Who won? Mayor Rudy Giuliani, I think. Early in tonight's debate, Fred Thompson jumped on Giuliani over his stands on abortion, gun control, and "sanctuary cities." Rudy bounced back, telling the audience of Thompson's opposition to tort reform while a senator.
Eight years of confronting a hostile New York media has made Giuliani light-footed in when dealing with pointed questions and determined opponents.
Opposition to Hillary Clinton dominated tonight's debate, which took place at a resort in Orlando, Florida.
Giuliani repeated an HRC quote, "I have a million ideas, America can't afford them all." To which Rudy added, "America can't afford you."
John McCain had a good night, and brought up Hillary Clinton's support of spending $1 million for a Woodstock Concert museum. McCain was, as he put it, was "tied up at the time" of the original Woodstock shows--he was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam in 1969. McCain's quip got him a well-deserved standing ovation.
Regarding Iraq, McCain said, "He'd much rather lose a campaign than lose a war." I can't conceive of a Democrat running for president saying such a thing. Well, Joe Lieberman would, but he's not running this this time.
I'll give credit where credit is due. Ron Paul is right, "Republicans have become big spenders." Still, the Democrats are even bigger spenders. But the Texas congressman brought up "an empire we can no longer maintain." The "American Empire" is lingo from the left--the far left, and Paul is far-out. He got his share of boos, especially after his comment claiming "Sixty percent of Americans want our troops out of Iraq."
Rep. Tom Tancredo didn't get much time to speak, and when he did, the subject of illegal immigration almost always seemed to come up. The Coloradan can't seem to escape being viewed as a single issue candidate--he's not helping his own cause.
California Congressman Duncan Hunter took issue with one part of Romney's Massachusetts health care plan--a plan Romney brought into discussion several times tonight, "It has lots of mandates. It's got to have, for example, fertility coverage. Well, what if you're 90 years old?"
It was at this point I was wishing long, long time White House Correspondent Helen Thomas was in the debate audience.
Huckabee again performed well, repeating one of his campaign themes, "We don't have a health-care crisis, we have a health crisis." He gets points from me just by uttering this word: Islamofascism.
Fred Thompson, making his second debate appearance, spanked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her supporting a resolution condemning the 1915 Armenian Genocide in Turkey as "totally irresponsible."
(Yes, genocide occurred. But now is not the time to jeopardize our relationship with Turkey.)
Mitt Romney was must have been thinking about the Boston Red Sox playing in game seven of the ALCS at Fenway Park against the Cleveland Indians. He came across defensive, and unlike Giuliani, had trouble deflecting attacks on his conservative credentials.
Yet the shadow of Hillary was felt throughout the night. And I kept thinking, one on one, in a debate with the Chicago-born New York Yankees fan, Rudy Giuliani is the best one to hit her out of the park.
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