Fred Thompson – Dynamic, engaged, will probably be seen as the “winner,” whatever that means. However, I was watching with my wife, who is not a political junkie, and as he kept tearing into Huckabee, she said “I can’t stand him”, meaning Thompson, so there’s one voter who didn’t like the negative Fred.

Mike Huckabee – The hoi polloi over at NRO’s Corner didn’t like it, natch, but his answer on religion and marriage I think makes him the leader in the next poll done in South Carolina. Republicans there are a conservative bunch, religion is part of life, they’ll love it. He was his usual warm, comfortable sweater self. I think he helped himself.

John McCain – Strong on his signature issue, defense. Said good things on taxes (make cuts permanent), etc… I don’t think anybody took a chunk of flesh out of him.

Mitt Romney – Didn’t shine, didn’t shrink into the shadows. I don’t think he did anything to dramatically boost his chances. I think part of the problem was the moderators didn’t seem to go to him as often as the others.

Rudy Giuliani – Solid. That Rudy should’ve been campaigning in New Hampshire. His overtime answer on immigration might lose him some points with those who think he was too stubborn to yield the mike, but overall, a good night for him.

Ron Paul – I want to see the totals on how much mike time each candidate had. It seemed like he had as much, if not more, as any other candidate. If so, something is wrong with the format. I kept ESPN on the picture in picture, and just flipped over every time he started talking. Paul, don’t go away mad, Paul, just go away.

Update: A brief jog around the horn…

The welcome return of Bogus Doug continues:

Those of us who watched the debate may concede Fred as having a great night. The rest of this is utter crap. Romney and Giuliani were both having off nights rescued purely by the substance of their positions. If anyone other than Thompson won the debate, it was John McCain. Hands down…. Truly, I hope Mitt has a team of advisers blowing something in his direction a bit less sycophantic than Hugh, or he’s doomed.

Instapundit has a roundup.

Allahpundit:

So who won? Dean Barnett e-mails to say Huckabee. He’s so effortless, and his answers on Israel and Christian marriage must have scored huge with evangelicals. I think he and Thompson did the best, McCain didn’t hurt himself, and Romney and especially Rudy were borderline disastrous.

Gateway Pundit:

I honestly did not like Fred’s virgin’s line, though… It would be hard for a US President to deal with Islamic nations with an attitude like that.

Jay Reding:

Will this matter? Romney did very well in the last New Hampshire debate, and it didn’t help him much. However, with Romney out of South Carolina, that leaves a gap with the conservative vote. Thompson is perfectly situated to take that vote. As I said before, had Fred done this well before I think he could have beaten Romney in Iowa.