Despite the fact AZ Senator John McCain did not do bad at the CNN debate in Manchester, NH this evening -- in fact, he did OK -- it was simply that Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani did better, and for different reasons.
Romney, right at the outset, handled the McCain immigration charge of having no plan excellently. Moreover, he was solid the entire evening and looked great doing so. His answer on abortion flip fliopping and Mormonism were also superb. Romney gets an A.
The fact Rudy Giuliani was even close to Romney's performance tonite shows just how good the Mayor did in terms of presentation skills, was good at the give and take, was funny and, here's a big one: he smiled a lot. Consequently, he appeared confident and provided the best answer to abortion thus far, in this viewer's opinion. Good answer on Scotter Libby also. Rudy earns a solid B+.
McCain, while earnest and generally effective, still didn't come close to dealing with all the downsides associated with supporting the immigration package. But who could? he's out there on a limb. McCain has to take the issue head-on and should get credit for doing so. McCain gets a solid B.
Like the CNN Dem debate, in which Hillary, Edwards and Obama showed why they're in the the top tier, this debate showed why Romney, Rudy and McCain are the top tier. They're just qualitatively head and shoulders above the also rans.
From the second tier, Brownback did well tonite -- not great, but certainly his best performance so far.
One observation that must be noted: the audience applause when Tancredo dissed Bush.
