NBC's Chuck Todd: "Mitt Romney's last answer about what he's been hearing on the campaign trail was one of his best messages I've heard yet." - link
Townhall's Mary Katharine Ham: "Mitt had a good line about Paul reading Ahmadinejad press releases." - link
National Review's Kathryn Jean Lopez: "Taking Washington apart. This is a strong outsider argument - that rings true. Romney would do it because he has." - link
ABC's Rick Klein: "Ahh, the R-word. 'Could we be headed for a recession? Absolutely. Do we have to be headed for a recession? Absolutely not.' Good answer by Mitt Romney." - link
National Review's Rich Lowry: "Mitt's change answer. Good. The best part of his stump speech." - link
Townhall's Hugh Hewitt: "Romney had less screen time tonight, but each time he answered he was poised and eloquent." - link
The American Spectator's Quin Hillyer: "Now Romney gets a tough question on abortion. He starts out with a really really strong answer. Now he segues back to Reagan. He ably defends 'the principles that Ronald Reagan espoused.' Good answer."
Yeah, Mitt did well - when he got a question!!! It seemed like a lot of attention was spent on McCain who is a one-horse show and can only talk "war." The only thing I didn't like was when Mitt made that jab at Ron Paul. I felt bad for Ron Paul, and it made me wince when Mitt said that; I've not seen him take a shot like that before....
Great job again last night in the debate for Romney. Regarding Huckabee, I cringed when he dove into his claim again that he instigated the first broad-based tax cut in 160 years in Arkansas. Just this week, Ernest Dumas wrote an article in the Arkansas Times exposing the truth about that broad-based tax cuts. They were devised by Gov. Jim Guy Tucker. Tucker resigned after a Whitewater conviction and the Huckster moved into the Governor's mansion. He also then immediately took credit for the tax cuts. Please, someone in the national media expose this guy!
Fred stole the show at the debate tonight, though he was channeling Mitt Romney with a lot of his answers. I thought "where have I heard that before...oh yeah, Mitt!" Mitt didn't get many questions and sort of faded into the background, but he did great answering on foreign policy (showing he knows more than he gets credit for) and talking about the Reagan coalition.
Last night I participated in a forum sponsored by America's Future Foundation, representing Governor Romney in a "debate the candidates" style match-up.
The setting was an old (and I mean old) townhouse near Dupont Circle that used to be the residence of the German ambassador decades previous. The debaters, representing their respective candidates, were well prepared and the audience was engaged and respectful (for the most part).
I should note this was mostly a younger crowd of conservatives and libertarians and there were a good number of, you guessed it, Ron Paul supporters. Like many of the actual candidate debates, a good portion of the program was spent rallying for and against Paul.
I will be uploading videos as I can throughout the day. Here are my introductory remarks.
The bios of the participants are below:
For Mitt Romney: Justin Hart is the Vice President of Communications for the Lighted Candle Society. With over a decade of experience in the corporate world helping Fortune 500 companies utilize emerging technologies, Mr. Hart is now taking on the non-profit industry. He is the co-founder of MyManMitt.com, the top-trafficked blog supporting Mitt Romney for President. Mr. Hart has published numerous articles about technology and his favorite candidate on several websites, including the American Thinker. He is also the founder of the support group, Help Soar In.
For Fred Thompson: Jon Henke is an Online Brand Manager for New Media Strategies in Arlington and a consultant to the Fred Thompson presidential campaign. Previously, he has worked as the New Media Advisor to the Senate Republicans and as the New Media Coordinator for the last few months of the George Allen Senate campaign. He blogs at QandO.net.
For Mike Huckabee: Michael Mayernick is a freelance internet marketing and development consultant and serves on the board of trustees to the American Parliamentary Debate Association. While studying economics and political science, Mr. Mayernick represented Johns Hopkins University as part of the nation’s top-ranked team in national and international debate competitions. He is currently a management consultant at Bearingpoint.
For Ron Paul: Jonathan Bydlak, Fundraising Director for Ron Paul. (I don't have a full bio for Jonathan since he ws a last minute substitute.)
For Rudy Giuliani: Michael J. Zarrelli is currently the Corporate Counsel / Federal Affairs Manager for a privately held $6.4 billion multi-national company that competes in the global marketplace and sells products in more than 80 countries and territories worldwide. He is also a Washington, DC advisor to the Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee. From 1997 thru 2001, he served as a Legislative Representative for New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in his Washington Bureau. Mr. Zarrelli received a B.A. in Political Science from Hartwick College and a J.D. from The Catholic University of America - Columbus School of Law. He is a member of the Maryland Bar.
Moderating: Christopher Beam is a political reporter for Slate Magazine and writes its campaign blog, Trailhead.
Justin, I thought you did a wonderful job of introducing Mitt Romney to the audience at the AFF Debate through stories from his life. I look forward to viewing other videos from the debate. Thank you so much for all that you are doing to promote Governor Romney's candidacy. Mark
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