• What is the first topic for the candidates? It'll either be the gay-marriage ruling in Iowa or the upcoming Iraq report by Gen. Petraeus. Talking about gay-marriage is an obvious negative for Giuliani (although he is closely followed by Ron Paul).

• Who should be the next candidate to pull out now that Gilmore and Thompson are gone? Personally I think it should be Brownback. No one else has run such a negative campaign while garnering decreasing support. This would be true even if we discount the Romney attacks. He doesn't add anything to the debate and his description as "whole life" makes me think of bread more than anything.

• Will we get the fire-and-brimstone McCain or sedate McCain? My money is on fire-and-brimstone McCain. I'm hoping for him to announce he will follow the Iowa judge to the gates of hell.

Any thoughts?

Labels: debate