This is the first of two debates this weekend focused on the New Hampshire Republican Primary. Tonight’s debate starting at 8:00p (CST)/9:00p (EST) will be held at St. Anselm College in Manchester, NH. This debate is sponsored by ABC News, Yahoo! News and WMUR TV (the local ABC affiliate). You can watch it on ABC News on you TV or it’s live streat at WMUR and Yahoo! News. The participants will be Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, and Jon Huntsman. The dynamic of the debate should be different minus Michele Bachmann and with Rick Santorum being center stage after his Iowa Caucus performance.
Update: The debate is now over with what was probably the worst ending I’ve ever seen. ABC News should be banned from moderating debates. The contraceptive question was ridiculous, and being a social conservative I even think they spent too much time talking social issues since this was a New Hampshire debate; especially in light of the debate ending early. Did they run out of questions?
Thank you to those who read, and a special thanks to Ann Marie Banfield of New Hampshire and Tony Bean of South Carolina for joining me tonight.
Wrap-up, my thoughts:
Winners: Santorum held his own. Gingrich was excellent as he typically is. His statement on anti-Christian bigotry, “let me ask the question to you in reverse” response was excellent. Santorum’s anti-class talk and highlighting job creation was good.
Even: Romney held his own, but he was uninspiring, and Santorum had good point that he is not bold enough on taxes.
Romney will win New Hampshire, but I think the real contest is who comes in second. If Newt doesn’t then I think he’s done. Paul will stay in until the bitter end and because of political maneuvering he’s doing concerning delegates. All Santorum has to do in New Hampshire is exceed expectations. Perry has already made it clear he’s competing in South Carolina and bypassing New Hampshire with the exceptions of the debates. Huntsman will be out after New Hampshire.
Losers: Perry, he had a good debate until he said he’d put troops back in Iraq. Waffled on foreign policy questions. Good on the economic ones though. Huntsman, was swatted by Romney regarding working for the Obama administration. Though I think he’s pretty credible in regards to China it will be a hard think for voters to over look. Paul as well, foreign policy questions kill him. The only ones who disagree are Paul fans.
If you missed the live chat you can scroll through it below.