. ET: Lynn Frazier is unemployed and wants health insurance. Ron Paul blames government for inflating medical costs.

8:59 p.m. ET: Newt accuses Santorum of being “cheap.”

8:58 p.m. ET: Mitt says, “You’re fired.” Accuses Newt of pandering. “We’ve got to say no to this kind of spending.”

8:57 p.m. ET: Newt warns of Chinese dominance of space.

8:55 p.m. ET: Ron Paul wants to send Newt to the moon.

8:50 p.m. ET: Question about NASA and manned space flight, because all politics is local. And galactic.

8:49 p.m. ET: Wolf Blitzer asks Ron Paul, age 76, if he’s willing to release his medical records. Paul makes a joke about age discrimination.

8:48 p.m. ET: Ron Paul talks about currency. Sound money.

8:46 p.m. ET: Santorum on 28% top tax rate: “If it’s good enough for Reagan, it’s good enough for me.” Get’s a laugh with, “I wish I made as much money as Mitt Romney.”

8:45 p.m. ET: Newt says he’s “the opposite of Obama.”

8:43 p.m. ET: More talk about personal finances. Newt gets caught trying to say he didn’t say what he said. Newt’s in a hole, but won’t stop digging.

8:36 p.m. ET: Ron and Rick get to have their say about Fannie and Freddie. Santorum draws cheers for demanding that they “focus on the issues.”

8:34 p.m. ET: Newt defends himself ably against the lobbying charge. But what was he paid $1.6 million for?

8:33 p.m. ET: Mitt stings Newt on mutual funds, draws cheers.

8:31 p.m. ET: Newt says Romney “has been attacking me inaccurately, and he knows it.” It’s getting nasty again.

8:30 p.m. ET: Mitt Romney gets a question about Fannie and Freddie, and starts talking about Newt Gingrich.

8:28 p.m. ET: Now it’s the Ron and Rick Show. These guys really don’t like each other.

8:25 p.m. ET: Rick Santorum talks about Honduras, accuses Obama of supporting Marxists in Latin America.

8:24 p.m. ET: A lady named Vasquez has a question about trade with Latin America. Ron Paul loves him some free trade.

8:22 p.m. ET: It’s turning into the Mitt-Newt Show again.

8:21 p.m. ET: Newt wants everybody to learn English.

8:20 p.m. ET: Mitt: “Our problem is not 11 million grandmothers.”

8:19 p.m. ET: Romney: “I am pro-immigrant. . . . I want them to come here legally.”

8:18 p.m. ET: Romney accuses Newt of “over-the-top rhetoric,” invokes Marco Rubio twice, gets a big cheer from the audience.

8:17 p.m. ET: Newt Gingrich won’t answer a direct question about his accusation that Romney is “anti-immigrant.”

8:16 p.m. ET: Ron Paul panders to the Vaguely Incoherent.

8:14 p.m. ET: Mitt defends self-deportation. Did you know his father was from Mexico? It’s true. Look it up. Anyway, Romney’s answer is long and complicated.

8:12 p.m. ET: Newt is in favor of a “guest worker” program.

8:11 p.m. ET: On immigration, Rick Santorum wants to enforce the law. This is radical extremism!

8:09 p.m. ET: Candidates say a few words. Rick Santorum introduces his 93-year-old mom, who’s a senior citizen, kinda like Ron Paul.

8:04 p.m. ET: The candidates have been introduced.

8:02 p.m. ET: That was some good pre-debate hype, huh?

8 p.m. ET: And we’re LIVE!

* * * PREVIOUSLY (7:29 p.m. ET) * * *

We’re on the scene here at the University of North Florida where, at 8 p.m. ET, the four remaining Republican presidential candidates will debate on CNN. A few quick headlines for discussion:

Angry Newt Gingrich Attacks
Mitt Romney in Florida
— ABC News

Romney paints Gingrich
as mentally unstable
— Washington Post

4 Sentences: Why Tonight’s Debate Matters
— National Journal

Santorum guarantees he’s
a candidate ‘for a long time’
— CNN

I’ll be live-blogging tonight and I’ll back with more in a bit.

