So, who won the debate today ?

[Ⓐnarchy in the ☭☭☭P!]

Watching some of the debate again, I realize just how funny Santorum's attack on Paul was.

He referred to the "Afghanistans", the "Ah-rahn-ians" "Mericans" "Ah-rockies", etc.

EDIT: Oh God, I looked at Romney behind Paul. He has the "Romney listening to Paul" pose that he has perfected since 08, casually leaning up against the podium and having a facial expression somewhere between "smug smirk" and "sneer".

Anyway, Paul won pretty clearly this time around. Gingrich avoided tough questions and challenged the moderator when he was given one, Bachmann and Pawlenty were stuck in a fight that made them both look bad, Romney avoided getting hit hard but looked incredibly plastic and unpleasant, Huntsman mixed pandering with not presenting himself well, Cain kinda did his own thing (it was funny to see him pull back a bit when Paul and Santorum went at it, like they were firing off machine guns at each other), and Santorum successfully pandered to his demographic but utterly alienated the rest by getting beaten even more soundly than T-Paw.

[Ⓐnarchy in the ☭☭☭P!]

To his credit, Gingrich kicked everyone's ads. Romney did a good job staying right where he needs to. Pawlenty and Bachmann are DOA.

To be fair, Bachmann's campaign could conceivably recover if it really went into overdrive and won the Ames straw poll. Then again, Pawlenty might actually survive to do okay if he won Ames, too. Outside of something terrible happening or incredible luck, though, Paul probably has Ames in the bag now.