Report Card: The Second Republican Debate

Mark Halperin, political reprter for Time magazine, has made another report card for the Republican presidential debate last evening:

John McCain
Grade: B+

Best: Got some of his mojo back. Several answers — especially on twin vulnerabilities of Iraq and immigration — channeled his genuine views and transcended mere debate prep. Sold bipartisanship, hard choices, fiscal discipline, anti-torture, and experience — all his aces.

Worst: Pushback against Romney's attacks on his support for bipartisan immigration and campaign finance bills summoned up the peevish ghosts of campaign 2000. Speaking of 2000: planted seeds of a new Confederate flag problem with another evasive answer that he (probably) doesn't believe.

Rudy Giuliani
Grade: B+

Best: Roused crowds and employed the force of his personality to dominate the stage with repeated stirring talk of 9/11, including a news-making aggressive challenge to Ron Paul. Played the electability card by dangling the twin specters of Hillary Clinton and the "liberal media."

Worst: Expressed his views on abortion more plainly than during the first debate, but still deferential to courts and seeking his full voice on the issue. (He didn't make things worse, at least). Also muddled on guns and immigration. Remains reflexively New York-centric, without presenting an identifiably presidential presence beyond his ferocious national security stance.

Rudy Giuliani
Grade: B+

Best: Roused crowds and employed the force of his personality to dominate the stage with repeated stirring talk of 9/11, including a news-making aggressive challenge to Ron Paul. Played the electability card by dangling the twin specters of Hillary Clinton and the "liberal media."

Worst: Expressed his views on abortion more plainly than during the first debate, but still deferential to courts and seeking his full voice on the issue. (He didn't make things worse, at least). Also muddled on guns and immigration. Remains reflexively New York-centric, without presenting an identifiably presidential presence beyond his ferocious national security stance.

Jim Gilmore
Grade B-

Best: Prodded by a question, he challenged the allegedly liberal record of some of the stronger candidates, positioning himself for further attempts to be the conservative "Rudy McRomney" alternative if no one else catches fire and Fred Thompson and Newt Gingrich don't take the plunge.

Worst: Promised to offer more specifics of his assult on the frontrunners' conservative credentials on his website and on some sort of New Jersey blog in the next news cycle — making him seem more like an angry Netizen than the former governor of Virginia and Republican National Committee chairman.

Mike Huckabee
Grade: B-

Best: Maintained the folksy, comfortable style from his first debate performance, even when talking about tough issues. His joke about John Edwards' haircut got the crowd juiced from the start.

Worst: Looked a bit lost when defending his record on tax cuts and his role in the release of a violent criminal. Still remains incapable of defining himself as a serious top-of-the-ticket candidate.

Sam Brownback
Grade: B-

Best: Optimistic about energy, life — even Iraq. Like many of the second-tier candidates, was far more relaxed and focused than he was at the previous debate.

Worst: Still not making the case for electability or offering a rationale that would transform his relationships with donors, Iowans, or the conservative movement. He's running out of time to change the dynamic.

Duncan Hunter
Grade: C+

Best: Did a much better job than at the Reagan Library debate in touting his national security credentials. He also communicated his stance on immigration with passion and specifics.

Worst: Still sounds like a House member, and not enough like a president. Offered no personal details or homey touches to allow voters to get to know him, let alone like him.

Ron Paul
Grade: C

Best: Still Mr. Magooish, but in a good way. Continues to ride an isolationist, small government, lower taxes message that gives him a monopoly on the Perot-Buchanan wing of the party. Remained relatively unshaken by the questioners' apparent determination to make him explain his presence on the stage.

Worst: Mr. Magoo was never elected to federal office.

Tommy Thompson
Grade: C-

Best: His hearing aid and health both seemed satisfactory.

Worst: Still not getting across his record as governor of Wisconsin or as a Bush cabinet member. Inexplicably seems like a newcomer to the national stage.

Tom Tancredo
Grade: D+

Best: Got a question in his wheelhouse about immigration and nearly broke through. 24 reference shows he is capable of establishing some recognizable connection with American culture.

Worst: Often appeared to be lost in thought, drifting uncertainly in and out of the debate.

You can vote for yourself in the new poll in the right hand frame.