Last night, the Republican presidential candidates met for a debate in New Hampshire hosted by the Fox News Channel. Present, in no particular order, were Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Duncan Hunter, John McCain, Tom Tancredo, Sam Brownback, and Rudy Giuliani. I think that’s everyone, save of course Fred Thompson.

Here’s some highlights from the debate, including some things I previously did not know about the candidates:

• The first question concerned Fred Thompson and whether or not he made the right move in entering the race so late.
• Huckabee on Thompson: Joked that he was invited on Jay Leno’s show, but thought it more important to be with the good people of New Hampshire (Thompson would say later on that evening on Leno that it is much more difficult to get invited on Leno’s show, so being there must count for something).
• Giuliani on Thompson: Joked that he likes him and did a good job portraying Giuliani on Law and Order.
• McCain, trying to spark some humor as well, pointed out that all of Arizona’s presidential candidates had lost.
• The first question for Ron Paul did not come until 30 minutes into the debate. Prior to that, he did not get to speak even in a rebuttal capacity.
• Ron Paul is a physician by trade, was the Libertarian Party’s 1980 presidential candidate, and served five years in the Air Force during the 1960s.
• Duncan Hunter, who had a hand in writing the Secure Fence Act that would put a wall up along the entire U.S.-Mexico border, stated last night that if elected president, he would make sure the fence is completed and joked that whoever can jump it should be signed up for the Olympics. Currently, only 17 miles out of the mandated 800 or so are complete.
• Hunter, in a sly remark concerning Senator Larry Craig’s (R-Idaho) recent bathroom sex sting scandal, told the audience that whenever Republicans get caught up in a scandal, they do the right thing and leave office…Democrats appoint their scandal-ridden colleagues to chairmanships of Congressional committees [Aaron: ouch].
• One of the moderators, pointing out Mitt Romney’s tough position on illegal immigration, told him that while he was governor of Massachusetts, a number of cities declared themselves “sanctuary cities” for illegals, and that the governor didn’t even do anything about the illegals mowing his lawn. To that, Romney stated that governors are not liable for the actions of mayors who want to break the law, and, referring to his lawn care, said that he doesn’t go to his contractors and demand to see their employees’ documentation [Aaron: sorta lame reply, but legitimate I guess].
• McCain vehemetly stands by the surge in Iraq [Aaron: big surprise].
• Ron Paul stated that the Iraq war is unconstitutional, an aggressive invasion, and illegal under international law. The crowd responded with a mix of cheers and boos.
• Paul: Neocons have hijacked the Republican Party and U.S. foreign policy…it wasn’t the American people that went to war, but a select few…predicts major Republican Party losses next year if the Party doesn’t get its act together [Aaron: damn those neocons…what happened to the Republican Party of Lincoln, Nixon, and Ford?].
• Tancredo: Iraq is just a battleground in the war against radical Islam.
• Giuliani: When was the last time a nation won a war by setting a timetable [Aaron: good point Rudy, good point]?
• Giuliani: We have to keep Guantanamo Bay open because no one will take the inmates [Aaron: not exactly true…there are nations fighting for the release of their citizens locked up there].
• McCain pledges to veto every bill containing pork-barrel spending [Aaron: great call].
• Huckabee favors the Fair Tax, points out that Americans fear an IRS audit more so than being mugged [Aaron: sounds about right].
• Paul believes we should continue diplomacy with Iran, and, responding to Israel’s plea to the U.S. to take action because Iran is threatening Israel, points out that Israel has 200-300 nukes and can take care of itself [Aaron: agreed].
• Tancredo: Political correctness will get us all killed [Aaron: probably the best line of the whole night!]!
• Paul: Calls for the elimination of the Education Dept., IRS, CIA, FBI, and a whole slew of other agencies [Aaron: how the hell can you eliminate the CIA and FBI?]

That’s it on my list of highlights that I jotted down last night. Immediate reaction afterward by people being polled on Fox was that McCain won the debate. But later on, when Fox invited people to text message their votes, it showed that Paul had an overwhelming lead with an impressive 33%! I don’t know how that’s possible.

As for me, I’m not sure who won. There were a lot of great points raised by all of the candidates. I would have liked to have seen Fred Thompson in on the debate, just to hear what he had to say on the issues.

What are your thoughts? Let’s go to a thread already started by “The Night Watchman” on our famous message boards for debate.

By the way, for anyone who’s interested, the next Republican debate is scheduled for October 21, 2007 in Orlando, FL.

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