UPDATE: When I walked up tonight, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz was being interviewed outside the filing center:

And here’s video of the media walk-through at the debate hall today:

Fear and Loathing: Oceanfront View

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TV satellite trucks outside the press filing center,
University of North Florida, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.
Carl Cameron was standing near the satellite trucks parked next to the press filing center when I got back from the media walk-through at Lazzara Performance Hall on the University of North Florida campus, site of tonight’s CNN debate (8 p.m. ET).

“Beats the hell out of Iowa, eh?” I said. The afternoon was warm and sunny. UNF coeds were bouncing past in tank tops and shorts.

“Yeah, lots better than Iowa,” Cameron said. “When are you guys going to attack Newt?”

“Attack Newt? What do you mean?”

“National Review went after him today,” Cameron said.

“I drove here straight from the airport,” I said. “Havent seen anything yet. What happened? What did they hit him on?”

So then he starts telling me about Elliot Abrams going after Gingrich as a disgrace to the Reagan legacy, Bob Dole going after Newt, et cetera, et cetera.  Cameron was standing there with George Bennett of the Palm Beach Post, and we talked a while about this and that, the amazing meltdown of Rick Perry and so forth, and then I excused myself.

Got in the silver Chevy Impala I’d rented at the airport — unlimited mileage — and drove down to Butler Boulevard  and over to the beach, turned left up A1A , cut over to 1st Street and found a Comfort Inn.

The clerk at the desk was extremely helpful and gave me a free upgrade to an oceanfront room. I asked her if there was a Goodwill store nearby, so I could buy a cheap sports coat, since the only coat I brought with me is my big winter overcoat. She gave me directions. I’m on the second floor, with a palm tree right outside my balcony. It’s nice.

I’ve got to cover the debate tonight, then tomorrow I’ve got to do a 1,400-word article for the March print edition of The American Spectator, so this might be headquarters for the National Affairs Desk until Saturday, when there’s a candidate forum near Orlando. A couple more photos:

Inside the debate hall at the Lazzara Performance Hall.

On the balcony of the National Affairs Desk headquarters. Now I’ve got to go get that sports coat at Goodwill, take a shower and get dressed in time for the debate.

TAMPA, FLORIDA NBC DEBATE

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by Smitty

Thoughts:

  • These debates are great. The GOP is going to the gym, and going to be very muscular, assuming it doesn’t have a heart attack and die from it all. The Dems for all their bluster, have got to understand that they are losing the mindshare.
  • The various pleadings to Florida were interesting. I won’t even embarrass myself by hazarding a guess as to the winner, except to say that it probably won’t be Ron Paul.
  • Rick Santorum continues to improve. Whether that improvement will have enough impact to keep his campaign afloat is the harder question.
  • I didn’t find Romney’s lobbying attack on Newt terribly compelling. In fact, it raised more concerns about Romney’s ability to trade verbal barbs with Obama than it raised doubts about Newt. Newt may not have lobbied, by some technical definition, but anyone who doubts that Newt schmoozed to the fullest capacity of English- and body-language is a knob. “Methinks the laddie doth protest too much,” to tweak Lady MacBeth. The question for everyone to consider is whether BHO would make more adroit use of the lobbying card against Newt in the general. I am confident BHO would be more rutheless than Mitt. Mitt should see Dan Riehl for lessons in verbal deconstruction of an opponent.
  • I must now get some beauty sleep.

22:41 EST Mitt: If elected, I will institute the Seven Habits of Highly Effective Countries Not Named Greece.
22:40 EST Williams: Has America seen better days?
22:39 EST Newt: Yeah, we’re toast. I don’t want people for me, I want people with me.
22:38 EST Mitt: I have an inflatable record that is sufficiently buoyant to float the albatross and the galoshes.
22:37 EST Williams: RomneyCare; albatross, or cement galoshes for you?
22:36 EST Paul: Yeah, if want liberty and small government, you need to gaff these RINOs on the stage with me right off.
22:36 EST Williams: Paul, can you wreck the other three gentlemen for me?
22:34 EST Rick: RomneyCare and Newt’s individual mandate support. I am the clear conservative. OK, I can’t out-conservative Ron Paul.
22:33 EST Newt: I have been a really big, nearly Christie-sized, historical figure for the last 40 years. Master debater? Yeah, that’s me.
22:32 EST Mitt: I did what capitalists do.
22:31 EST Williams: They say Republicans are zombies. Does that mean the GOP has no soul? How do you nurture a soul in an undead organization?

