Short commentary/transcript of a live YouTube commentary by TJ Walker analyzing a Republican debate in Florida. Walker declares Mitt Romney the clear winner, praising Romney’s confidence, likability, and conservative tone; he criticizes Rick Perry’s performance and notes Ron Paul supporters will tout Paul’s strong showing. Overall Walker calls it a high-caliber debate with no candidate performing disastrously.
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So who won the Republican debate tonight in Florida? Well, this was hands down a clear cut victory for Mitt Romney. This was the best performance I've seen from him this campaign as well as four years ago. He was funny, he exuded confidence, he had great sharp put downs of Perry, he was quick on his feet, he sounded conservative. Here's the tricky part for Romney. He sounded conservative and yet he didn't seem like he was overtly pandering. Perry really stumbled a couple of times. He didn't quite know sound like he knew what he was talking about with some foreign policy issues. When it comes to what should he do with jobs, he wasn't quite there. Every time there was a real exchange back and forth between Perry and Romney, Romney seemed to get the better of Perry. The one moment when Perry really could have delivered, nailing Romney on his flip flops on gun control issues, health care issues, abortion. He fumbled it so much that it turned around hurting Perry more than it hurt Romney. Now I will say all the candidates had very bright moments. This was a very high caliber debate. Tremendous applause and enthusiasm from the crowd. Nobody was awful by any means, but Romney did so much better. Part of it is he's either number one or number two in the polls. He is so much further ahead of everyone else other than Perry that a lot of the focus was on those two men. So when you compare Romney to Perry, Romney did much, much better. Here's the other thing about Romney this time. He came across as likable. And I think for many voters, especially young voters who weren't really paying attention last time, if this was their first experience with all the candidates, Romney came across as extraordinarily intelligent, he came across as conservative and he didn't seem like he was pandering as much and yet still seemed conservative. I think he gained the most. Now, I'm going to differ from some commentators. I don't think this was a death blow to Perry by any means. I don't think it's going to change the polls dramatically. But it was a clear cut victory for Romney. The other candidates, they got their licks in. They appeased their own supporters. Ron Paul folks will be very happy. They will be proclaiming that he won. They will inundate any poll that actually lets people vote to claim that he won. And this probably was Ron Paul's best performance so far. He didn't say anything such as having to repudiate Ronald Reagan as he did in past debates. All the others had bright moments, but nobody really shined as much as Mitt Romney. That's why I'm declaring him the victor. I'm T.J. walker for the Daily National.
