This was supposed to be the first debate that (finally!) had real drama. Would Rick Perry talk smack? Would Herman Cain hold up? Would Mitt Romney slip into that comfortable shoe of frontrunnerdom?

Well, they were all pretty terrible. But, it must be said, by degree. Romney was unbad enough to stay ahead. Especially on the heels of his endorsement today from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Perry didn't lay a glove on Romney during the question period, and Romney proved reasonably deft at swatting away the "sellout" problems, like the Massachusetts health-care plan. He wasn't good, but he wasn't bad enough to lose ground.

Cain has become a better debater. He has mastered that first-level trick of sounding like he knows what he's talking about. He hasn't mastered the second-level art of actually knowing what he's talking about, but, then, few of them do. So Cain acquitted himself perfectly well tonight - people who showed up cheering for him will sleep well. But starting Wednesday, questions about 9-9-9 will arise. The key thing for Cain is whether he's ready for this new intensity of attention, which will commence immediately.

Perry? He choked badly on an early big moment when Charlie Rose asked him what his plan was. He stumbled his way into some boilerplate about energy, but he spoke unconfidently and was looking at Charlie as a child looks at his teacher while trying to remember that middle string of the alphabet. I still count Perry in, though. This has to come down to Romney vs. X, and I still don't think X will be Cain. But Perry is a pretty lowercase X just now.

He simply does not have what it takes to win over most Independents and centrist republicans and unfortunately there is an element on the right who simply could not vote for a black man. I actually had a conversation with one last night, actually "spoke with" is a better word than conversation...that implies some level of intelligence and this man had none of that!

You can quote as many polls as you like but Cain's will never make it through the American election process in one piece.......mind you two black men running for President surely would be monumental!

I'm not suggesting that element alone will be his downfall but from what I have heard and read of this man he simply does not have what it takes to win a general election.

I THINK the Republican elite are already making sure he doesn't make it to the general election. Of the bunch, I THINK they see Romney as more electable and more to their liking and they, not the voters, have the power and the money.

As for the Florida straw poll....God's truth, the jerk I spoke with last night is from Florida, Jacksonville to be exact, and he voted for Cain in the straw poll.

Know why....he wanted to "shake those "b@$tards in the White House up" !!!! I asked him how that would shake them up and he said because then they can't say it's about Obama's being black anymore and it might scare The republicans into backing..are you ready?....Newt!

Nice guy......

Santorum stopped saying it after he was told the poet was gay & what the poem ws about. Now Perry Picked it up last night catchy line AIN'T IT

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek--
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean--
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home--
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay--
Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again--
The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose--
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again!

Bottom line: Rick Perry needed a big night and he didn't have one. Cain needed to push his message beyond the 9-9-9 plan but he couldn't do it. Romney needed to maintain the status quo - that he managed, and then some.

Franks response.
"I wish I knew that he was willing to listen to my advice, I would have given him some: I would have told him not to impeach Clinton, I would have told his successors not to go to war with Iraq, and I would have told DeLay not to go on the dance show. He's been having a bad year, you know , this self-styled intellectual leader of the free world struggling to stay ahead of Michele Bachmann in the polls is unsettling him so he talks even sillier than he sometimes does." -

I ask this seriously. Why does it matter in the States what party you are? Is being Independent a way of absolving yourself of all responsibility for the policies of either?

At the end of the day you push a button for someone who is one or the other. You may even push buttons for a couple of each but facts are you own who you vote for.

To me, the important thing is giving my vote for the right reasons.

So far, I haven't seen much from any party that gives me great confidence... but the GOP camp promotes the least promise in my opinion.

I like to be identified accurately. Don't you?

"Why does it matter in the States what party you are?"

Why does it matter in Canada?

"Is being Independent a way of absolving yourself of all responsibility for the policies of either?"

What else could it possibly be?

Romeny is such a creeper...ew

Why did you all cut and run and leave your party to the nuts? Why didn't you take responsibility for your party?

Then back to the debate where all the candidates are against any increase in revenue. The 999 program would cut revenues beyond what they currently are. And Romney would not cut defense. And Perry wants a constitutional balanced budget amendment.

So, is America ready for 30% cuts across the board, or 50% if defense is not cut?

I'll give the Republican nominee all the support he or she deserves. I expect others will do the same.

You mean all the other I'm not a Republican Republicans?

Having voted for JFK simply doesn't count.

I think Nic and her response in this thread is a perfect example of what is now the New Independent. That is not a put down - it's a fact. Since the last election, the political term "Independent" has undergone a radical change. The New Independent would never vote Democratic in national elections, but they also wouldn't necessarily vote for a GOP candidate. Which I feel they will correct because with that attitude, they might very well have a lot more Democrats in office than they figure on. Splitting the voters is never a good thing.

I don't think Cain or Perry has a chance, they will end up in the same bin as has Bachmann and what's his name Gingrich.

I think all conservatives are stuck with Romney, I suggest you all just suck it up, get used to the idea and get comfortable with vigoriously defending him as well as staunchly supporting him to the fullest - you have a lot of that ahead of you in your immediate future.

Unless you all have someone very special and interesting behind the curtain who hasn't made an appearance yet. I keep thinking that this is what has to be going on. GOT to be.

When people say his 999 plan won't work, I don't think they have thought it through all the way. Just one example. GE made 14 mil in profits, paid no taxes, yet received a 4.2 mil refund. Under Cains plan, they would pay over 1.2 mil + not receive the 4.2 mil, which would mean 5.4 million in the federal coffers. Extrapolate that out to all the corporations who pay no taxes and receive refunds and subsidies.

Just like the other 'hot at the moment' candidates of mere minutes gone by, as time goes on he will lose the momentum he has gained, he has too many holes that the voters won't be able to stuff smooth.

The CEO of a pizza franchise doesn't make him capable in dealing with foreign affairs, the various problems here at home or one of the largest countrie's deep financial problems.

Is Godfather's pizza still even around, I can't recall one in my area. Never see any commercials for it, either. During his watch, did it ever come close to overtaking the biggie competitive franchises? He does appear , from what I have heard him say, to have dug them out of a big financial mess though. Do they remain, today, a strong company due to the changes he implemented? If this is his resume for declaring himself capable of running this entire country, I woudl have expected Godfathers Pizza to have become the number 1 selling pizza franchise in the country. After all, it's only a pizza franchise and this is a big powerful country. For his resume, to bring that franchise to being number one in the nation during his watch would be the least I would expect of the future President of our United States.

I can't believe that anyone would think that too much to ask.

As you can tell I'm completely unimpressed by the qualifications he lists when declaring himself competent to run this huge, complicated country and all that would entail.

Especially after all the hoopla from you all declaring that a two year Senator of the United States wasn't enough of a qualification to run for President.

Come on. At LEAST the success of taking it to number one PIZZA franchise!!

I'm not saying your Romney is much better (the dog story ends him for me) but at least on paper his job qualifications read better.

If I'm wrong regarding Cain's inability to gain your Conservative voter's confidence to bring him to be your candidate, I will come back, remind you that I said all of this and declare to you how completely wrong I was.

Heck, I'll even bow and scrape to you personally - and that's a promise! ;)