So far:
Rick Santorum is having his strongest outing yet.
Mitt and Newt have had a jolly plowing contest; unclear whose ox was more gored.
Ron Paul’s Cuba ideas neglect a lot of the rogue state interactions that plague global stability.

22:25 EST Newt: Well, they helped us not crater so bad. But Dodd-Frank is killing us.
22:25 EST NBC: If tax cuts are the magic jobs pixie dust, why didn’t the Bush tax cuts work?
22:24 EST Newt: We should offer prizes. Permanent Moon bases, Mars, space stations. Do it.
22:23 EST NBC: Will you commit to putting a man on Mars?
22:22 EST Mitt: Why, yes: NASA, and also private sector. I will bring $ to the space coast, if you bring me votes.
22:22 EST NBC: Should we have a space program?
22:21 EST Paul: This underscored the issue of having living wills.
22:21 EST NBC: We’re not doing well painting Rick and Newt as fools. Can we lure you in with Schiavo?
22:21 EST Newt: Look at the efforts spent on death row inmates.
22:20 EST NBC: Can we throw you under the Schiavo bus?
22:19 EST Rick: I stand by my actions and would do it all again.
22:18 EST NBC: Hey, can we throw Terry Schiavo at you?
22:12 EST Mitt: I hate subsidies, and I hate what BHO has done to the economy.
22:11 EST Newt: Even Herman Cain can’t beat beet and cane sugar, and don’t attack my Chris Christie figure.
21:10 EST Adam Smith: The wealth of nations is diminished by subsidies. Newt, are you sub-sized?
22:09 EST Rick: We should quit rewarding illegal aliens for breaking the immigration laws.
22:07 EST Newt: They can serve in the military, but I don’t support the Dream Act otherwise.
22:07 EST NBC: Do you like Dream Theater?
22:06 EST Paul: That 10th Amendment should let a state have a bi-lingual ballot if Florida chooses.
22:05 EST Mitt: You FRICKIN’ Commie! We Do Not Support You Fragmenting This Country! [No, he doesn’t say anything that forceful: I’m kidding.]
22:04 EST Newt: English is a unifier. There are hundreds of languages.
22:04 EST NBC: You all want English as the official language, yet you’re courting Hispanics in Spanish. Hypocrisy?
22:03 EST Rick: Oil and energy will give you an economy. You might like it.
22:01 EST NBC: If we have offshore drilling, there will be a spill and Florida will die, die, die.
22:00 EST Rick: Iran is a pack of thugs. Tehran having a nuke would be tantamount to al-Qaeda having a bomb.
21:59 EST Williams: Iranian nukes. Why the h8?

break
Dear Representative Paul,
The United States is not blockading Iran. The United Nations (generally useless though it be) has issued sanctions against Iran. You can argue that the U.S. calls the U.N. tune to a large degree, but at least argue the case accurately.
Also, the Golden Rule is an inter-personal statement, not a political science statement. Peace through both superior firepower and the merest hint of a twitchy trigger finger is the empirically proven approach.
Thanks,
Smitty

