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Talking to a friend of mine who said Newt and Mitt is a repeat of McCain and Bush.

Mitt is seen as too "liberal/centrist" (for a lack of a better term) within his own party in southern states and won't get the nomination.

If Mitt loses Florida is it the first nail in the coffin for him?

There are many factors why (some bigger than others) Flip Flopper, not a hard right Rep., labeled as Obama Light, etc.

Wondering what your thoughts are.

On Gingrich's statements to a NASA crowd about going to Mars in 8 years.

One of Romney's biggest applause lines was saying that Gingrich has a pattern of pandering to local audiences - promising a new Veterans Administration hospital in New Hampshire a few weeks ago and a moon colony on Wednesday when he visited Florida's Space Coast.

"I spent 25 years in business," Romney said. "If I had a business executive come to me and say they wanted to spend a few hundred billion dollars to put a colony on the moon, I'd say, 'You're fired.'"

Short answer: no.

Slightly longer answer: Mitt's got enough money and support that he can make it at least through super-Tuesday.

Gingrich has been going state-by-state. The problem is, every time he shows up in a state, Romney has been there for the past four months building up support.

I'm not sure if Newt or Mitt (Willard) is the better candidate, each has their strengths and weaknesses.

Yeah, i don;t think Gingrich was all that serious when he started, but somehow he was the only one tenacious enough to force his way this far.

What happened to Santorum? It's like he totally fell off the media map? He still won in Iowa right?

If Newt wins Florida I think Mitt is sunk, he won't stop it will just be the beginning of the end. Running Newt against Obama is pretty interesting, be a little strange to see the donkeys pounding the family values routine over the pachyderms.

Easy E wrote:What happened to Santorum? It's like he totally fell off the media map? He still won in Iowa right?

Santorum's whole platform is based on being a more conservative Conservative and having a consistent, Evangeli-conserva-publican stance on social issues.

Which, given that this election is about the economy and socioeconomic issues, makes him virtually irrelevant outside of the Bible belt. His second-coming-of-Christ routine worked in Iowa where he literally canvassed the entire state, but now his lack of organization and a disconnect between his platform and the broader issues, is telling.

Mitt Romney is probably too sane for a large chunk of the Republican Party.

sourclams wrote:

Easy E wrote:What happened to Santorum? It's like he totally fell off the media map? He still won in Iowa right?

Santorum's whole platform is based on being a more conservative Conservative and having a consistent, Evangeli-conserva-publican stance on social issues.

Which, given that this election is about the economy and socioeconomic issues, makes him virtually irrelevant outside of the Bible belt. His second-coming-of-Christ routine worked in Iowa where he literally canvassed the entire state, but now his lack of organization and a disconnect between his platform and the broader issues, is telling.

Yeah, but I think he was counted out a bit early. He could still be a factor in some states. Just not Florida.

sourclams wrote:His second-coming-of-Christ routine worked in Iowa where he literally canvassed the entire state, but now his lack of organization and a disconnect between his platform and the broader issues, is telling.

I wouldn't really consider Iowa in the "bible belt." They're a conservative, not religious-conservative, state. I expected him to do better in South Carolina, which is solidly within the "bible belt." It is kind of surprising how far he finished behind Newt and Mitt.

But you're right that he won largely because of his extreme effort in the state. He spent time in (almost?) every county, which is pretty impressive, given how large Iowa is.

I don't think Mitt is sunk. He's got the money to go the distance. Also, remember that plenty of states are proportional, not winner take all.

Here's how the debate looked to me.

No real winners, just one loser.

Newt came prepared to try to repeat his last performance. The problem is that everyone knew it was coming and made him eat it. He tried to run over Wolf and he pushed back. He took repeated swings at Mitt and got leveled a few times while landing little to nothing on him. I don't know who's advising Newt to attack Mitt about getting rich and trying to keep his money but he needs to lose his job. Getting rich and then keeping the money is sort of a thing that goes over well with Republicans so attacking someone for it is, ya know, stupid. With the way Romney kept slapping Newt down over his private sucess it should be a dead issue going forward. It's getting zero traction.

Also, what possessed him to propose a moon colony the day before the debate? That was like a slow one right down the center of the plate and both Mitt and Santorum just tee'd off on it. He took the pandering accusation right in the nuts followed up by the inevitable questions of how to pay for it. When he suggested private companies Mitt shoved it right up his ass. I will say he got in probably his two best moments of the night, hitting up his attackers on the pandering charge which he rebutted with needing to know the local issues that are important to people, and coming back at Santorum by pointing out that even admist budget cuts you can have priorities.

On the whole Newt came in prepared to rehash the last debate and got steamrolled in this one.

Rick Santorum fared pretty well. He managed to look like a real candidate and that he could hang with the big boys. However he didn't really differentiate himself from anyone. He's not setting himself up as anything but the more Christian of the trio. That might play well in Florida but how he'll manage in the long run I dunno.

Ron Paul did just what he needed to, keep his insanity in check long enough to get off the stage without looking like the loon he is. He spouted off about the gold standard only once. I'm sure he'll get a few more supporters after this who won't bother looking into what he's all about and will just be jazzed about what he said at the debate.

Mitt Romney did what he needed to do in this debate. He shut down Newt's attempts to run away with it, ended the attacks on his personal finances, and even landed a few good shots here and there. His new debate coach did a hell of a job. The guy is still as exciting as a bowl of corn flakes though and I'm not sure there's anything you can do about it.