I actually liked the way Fred handled that comeback to Hunter. He's right to say that China is a didgy dealer, but he's also right to say that nixing free trade is the wrong way to handle the issue.

I am liking Brownback's talk about the optional flat tax. Brownback himself is rather uninspiring, but this is a good idea in terms of giving people a choice that, if taken, will no doubt propel us towards serious tax reform. I'm glad to see he immediately whipped out the name of one program he would cut-- my guess is, most of them couldn't do that if put on the spot. Still not a Brownback fan, but he's got some good ideas.

Tancredo may be crazy, but I'm glad he's pushing us onto talking about Medicare and Social Security. He's stumbling over his words, though, and sounds a bit dopey.

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Oh crap, Chris Matthews is trying to force Giuliani to take a swipe at Romney. So far, he's just talking up his own record.

Romney has been forced to say that Rudy believes in cutting taxes. He's back to bashing Rudy on the line-item veto and is bashing him over the commuter tax. He won't come out and actually say he's better on fiscal issues, though (because he's not, and the Club for Growth agrees).

Giuliani just pulled out the hammer on Romney: spending under Romney went up, under Giuliani, it went down. His explanation on the line-item veto is falling a little flat. He's saying Romney raised taxes (which he did).

Romney's disagreeing, and is forced to revert to the line-item veto (my assessment: he can't talk about taxes, because he knows Rudy's right). He's also just said he doesn't think that a line-item veto is unconstitutional if not enshrined in the constitution. I'm not convinced, and I think Rudy's right to raise the issue of process. Rudy's also cut the discussion off with an excellent line about a Republican presidential candidate who has actually beaten Bill Clinton.

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How is this turning int...

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I am baffled as to why, in a debate about economic issues, we're talking Iraq. But whatever.

Aw, the McCain-Rudy love club continues with McCain's comment about credit for uniting Americans after 9/11!

McCain is highlighting his early stance in bashing the administration on Iraq. Good. He has a point.

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The problem with talking about Iraq is Ron Paul gets going. He has some fair points, yes, in terms of how much we're spending, but I'm not enthused about this debate shifting away from questions of taxes and spending to foreign policy. Oh, and we're back onto the gold standard again. Whoopee!

Brownback doesn't believe that oil has anything to do with the decision to go to war in Iraq. OK. He's talking about Joe Biden, too.

Glad to hear Fred clarify his comment about Iraq and WMD.

Ooh, a tricky question for Romney about his powers as president to make war on Iran. He dodges it by saying he'd need legal advice, but that you need political consensus in any event.

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Oh, Chris wants to assess basic constitutional views on attacking Iran. This should be interesting.

Hunter is basically saying "yes," but that you want to get congressional approval as long as there's time to do so. I'm guessing Ron Paul is going to say the president needs to go to Congress.

Yes, that's what he's said. "Open up the Constitution." Right, given that the assumption is that Iran wouldn't do anything that would pose an imminent threat to the US itself, directly. Romney seems to have missed this point and walked into the trap. Except that because Paul sounds so out there on foreign policy, my guess is no one is going to notice.

Yet Paul gets a big round of applause. Interesting.

I think McCain's going to get a response form Paul about what the oath of office encompasses. But I think he's giving the most viable and detailed answer yet, and is right on the issue. You have to defend, b...

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I don't really know why McCain thinks it pays for him to talk about immigration, but I don't think it does.

Ah, Romney's going to talk about how Hillary Clinton has no private sector experience except as a lawyer. And he's raised his health care plan. Well done, Mitt. Perhaps you haven't noticed, but what she's advocating essentially is your health care plan!!!

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It would be ever so nice if Rudy would start talking about how Hillary's health care plan basically is RomneyCare, but he won't. However, he is making a good point about how he's already forcing her to retreat on policy ideas she's generating. That's good stuff.

Wonderful, Duncan Hunter's on about bad trade deals again.

Sam Brownback, one of the more dour and generally unexciting members of the US Senate, wants YOU to be optimistic. He also just used the word "rocks," and not in describing stones. Jeez.

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Fred's talking Social Security. I generally see him as strong on this issue, but he sounds like he's shifting away from it to talk about even national parks. He glosses over private accounts in a throwaway phrase. He's now talking indexation re: Medicare, which makes some sense, but when he says it won't solve the problem, one wonders why he's raising it.

Tancredo's trying to explain what's wrong with our free trade agreements in Paul-esque terms, but he's not nearly as good at it as Paul himself.

Romney's talking health care. This is a tricky issue for him in the GOP primary, since the Democrats have basically copied his RomneyCare plan and federalized it, which prevents him from really championing his own record, and forces him to bash it, which is to tough to do since-- it's HIS!!! Nice soundbyte on the "this is not a Democratic issue," except I think if you look at the polling, it's pretty clear that most of America doesn't agree with him.

Paul on unions: I'm with him.

Huckabee sees a greater role for unions...

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