21:53 EST Paul: We’re already blockading Iran. How would we respond to a blockade of the Gulf of Mexico?
21:52 EST Mitt: BHO is screwing up in Afghanistan.
21:51 EST Newt: President Milquetoast cancelled the Israeli bilateral operation. Apparently too busy at the YMCA to make the right decision.
21:50 EST Mitt: I will muster the Village People to sing “In the Navy” until Ahmadinejad sues for peace and quiet.
21:49 EST Williams: Straights of Hormuz. Is the term ‘Straight’ vaguely homophobic? If the Iranians force straights into the closet, is that an act of war?
21:47 EST Rick: The sanctions should continue until the Castros are both room temperature, and then we should make the Cubans an offer they can’t refuse to enjoy normal relations with us. And, Paul, the global thug club is working with Cuba against us.
21:46 EST Paul: I don’t like isolationism. I think the sanctions propped up Castro. And no, I don’t think we need to overthrow the Cuban government.
21:45 EST Newt: I would forget the Arab Spring and bring the sting of a Cuban Spring.
21:45 EST Mitt: I don’t smoke.
21:44 EST Williams: 3 A.M. call. Castro done. Can you smoke a couple hundred cubans for sheer joy?
21:43 EST Mitt: They were poorly regulated.
21:42 EST Williams: Were markets over-regulated?
21:42 EST Newt: Repeal Dodd-Frank, and the housing market will get better overnight.
21:41 EST Mitt: What Paul said.
21:39 EST Paul: Washington has really screwed it up. The Community Reinvestment Act screwed it up. The bubble was as obvious as corruption on Congress. Liquidate the debt. Plus another 1,000 words.
21:37 EST Santorum: Yeah, we tried to work on it back on ’06, but Reid, Biden, and Obama filibustered the legislation.
21:36 EST Williams: 40% of FL homeowners are underwater. Did the government tube it?

break
Dear Governor Romney:
You have got to publish some specific details of precisely where you think Newt lobbied/peddled influence/behaved unethically. Such a case may exist, but the handwaving isn’t convincing.
In fact, it makes you look like Marianne Gingrich.
This is not meant to sound like a Newt apologist. The concern about the October surprise is real.
Also real: specific facts.
Cheers,
Smitty

21:32 EST Mitt: You got paid, and you walked around peddling influence.
21:32 EST Newt: I advocated good policy as a private citizen.
21:30 EST Mitt: Did so.
21:30 EST Newt: Did not.
21:30 EST Mitt: You lobbied.
21:29 EST Newt: Oh come on. You’ve run a business. You know where the loot goes to offices &c.
21:28 EST Mitt: You’ve admitted that your wallet was penetrated, however slightly, by far more money than anyone would pay an historian.
21:27 EST Newt: I’ve got the contract online, and there is no evidence of peddling influence?
21:26 EST Williams: Newt, why is your Freddie lobbying not lobbying?
21:24 EST Rick: I have not attacked Mitt on the Bain damage. I’d like to ask Mitt and Newt why they supported the Wall Street bailouts, if you’re such heap big capitalists. GOOD POINT!!!
21:23 EST Mitt: I expect that on from the front, from the Left, not in the back from the Right.
21:22 EST Williams: I must stoke the fires of class warfare.
21:21 EST Newt: I can bury you on tax details.
21:19 EST Mitt: You think I’d admit to owning this kind of syphilitic camel? But the real issue is, of course, my tax plan. “I’m proud of the fact I pay a lot of taxes.” Patriotically, one presumes.
21:18 EST Williams: Mitt, will you admit that the taxes you’re to reveal tomorrow reflect ownership of the entire GOP?
21:17 EST Paul: Why do you want to take away my favorite knife?
21:16 EST Williams: Ron Paul, will you admit to intending a third party run?
21:14 EST Rick: “Once in a while we can finish in style,” sticking to conservative principles.
21:14 EST Williams: You got crushed when you ran for the Senate last time.
21:13 EST Rick: Why, yes: yes, I am. I’m here to be a consistent conservative, not wreck Republicans, and put the heat back on the opposition, #OccupyResoluteDesk.
21:12 EST Williams: Senator Santorum, are you still in the race?
21:11 EST Newt: How about some facts, Mitt?
21:08 EST Mitt: Yeah, Newt is that Doomsday Machine, all right. And so the GOP had to kick Newt out. That makes him a bad man.
21:07 EST Newt: I am, in fact, a Star Trek alien, not from Star Wars. And we’ll refute Mitt on the web tomorrow.
21:06 EST Mitt: I am Zog’s Sex Wax, and Newt is really Jabba the Hut.
21:05 EST Williams: Mitt, do you think Americans will elect a wax figure like you?
21:04 EST Newt: I know balanced budgets are controversial, but I kicked a lot of butt.
21:04 EST Williams: Have you had a road to Damascus moment, so people can have a shred of confidence in you?
21:03 EST Newt: Yeah, Reagan was down, too. But I’m here to put the hurt on DC. Big hurt.
21:02 EST Williams: Newt, Mitt says you are Jabba the Hut. Feedback?

