The remaining GOP contenders will be meeting for a debate in Florida in just about 10 minutes. The Heading Right crew will be liveblogging followed by our always fun follow-up/wrap-up at Debate Central. Head on over.

The Republican debate in Iowa this past week is being universally awarded the Worst Debate Ever by most, if not all pundits. Jonathan Martin at The Politico wrote on Friday:

Dissatisfied with the debate here Wednesday that drew widespread scorn, Iowa Republicans will discuss on Friday the possibility of holding another forum before the January 3rd caucuses.

The debate this week, sponsored by the Des Moines Register and Iowa Public Television, was to have been the final gathering of the GOP contenders, but one well-placed Iowa Republican said tonight that they were interested in getting the candidates back together

“We’d prefer if the Register debate did not leave a bad taste,” said this source, who requested anonymity. “Iowa deserves a little better than that.”

The most likely possibility would be the week after Christmas, when many of the contenders are expected back in the state to make a final push before the voting.

I do agree with Allahpundit who wrote, “Do it well or don’t do it.”

The biggest obstacle will be the logistics of the short time left between the Christmas holidays and the Caucuses. Leaving that aside, what would make this debate worth doing?

I have a few suggestions:

• Limit the debate to Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Fred Thompson, and Mitt Romney. While I like both Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo, eliminating them along with Ron Paul and Alan Keyes (why was he included anyhow?) would allow for a much more substantive debate.
• Limit the number of questions. Allow more substance over quantity.
• Related to the above, allow the candidates time to answer, allow rebuttal, and encourage discussion.
• Find a moderator who can control all of the above, and ask relevant follow up questions. I have seen Rush suggested.

Add your suggestions in the comments. How many and what questions should be asked? Who should moderate? Format? Anything else?

I want to take you on a quick ride around the blogosphere to sample the reaction to yesterday’s Republican debate. The opinions are varied, but there is one point of consensus — the debate format and moderator were absolutely awful. 30 second answers and show of hand questions are no way to run a debate. Having nine candidates in a 90 minute debate this late in the game is a recipe for, well, what we got yesterday.

Let’s start with the two blogs I watched live blog the speed fest.

Liberty Pundit Brian calls it a win for Romney and a loss for Fred Thompson.

No Runny Eggs Steve graded the candidates who in his opinion ranged from D- for Alan Keyes up to B minuses for Thompson and Giuliani and a B for Romney.

John Hawkins at Right Wing News ranked the players from bottom (Alan Keyes) to top (Fred Thompson) saying, “Winner: Fred Thompson. Good substance, good personality, and his I won’t raise my hand for an answer question reminded me of Reagan say “I paid for this microphone.” Fred definitely won.”

I will be adding to this through the day and early evening.

Should the Republican candidates take up this offer from RedState and Human Events for a do-over?

Today, allow us to make you this offer: We will organize a debate at a time and date amenable to you all. We will work with a national broadcaster to broadcast the debate as well as offer it online. We, not the liberal drive by media, will ensure the questioners are who they say they are. And we will choose them based on criteria that will be fully disclosed to you all which ensure the questioners aren’t activists for any Democratic candidate.

So, what do you think? Good Idea or not? Will the candidates respond?

Overall, the CNN/YouTube debate questions were better than I expected. Prior to the debate I looked at 100+ of the nearly 5000 questions submitted. I was concerned. CNN did a fair (but far from good) job of selecting the ones to use. Still, I think the format is more gimmick than substance.

The candidates:

Mitt Romney did well and didn’t hurt himself. Not hurting yourself is often the best you can expect from these debates. His initial exchange with Rudy Giuliani over immigration seemed to go a little farther than necessary, but no real gaffes. GRADE: C+

Rudy Giuliani may not have hurt himself, but he sure didn’t help himself. At all. He didn’t seem to bring his ‘A’ game, at least not until after the second break. His defense that NY wasn’t a sanctuary city appeared, well, defensive. GRADE: C-

John McCain did much better than he has in past debates. He came across as less angry and more passionate than in past performances. He did well on all topics but still has not convinced me that the Amnesty Bill wasn’t amnesty. He is the one candidate that I’ve liked well in the debates, but can not support because of his past record on McCain/Feingold, amnesty, and the “Gang of 14″, etc. GRADE: B

Fred Thompson has the best answers and is closest to my views across the board. His White Papers and the details he has for his ideas are outstanding. He just doesn’t convey a real spark. If there were more passion I think he would be unbeatable. GRADE: B

Mike Huckabee probably did more to help himself than any of the others. His emergance in the polls may have caused the moderators to give him some additional focus. On a personality level he appeared to be very relaxed and comfortable with all the questions, much more than I’ve seen in past debates. GRADE: B+

Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo didn’t help or hurt themselves, but for the most part were non-factors. GRADES: C

Ron Paul was not received well by the members of the live audience other than those who already support Ron Paul. He tried (again) to say that he isn’t an isolationist. Saying it doesn’t make it so. He is wrong on the war and forign policy. He will not be the nominee no matter how much money he raises or how loudly his supporters can shout. GRADE: F

I have been looking through the pool of YouTube debate questions, and haven’t found a well done one yet. Of course there are nearly 5000 videos that were submitted.

