1st Republican Debate

[groovychk]

Originally published at Twixel.net. You can comment here or there.

Well I got to watch this debate. As I expected - too many candidates at this stage to get much substance.
It was enough to get some impressions of all of them - which I had been lacking up till now.
Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and John McCain got a lot of time. Chris Matthews didn’t do the best job of balancing.
Romney - Definitely the most polished. He makes my skin crawl though. I can’t tell what he really believes.
Giuliani - Waffled. I still don’t think this guy has anything close to what we need.
McCain - Wanted to seem decisive but came across as kind of angry to me.
Ron Paul got cut off hard by Matthews when he even got a chance to speak. It was noticeable.
The evolution question was interesting. As was the fact that any of them raised their hands to say they didn’t believe in it.
I couldn’t catch who all did (edit: It was Brownback, Tancredo and Huckabee) - but I figure it was the more overtly religious ones.
The guy that actually surprised me the most was Mike Huckabee.

But - no real revelations. I still can’t vote for any of them (with the possible exception of Ron Paul - who cannot get nominated).

Ultimately - if I were betting I’d say Romney will be the nominee.