The NBC Tampa debate starts off in half an hour. The house is swept; the World’s Youngest Blogger Bathed, and I am ready for some WWF-level GOP action. Probably erroneous predictions:

Newt Gingrich Stuns the crowd by not being overly self-congratulatory over South Carolina.
Mitt Romney Stuns the crowd by producing a hard copy of the famous tax returns for Brian Williams, who pronounces them boring.
Rick Santorum Stuns the crowd by confessing he was on the road with the Grateful Dead one summer during college.
Ron Paul Stuns the crowd by speaking slowly, in brief, coherent statements.

Deadline Hell in South Carolina

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South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley spins for Mitt Romney
after the CNN debate, Jan. 19, 2012

CHARLESTON, S.C.
Last night was one of those deadline nightmares that occasionally occurs when I’m exhausted, trying to make sense of a complex situation with a brain numbed by fatigue. I only got about four hours sleep after my 479-mile round-trip journey upstate Wednesday, and news was breaking fast Thursday, when I spent the afternoon down at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, which is strung out at multiple sites over a four-block space in downtown Charleston.

By the time I left the North Charleston Convention Center last night about 11, I’d written the first 200 words of my column, then returned to the Marriott on Meeting Street, media headquarters for the SRLC, intending to finish up quickly. But Bryan Preston of PJ Media was here and we got to talking and by the time I filed the column it was 2 a.m. By the time I got back to the hotel where I’m staying with Ali Akbar of NotMittRomney.com, it was almost 3.

So I slept until nearly 10 a.m. today and then chewed up a bunch of time trying to upload video, which was thwarted by an uncooperative hotel WiFi system and by the time I finally gave up on that, it was time for us to come back downtown for Ali to moderate a panel discussion about vote fraud. Then we went to eat at a barbecue place on King Street — my 13-year-old son pronounced it the best food he’d ever eaten in his life — and I got back to the Marriott about 4 p.m.

All of this, you see, to explain the paucity of blogging this Friday, which is the one day of the week when I don’t have a deadline for the Spectator.

Last night after the debate, I was nearly crushed in a media scrum surrounding Rick Santorum, the only one of the candidates who appeared in the “spin room” at the convention center:


Reporters were wedged into such a tight circle around the candidate — TV camera crews and photographers were packing in three-deep — that it probably would have been illegal in South Carolina before the Supreme Court ruled state sodomy laws unconstitutional. But I got the quote I needed for the lead of my American Spectator column:

The race for the Republican presidential nomination has finally come down the Final Four, and the swift reduction of the field helped make Thursday night’s debate here arguably the most entertaining of the 17 televised debates during this long campaign.
Yet the debate was in some sense anti-climactic, coming as it did on the heels of so much drama elsewhere on the South Carolina campaign trail. “The last 24 hours, I think, will go down in primary history as probably one of the most tumultuous 24 hours that we’ve seen,” former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum said after the debate at the North Charleston Convention Center, televised on CNN.
Thursday’s biggest developments in the campaign preceded the debate by several hours. First, ABC News began releasing excerpts of its interview with Newt Gingrich’s ex-wife, who claimed that the former House Speaker had asked her to have an “open marriage.” Next, officials in Iowa reported that the final count from the Jan. 3 caucus showed that Santorum had beaten former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney there. Then, Texas Gov. Rick Perry called a press conference to announce that he was suspending his campaign and endorsing Gingrich.
Perry was the second candidate to drop out of the race this week, following Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman’s withdrawal Monday. This winnowing of the Republican field in South Carolina, strangely delayed after the usual proving grounds of Iowa and New Hampshire, produced a quartet of candidates — Romney, Gingrich, Santorum, and Texas Rep. Ron Paul — who mixed it up in a feisty battle that began with a volatile exchange between Gingrich and CNN moderator John King. . . .

