Romney and McCain bickered about matters of minutiae, mainly because both would like to be painted as the consummate Conservative and neither really are. Huckabee was ignored and Paul ignored even more. CNN wins by inviting Huckabee and Paul and then win again again by ignoring them. For the first time Huckabee stood up for himself and requested to be included in the debate. However little his time allotted, Huckabee had one of his stronger performances in recent times. His answers were, clear, inspiring, honest, and issue-oriented. He wasted little time attacking his opposition while McCain and Romney devoted most of their time to attacking one another. I became so bored with John McCain. He is a lousy speaker. I became annoyed with the smugness of Mitt Romney. And, as always, I was amused with the lunacy of Ron Paul. McCain and Romney both looked as though they were fighting off the silent shakes (laughter) as Paul spoke.
CNN analyst Bill Schneider describe it this way:
Huckabee, I think, stood out in this debate as the one who made sense, talked as ordinary people do, and rose above politics. They may have scored. He connected. And that’s a problem for Romney, who would like to become the alternative to John McCain among conservatives who oppose the Arizona senator. But he has very tough competition from Huckabee, who’s forcing people to re-think his run at a time when he was supposed to be out of the game.
I am glad someone in the mainstream media finally noticed who among the field is truly Presidential.
Please Mike drop out of the race. I supported you from the beginning, I share your values. At this point I’m sad to say you have no chance to win. Please don’t hand this to McCain by staying in the race. At least we would have Governor to run for the party
Social Conservatives Unite!
Now is the time. If you believe in a Constitutional Amendment to preserve traditional marriage. If you believe in appointing judges who believe the Constitution is a document, not some living organism. If you believe groups trying to elect candidates who share our values should be allowed to spend our contributions on political ads. If you believe life should be protected. Now is the time to support Mitt Romney.
I want to speak particularly Mike Huckabee supporters. A vote for Huckabee is a vote for McCain. If you fracture the conservative vote, McCain will win by default.
Remember this is the guy who attacked members of the religious right as being agents of intolerance. That is what he does when you are against him. He believes that about religious groups that challenge him. That is why he liked McCain-Feingold. As previously stated here, this is the guy who has problems appointing conservative judges. You don’t want him as President.
While I’m at it, remember that just because McCain says he is the most electable, doesn’t mean he is. His predictions have proven false before:
“Unfortunately, Governor Bush is a Pat Robertson Republican who will lose to Al Gore.”
Let me restate my previous thoughts on Mitt Romney. I will not vote for Mitt Romney under any circumstances in 2008. He has been untruthful repeatedly. I would prefer someone with more moderate values to someone who has been dishonest.
Secondly, don’t count Mike out yet. He had a strong debate performance and will take a number if not all of the southern and border states on Super Tuesday. This thing is not a done deal.
I’m anxious to see how Mike does on Super Tuesday. I think he’ll do better than many of the pundints seem to believe. I don’t, however, believe he’ll take a big prize like California. Remember this, though…California has 53 delegates available. Mike could (and probably will) lose the popular vote throughout the state, but could still pick up several delegates in CA while also doing well in the South. It’s the Southwest and Mountain states that I see as trouble for him.