My take of each candidate tonight.

[realtonygoodwin]

This is my attempt to be as unbiased as possible. Here is what I took from the debate, in order of how much they helped their campaigns:

Cain - articulate, polished, and smooth, but didn't have much substance. He has plans to come up with plans...could tell he was a radio talk show host. This debate will help him a lot.

Pawlenty -Obviously the media's preferred candidate. Mr. Establishment Republican. Did fine in his presentation, but came off like the 2nd coming of George W. Bush. If you liked Dubya, you would probably like TPaw. He will probably pull some Romney voters and get a decent bump in the polls, but more due to the media than his performance.

Paul - did fairly well, but could use more of that polish. Needs to work on his image and delivery. Old. He is someone you either agree with on the issues or you don't. Handled some tough questions very well. This debate will help him a little, but he was already the front-runner of all those on the stage in terms of polling, name recognition, and money.

Johnson - came off as somewhat effeminate and whiny, but with a sense of humor. Some good ideas, but he obv. has no expectations of winning. He got a couple ridiculous questions, I wished they would take him a little more seriously. The pro-choice part he handled as well as he could, I think. This debate will help increase his name recognition a little, and may give him a modest bump in the polls.

Santorum - Didn't seem happy to be there. Stiff, with a clenched jaw and gritted teeth. May pull some social conservative types from Huckabee, but didn't really help himself a lot in this debate.

 

[RabbitMan]

I can agree with that. Good post. +rep

 

[eleganz]

Agreed with the OP.

Cain came off as somebody I agreed with, well because he took the pages straight out of the Ron Paul book of being AMERICAN. Cain was very clear and knows what to say.

Paul is great, I can listen to him knock the government all day but comes off as naggy to those that are not already fans of him. RP needs to speak more clearly/simply because he can get too riled up in his talking points and go into details that most people wouldn't understand.

I can see Cain gaining some momentum and later dropping out to endorse RP.

 

[RonPaulGetsIt]

Pawlenty and Santorum are both rediculous looking and clearly lifelong politicians....robotic, untrustworthy, spewing out whatever their keepers have told them to say.

 

[Nathan Hale]

Here are some random thoughts:

1. Herman Cain benefited the most. Even before Fuck You Frank's "focus group" I could tell that Cain was winning hearts and minds. He had the quote of the night with that "how's that going for you" electability response.

2. I think it was great having both RP and GJ in the debate, especially that tag team on drug policy.

3. Gary calling out Fox for ignoring him was spectacular - I wish we saw more of that in 2007.

4. Not sure why RP bailed on Hannity, but I'm psyched that Hannity was not only gracious about it, but also plugged Paul's alternate engagement by name.

5. RP and GJ spoke a little as the set faded to black. Wish I could be a fly on that wall.

6. Clearly the hosts wanted to pimp for Pawlenty and Santorum, despite the fact that RP outpolls not just both of those men, but the entire rest of the stage COMBINED. Was anybody keeping track of speaking time? The debate looked set up to be a Pawlenty ad - though to Fox's credit they did hit Pawlenty with some pretty tough questions.

 

[dean.engelhardt]

Herman Cain is getting a lot of press for a good performance in the debate. What I heard was a guy that demonstrated he is not fit for the job in eloquent language.
How can a presidential candidate have no plans for foreign policy?

Its like forgetting your homework assignment but getting a A+ for your "My Dog Eat My Homework" presentation.

 

[Nathan Hale]

Herman Cain is getting a lot of press for a good performance in the debate. What I heard was a guy that demonstrated he is not fit for the job in eloquent language.
How can a presidential candidate have no plans for foreign policy?

Its like forgetting your homework assignment but getting a A+ for your "My Dog Eat My Homework" presentation.

I agree that Cain won't be able to run straight through to the primaries without offering a plan on foreign policy. It's clearly a dodge, and it won't hold up for longer than a debate or two.

 

[speciallyblend]

the debate showed me the gop is totally out of tune with general voters and will ensure an obama 2nd term unless they nominate Ron Paul or Gary or can bring down jesus to run on ron paul's platform ,since the rest of the gop doesn't have the credibility to even follow the republican platform aka ron pauls platform!!

 

[speciallyblend]

Herman Cain is getting a lot of press for a good performance in the debate. What I heard was a guy that demonstrated he is not fit for the job in eloquent language.
How can a presidential candidate have no plans for foreign policy?

Its like forgetting your homework assignment but getting a A+ for your "My Dog Eat My Homework" presentation.

hermain cain is not even an option so the gop is screwing themselves by pushing this guy! honestly the gop will make sure obama is elected before they allow ron paul to run!!

 

[realtonygoodwin]

I am so curious what the next polls will show.

 

[Teaser Rate]

I can agree with that. Good post. +rep

+1

 

[realtonygoodwin]

Awww, Thanks!

 

[HarryBrowneLives]

Good post. I agree with your take.

 

[Tinnuhana]

Herman Cain is just holding the GOP establishment's fort till their so-called heavyweights declare. His reception lets them know how their entry will be heralded. But it would be interesting if they enter and go after Cain's inexperience, wasting their attacks on him rather than on Ron (and Gary if he's still in).

 

[liberalrepublican]

Paul and Pawlenty were the only ones who performed well. Paul did a good job defending his views; Pawlenty was able to sound less boring than usual and presented himself alright. Cain came off as uninformed and even unintelligent, Santorum sounded like he arrived at the debate in Doc's DeLorean, and Gary Johnson (who I have met in real life) just didn't have enough charisma and is clearly not conservative enough for GOP primary voters.

 

[realtonygoodwin]

After talking with friends and family...most of them were most intrigued by Herman Cain.