Please read the whole thing.

UPDATE: And now the headlines via Memeorandum:

Fake CNN email used as dirty trick in South Carolina
— CNN

Clemson Palmetto Poll finds Gingrich leading,
20% of S.C. voters still uncommitted
— Clemson University

Romney’s ‘Prevent Defense’
Yielding Big Gains to Opponents
— New York Times

It looks like Newt will win here and — even though I’m for Santorum — that’s good news. Somebody had to beat Romney here to stop his momentum. Santorum beat Romney in Iowa and if Gingrich beats Romney in South Carolina, then all three candidates will be 1-for-3, and the campaign continues.

Some Things Never Change

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NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C.
During tonight’s debate, Mitt Romney started talking about his father, George Romney, the former governor of Michigan who ran unsuccessfully for president in 1968 and subsequently served in Nixon’s cabinet. When I heard that, I reached into my computer bag and retrieved a book I carry with me everywhere on the campaign trail.

“I went to Nixon’s inauguration [in January 1969]. Washington was a sea of mud and freezing rain. As the Inaugural Parade neared the corner of 16th and Pennsylvania Avenue, some freak threw a half-gallon wine jug at the convertible carrying the commandant of the Marine Corps . . . and as one-time Presidential candidate George Romney passed by in his new role as Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, the mob on the sidewalk began chanting, ‘Romney eats shit! Romney eats shit!’”
— Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72

Is Fox News the Problem?

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MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.
After the debate last night, I talked to several people about the situation that we find ourselves in: Four days away from the crucial South Carolina primary and still we have three “not Romney” candidates — Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Rick Perry — dividing up the conservative vote. Another 10 to 15 percent of the GOP primary vote here will probably go to Ron Paul, and thus it is altogether possible that Mitt Romney could win with less than 30 percent of the vote.

And so I ask: Is Fox News the problem?

This thought came to me this morning as I watched “Fox & Friends” and saw how, in the apparent interest of being “fair and balanced,” they distributed their attention between the various candidates. Knowing what an enormous influence the network has among conservative voters, is it possible that coverage by Fox News has played a major role in the way this campaign has developed?

Consider, for example, the case of Rick Perry. Traditionally, it has been said that there are “three tickets out of Iowa” — i.e., the top three finishers in the Iowa caucuses go on to contend for the nomination — and yet Perry, who placed a weak fifth in Iowa and didn’t even campaign in New Hampshire, is still running here in South Carolina despite the fact that polls show him likely to get less than 10 percent of the vote.

Would such a doomed and hopeless candidacy — the zombie shuffle of the undead Republican — be possible if it weren’t for the fact that the Perry campaign can count on Fox News covering them as if they were still a legitimate contender? And isn’t the availability of Fox News airtime a valuable resource that has been exploited by the GOP candidates, enabling them to keep campaigning even when the money starts drying up? And how has Fox News coverage more generally shaped public perception of the campaign? Have the prejudices of Fox News producers, reporters, analysts and anchors exercised a perceptible influence, a thumb on the scale as it were?

These are large and complex questions that I don’t have time to explore adequately this morning, because I’m supposed to be checking out of this motel and driving to Charleston today. But I wanted to throw it out there — discuss among yourselves — preparatory to linking my latest column for The American Spectator:

Mitt Romney came under the most intense fire he’s faced in a televised debate Monday night, hammered from the outset by his four remaining rivals for the Republican presidential nomination. And, according to one of his top advisers, Romney won.
“Governor Romney demonstrated tonight why he’s leading in South Carolina [and] why he’s leading nationally,” Eric Fehrnstrom said in the “spin room” where reporters gathered to get the post-debate perspective of candidates and their surrogates. “You heard him give strong answers about his business record, about Afghanistan and foreign policy, about his entitlement plan. And I think what these debates have turned into is a ‘get Mitt’ show, and anytime something like that happens and Mitt Romney comes out of it unscathed, then I think you can fairly conclude that he’s the winner.”
Whether Romney was “unscathed” in the debate here was, of course, disputed by the other campaigns. Rick Santorum’s campaign manager, Mike Biundo said his candidate “did really well.… He had a very pointed exchange with Governor Romney, showed that he certainly has debate skills and understands and has a command of the issues, and I think you’re going to need that in the fall.” . . .

