Opinion: It seems to me that nothing much changed because of last night’s debate in Tampa. The audience was silenced so there was no sense of what Floridians thought of it, and the moderator studiously avoided becoming a target so there was no “media moment.”

Romney and Gingrich criticized each other and defended themselves, but what’s new about that? Voters are pretty much in a holding pattern… waiting for the details of Romney’s tax returns and Gingrich’s ethics investigation. I wouldn’t expect any game changer from either of these, but it’s good to get it all out into the open for everyone to see.

Santorum didn’t hurt himself and seems to be waiting for one of the front runners to falter. And Ron Paul keeps digging a deeper hole with his foreign policy views… it will be our fault if Iran goes to war with us.

The “moment” for me came with Romney and Gingrich’s response to questions about the future of NASA in Florida. Romney gave an excellent management answer – get experts together and figure out how to revitalize the space program. Gingrich gave a visionary answer – offer prizes to anyone who can be first to put a man on mars, for example. I think that pretty much exemplifies what America will get with one of these men as president.

It will be interesting to see what the pundits have to say, but that’s how it looks to me… from the cheap seats.

 

“Newt is not getting these votes because there’s a wild, uncontrollable desire for him to be president. It’s the message that he’s sending. He is speaking for millions of Republicans who see the way he’s doing things as a solution, and as a strategy for victory over Barack Obama. Newt’s a messenger.” -Rush Limbaugh