The five remaining GOP candidates for president met last night in Myrtle Beach for one of the most heated and confrontational debates yet. From the very beginning, it was obvious that the other candidates realized that this was one of the final chances to unseat Romney as the presumptive favorite. Some thoughts on each of the candidates’ performances:

Mitt Romney

  • The front runner, Governor Romney was assailed mercilessly from all sides last night. Though he tried to stay above the fray and keep his composure, he was very evidently rattled several times throughout the night. His willingness to try and stay above the personal attacks was more a product of his position in the polls, but it did make him look presidential.
  • On that note, Romney looked his best by far when he was criticizing Barack Obama. Such talking points play to his strengths, and he delivered them deftly, to much applause.
  • It’s interesting to note that when pressed, Romney said he would “probably” release his tax returns in April. It should be a non-issue, but after Gingrich and Santorum played up his unwillingness to in the last week, it did merit discussion at the debate.
  • Finally, it’s worth noting that Romney didn’t deliver the knock out punch many were hoping for on the issue of his time at Bain. Though he did address it better than in any debate prior, he by no means closed the book on the issue.
  • Overall, it wasn’t Romney’s best debate. He looked frazzled from the barrage of attacks he received, and didn’t deliver and definitive answers or memorable lines. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a bad performance, but it certainly won’t help him much.

Newt Gingrich

  • This was one of Gingrich’s best debates yet. He did go after Romney, but he looked tame next to Rick Santorum, who ripped Romney mercilessly throughout the debate. I think Santorum helped Gingrich out by delivering blows for him.
  • No other candidate delivered as many memorable lines as Gingrich. His response to what America should do to her enemies – “kill them” – invoked Andrew Jackson and was a huge crowd pleaser.
  • Gingrich’s best moment though was when he took on Juan Williams, who pressed him on comments he made earlier this week, that some viewed as racist. He refused to back down, and delivered an impassioned speech about working in America that drew a standing ovation from the debate crowd (The first standing ovation I’ve ever seen at a debate). While some may argue about how his response will play nationally, there’s no doubt he scored big points with it in South Carolina.

Rick Santorum

  • Overall, I thought Santorum had a pretty lackluster debate. He surprised me by coming out attacking Romney even harsher than Gingrich did, and his eager willingness to take Romney on head to head seemed off-putting. But, while I thought he seemed over the top, perhaps his pugnacity will play well in South Carolina.
  • Probably the weirdest debate moment came when Santorum began arguing with Romney over an ad that Romney’s super PAC ran asserting that Santorum wanted to give felons the right to vote. It was a bizarre, off-topic exchange that seemed very personal to Santorum.

Rick Perry

  • Perry didn’t have much time in the debate, but what little he did was fairly memorable. He too wasted no time going after Romney, but he also delivered several memorable lines.
  • After Santorum and Romney’s squabble over ads, Perry pointed to them and hammered them both for being “insiders”, to loud applause.
  • Perry also delivered a very powerful anecdote on the war that was met will loud applause.
  • Finally, at the end of the debate, he delivered one of the best lines of the night: “Immigration is at a 40 year low because our economy is at a 40 year low”. For Perry, it capped a very good night, and shows just how far he’s come in the debates since his terrible ‘three agencies’ gaffe. Though it’s probably too little too late, last night was very strong for the Texas Governor.

Ron Paul

  • Paul, like at most debates, seemed to be on an island to himself. He rarely interacted with other candidates, instead taking the time to explain some of his more controversial positions.
  • As usual, Paul sounded pretty good on everything except foreign policy, where the moderators asked him if he was “running to the left of Barack Obama”. I thought Paul did a decent job of trying to explain his foreign policy views and moderate them to better appeal to South Carolinians, but ultimately I don’t believe last night won him many votes that he didn’t already have.

All in all, it was a very interesting debate last night, but it remains to be seen how much, if at all, it will impact the standings. If you missed the debate, you can watch the full video of it here, on YouTube. The next debate will be on January 19 at 8 PM on CNN, and will be the last debate before South Carolina votes on January 21.