Please read the whole thing.

UPDATE: Via Memeorandum, the headlines:

Attacks fly in Republican debate
— The Hill

Forceful Attack Against
Romney in G.O.P. Debate
— New York Times

Santorum Rattles Mitt Romney
— Buzz Feed

SOUTH CAROLINA GOP DEBATE

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MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.
UPDATE: 11:57 p.m. ET: The debate’s been over for an hour, and all the dudes who were just Twittering have left. Bandwidth is now excellent, but I’m on deadline for The American Spectator.

UPDATE: 10:42 p.m. ET: Rick Santorum says he voted 100% with the NRA: “lifetime A-plus rating.” Takes a shot at Ron Paul for voting against a bill to protect gun manufacturers.

UPDATE: 10:39 p.m. ET: Mitt Romney says he’s in favor of gun ownership, but does not threaten to shoot the Wi-Fi provider in the filing center, who is a varmint.

UPDATE: 10:33 p.m. ET: Wonderful discussion just now about Social Security reform. Bandwith issues on the WiFi again. I’m convinced Bain Capital should take over this WiFi system. IYKWIMAITYD.

UPDATE: 10:27 p.m. ET: Newt Gingrich pronounces Chile correctly: Chee-lay. Because he’s not “relatively stupid.”

UPDATE: 10:25 p.m. ET: Mitt Romney has a plan for everything — except fixing this f–king WiFi system, which is ruining my night.

UPDATE: 10:15 p.m. ET: Perry just suggested a “gong” would be appropriate for Ron Paul. Also, he name-checks Daniel Pearl.

UPDATE: 10:13 p.m. ET: Rick Perry talks Turkey. He wants to “go to zero” with their foreign aid.

UPDATE: 10:11 p.m. ET: Rick Santorum says, “President Obama has dealt with it about as badly as possible.” The question was about foreign policy and Syria, but the same answer could apply to anything Obama has done.

UPDATE: 10:08 p.m. ET: The past five minutes of debate were deleted by this hopelessly screwed-up WiFi system, which is controlled by warmongers on behalf of international bankers who don’t want you to know how awesome Ron Paul’s answers were.

UPDATE: 9:55 p.m. ET: Two guys in front of me, who are in here on media passes, aren’t writing a damned thing. They’re on Tweetdeck, however, chewing up bandwidth that I’d like to use to liveblog. Because they’re racist or something.

Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich is getting cheered for talking back to Juan Williams. Newt is pretty damned awesome in debates. Commercial break.

UPDATE: 9:52 p.m. ET: Excuse the long delay in liveblogging. The WiFi system here is discriminating against me. Because of Newt Gingrich, I think.

UPDATE: 9:41 p.m. ET: Ron Paul tries to distinguish between “military spending” and “defense spending,” and then wants to talk about “international banking,” but Gerald Seib of the Wall Street Journal won’t let him. IYKWIMAITYD.

UPDATE: 9:38 p.m. ET: Mitt Romney just talked for about what seemed like 15 minutes. Maybe it just seemed that way because it’s Romney.

UPDATE: 9:36 p.m. ET: Rick Santorum is asked about unemployment benefits, and gives a good answer. Newt Gingrich gets a similar question and gives an awesome answer.

UPDATE: 9:32 p.m. ET: Rick Perry is asked about voting rights, and comes down somewhere to the right of John C. Calhoun. I’m pretty sure I heard a few rebel yells amid the applause from the audience.

