GOP Debate Reviews

George Wenschhof

Once again, President Obama was the winner in last night's Republican presidential hopefuls debate. Unless, an international incident unfolds over the next year, national defense and foreign policy will not be an issue in the election.

Former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman came across as the most reasonable of the bunch last night at DAR Constitution Hall. Newt Gingrich performed well as the new front runner. However, his position on immigration may come back to haunt him in the Republican primaries. Providing a way for long time undocumented workers to stay in the U.S. is a reasonable position on the issue, but not one that is popular with right wing activists.

However, Gingrich could not run from the bill he put forth with the late Senator Edward Kennedy, the Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007, which provided a convoluted manner to obtain citizenship.

It was this proposed deportation and fine before being able to return to the U.S. which led me to propose a community service component to be required in a column published earlier this year. You can read that column here.

Romney, was like Romney - no surprises and nothing to knock him from his front runner status. Perry continued to show why he has dropped like a stone in the polls, and it was evident foreign policy is not a strong suit for Cain.

Santorum and Bachmann can say good-bye anytime and Ron Paul continues to show why he may be better suited as a third party candidate.

Below, in no order of significance are links to reviews of the debate:

The NY Times is here.

Politico.com has their take here.

TPM.com is here.

Chris Cillizza of The Washington Post here.

TheHill.com is here.

Stay tuned...

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