Ron did very well - Far better than any of the others, that is for certain.
It was great that Rick and Mittens gave props to Ron. I was floored by that, to be frank.
Ron's closing was strong - government is force. Love it.
It was very pleasing to watch Newt and Mittens go at it. More pleasing to hear Newt get booed.
I think Ron gained and Newt Romney lost ground. Perry is a has-been as are Bachmann and Santorum. Bachmann has a VERY self-defeating habit of trying to invent new memes; an indicator that she really has nothing of substance to offer. A month ago it was "Moms, moms, moms, moms..." until you wanted to put a load of 00 buck through the TV. Tonight it was "Newt Romney, Newt Romney..." I was hoping Sawyer would step up and slap her a couple of times to shut her up. She's going nowhere - nothing but window dressing at this point. Thank heaven.
I will add that the moderators are dicks. They state rules and promptly abandon them. I am thinking, however, that this may work to Ron's favor as the circus quality of all this becomes ever more embarrassingly apparent to even the least intellectually adept. The only one other than Ron who maintained a reasonable decorum was Santorum and he is pig vomit so I don't think he represents even a remote threat. Everyone else save Ron engaged in attacking the others. They are graceless, ungentlemanly and I think more people are wising up to how scummy this is and how it speaks to character.
It was a riot to watch Ron laughing in-frame and the cameras scrambling to get him off screen. Mittens and Newt were just klowns tonight. Thank heaven.