UPDATE: 9:30 p.m. ET: After the commercial break, Mitt Romney is asked about Jon Huntsman’s “perfectly lubricated weathervane” comment. Mitt answers that he is not perfectly lubricated, but in fact sometimes squeaks when the wind blows.

UPDATE: 9:22 p.m. ET: Rick Perry jumps in and says, more or less, “States Rights!” That’s always an applause line in South Carolina.

UPDATE: 9:21 p.m. ET: Rick Santorum is tearing Mitt Romney a new one over Romney’s “super PAC” ads claiming Santorum supports felon voting rights.

UPDATE: 9:16 p.m. ET: Ron Paul is asked about why all the 9/11 Truthers love him — wait, no. He was asked about his attacks on Rick Santorum and said the regular stuff Ron Paul always says. Santorum responds: I’m from Pennsylvania.

UPDATE: 9:14 p.m. ET: Mitt was asked about something. Blahblahblah job creation blahblahblah put Americans back to work blahblahblah.

UPDATE: 9:12 p.m. ET: Rick Perry was asked about his “vulture capitalism” attack on Romney. He wants to get rid of Dodd-Frank. Mitt gets to respond, and sounds suspiciously vulture-like.

UPDATE: 9:10 p.m. ET: The first question — with two follow-ups — went to Newt Gingrich, who was somewhat weaselly in his answers to questions about his attacks on Mitt Romney. Then Mitt got a chance to respond and sounded very Mitt-ish.

UPDATE: 9:08 p.m. ET: Sorry for the slow start on the liveblogging. More than 200 reporters in this media filing center, and the WiFi connection is strained to the max.

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We’re here at the Sheraton Convention Center on Oak Street, ready to bring you the liveblogging at 9 p.m.

South Carolina Pre-Debate Thread UPDATE: New Rick Santorum TV Ad in S.C. Hits Romney as ‘Just Like Obama’

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MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.
We’re currently an hour and a half before the start of the South Carolina Republican presidential debate (9 p.m. ET, Fox News) and I’m set up here in the cavernous Media Filing Center at the Sheraton Convention Center. Thought I’d use this post to dump in a bunch of photos, videos, etc., beginning with this special video featuring my loyal assistant, 13-year-old son Jefferson:

Do what he says: It’s for the children!




UPDATE: The Rick Santorum campaign has just released this new TV ad in South Carolina:

The ad script:

Obama supported the Wall Street bailouts… So did Romney.
Obama gave us radical Obamacare… that was based on Romneycare. Obama’s a liberal on social issues.
Romney once bragged he’s even more liberal than Ted Kennedy on social issues.
Why would we ever vote for someone who is just like Obama? When we can unite around Rick Santorum. And beat Obama.

Mark Halperin of Time magazine: “Amazing to think about what would have happened if this ad had been run in Iowa for all of December with real money behind it.”

Yeah, but imagine the impact it will have during five days in South Carolina. Surge, baby!

UPDATE II: Just interviewed Santorum communication director Hogan Gidley about the new ad. “Rick said today, it’s time to draw a line in the sand,” Gidley said, acknowledging that Santorum didn’t attack Romney until after the pro-Romney “super PAC” started airing ads here which Santorum said included “lies” about his record in Congress. “Mitt tried to do this to Huckabee in 2008,” said Gidley, who was executive director of the South Carolina state GOP at the time. “We’re not going to put up with it.”

UPDATE III: A couple of photos from today:

Ron Paul is not a Truther. Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink.

Rick Perry has exactly three supporters in South Carolina.

UPDATE IV: Via Allahpundit, now it’s Newt Gingrich making the “nobody but me” argument that was for many months the special property of Rick Perry’s supporters:

“If you vote for Sen. Santorum, in effect, you’re functionally voting for Gov. Romney to be the nominee.”

Yeah: Vote for the twice-divorced Freddie Mac lobbyist supported “green energy” with Nancy Pelosi and who is, by the way, the most divisive public figure in the history of divisive public figures. Because only he can beat Romney. That makes sense, right?

LIVEBLOGGING HERE!