No Runny Eggs

Or at least as instant as I get. Since I managed only one d-bomb, and I managed to more-or-less keep up, I’ll go with my notes:

Rudy Giuliani – B- – The good: He hung tough on the fiscal conservatism message. The bad: He once again pissed off the social conservatives. The ugly: Back to all-NYC, all-the-time, and he’s a Gorebal Warmnig acolyte.

Mike Huckabee – D+ – The good: Ducked-and-weaved his way around the fiscal trap. The bad: The pinata resembled old, fat Huck, and it got split open by as much his own words as his opponents’. The ugly: The claims that the “Fair”Tax will cure poverty and baldness.

Duncan Hunter – C+ – The good: Stayed on target. The bad: That target is leading Jack and spit, and Jack left town. The unexpected: He actually left San Diego for once on education.

Alan Keyes – D- – The good: He finally got to sit at the adults’ table as the “conscience” of the Republican Party. The bad: Instead of actually advancing his campaign, he burned his 15 minutes of fame trying to be said conscience. The takeaway: If you thought Thompson was late, he’s got nothing on Keyes.

John McCain – B from me, F from the average Iowan – The good (or what the Iowans would say is bad): Very strong on the fiscal conservatism issue; too strong for the average ADM corn farmer. The bad: He didn’t get quoted. The ugly: He’s almost a Gorebal Warming acolyte.

Ron Paul – D+ – The good: When dragged away from the Blame America First/Last/Always and goldbug lines, he actually makes sense. The bad: He always returns home to roas…er, roost. The ugly: He took Rosie O’Donnell’s advice.

Mitt Romney – B from me, A from the average Iowan – The good (at least not specific to Iowans): None of the candidates laid a glove on him (which speaks to the weakness of the field more than to his actual performance). The bad: 4 more years of Bush with even more gubmint-forced health care “solutions” and welfare handouts. The Iowa-specific good: He rediscovered his pander.

Tom Tancredo – C- – See Duncan Hunter’s wrap, only he wasted a golden opportunity on education.

Fred Thompson – B- – The good: He laid a good smackdown on Washburn. The bad: He reinforced the “lazy” line by saying he’d waste Year 1 doing a lot of talking (say, isn’t that what the campaign’s for?). The odd: His tax smack on Romney, which seemed good at the time, will not survive the first cutting of the raw tape.

Carolyn Washburn, the moderator – F – The good: At least this was less than 1:30. The bad: She is a domineering liberal bent on an agenda anathema to no less than 50% of each of the Pubbies on the stage. The ugly: That’s 1:23 I’ll never get back.