I hope I’ve missed the good ones.

The Republican presidential candidates will be on the stage in St. Petersburg tonight for the CNN/YouTube debate. I will be liveblogging once again, and will try to update here and at Heading Right.

Following the debate, we will jump on over to Debate Central at BlogTalkRadio for our analysis of what transpired.

I will try to get a list here on this post of those who will also be liveblogging.

I know the Brian at Liberty Pundit will be trying out his new liveblogging tool, and has the link to the YouTube pool of questions.

Steveegg will be on the job as well, but is bemoaning the fact that, “Michelle and Bryan will be live-vlogging the YouTube debate.”

The Republican debate in Iowa on December 4th will not (as of now) include candidates Tom Tancredo, Duncan Hunter, or Ron Paul. The Iowa Republican Party, who is sponsoring the debate along with Fox News, issued standards for participation on Tuesday.

The Ronulans are not amused.

That’s because the sponsors said participants need to average 5% support among Republicans in recent national or Iowa polls — and so far, Texas Rep. Ron Paul is one of the candidates not making the cut.

News of the party’s decision and how to protest it was spread quickly over the Internet by supporters of the anti-war, anti-tax, anti-abortion libertarian. “We are getting bombarded” with calls and e-mails from Paul’s supporters, said GOP spokeswoman Mary Tiffany. She said there were 25 voice mails from angry Paul supporters before the start of business Thursday.

The answer Tiffany gives is exactly right:

“I’m all about the First Amendment, but at the same time, how is this productive?” she asked. “They need to start calling voters and start door-knocking instead of calling the Republican Party of Iowa.”

The deluded supports really think that they are doing much, much, much better than they are. Any suggestion to the contrary is treated as a) delusion, or b) a conspiracy.

Expect them to be in a foul mood for the next four weeks.

(h/t Flopping Aces)

If it wasn’t for coffee, I’d have no discernible personality at all. ~ David Letterman

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I particularly invite everyone to go by SYLG and wish Wyatt a great blogiversary!

Debate Reactions:

Iowa Voice (Brian) New Hampshire Debate: Detailed Analysis And Who Won

I still stand by my initial impression, that the format was awful and the questions asked were even worse. Nothing new was really learned from these guys, and if people are watching these to help them make up their minds, it’s not helping them do that. I’m one of those people who still haven’t decided who to support, and watching this debate didn’t move me any closer to making a decision.

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) Post Debate Analysis: Giuliani Keeps The Crown For Now

The third GOP debate is over, although there may be some who haven’t realized it yet. What it lacked in firepower, it more than made up in pointlessness. And while CNN may not have been anywhere near as bad as MS-NBC, they should still be embarassed that their audience asked better questions than CNN’s journalists.

Michelle Malkin Another GOP game-show debate on CNN Fred Thompson on Fox: “They did alright.”

Bottom line: No knock-out punches, no fireworks. None of the candidates have changed their mind on anything since the last debate. And they probably didn’t change any viewers’ minds about them tonight.
I remain totally….uninspired.

Once again there was great liveblogging of the debate at Heading Right, and a lively follow up discussion at Debate Central. You can hear my thoughts as well as those of Frank P from Political Vindication and Mac from Macsmind with Captain Ed Morrissey moderating.

The archived podcast should be available very soon for those who didn’t listen live.

I’ll be talking about the debate tomorrow morning on First Cup Radio. If you’re going to be up that early (6am Eastern) please call in and give me your thoughts. The call in number is: (718) 664-9725

One question for all of you, who will be the first of the ten current candidates to drop out of the race? I have a new poll in the right sidebar.

The drink that comforteth the brain and heart and helpeth digestion. ~ Sir Francis Bacon

I am still unable to post from home. A “line upgrade” is keeping me tv-less, internet-less, and even phone-less until later today (Wednesday) or Thursday (which, reading between the cable company lines, probably translates to Friday or Saturday).

I’ll try to post something during lunch. In the mean time, the crew at Heading Right did a great job of following last night’s debate. I’m anxious to hear the debate roundup. You can listen now at Debate Central, I’ll listen when I have access to a computer with speakers and a sound card.

Good communication is just as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after. ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

A different format today as we look at blogger reaction to last night’s debate.

Iowa Voice – Follow the links to his other posts.
Right Wing News – Here and here.
Sister Toldjah – Liveblogged here and a link to the transcript here.
Captain’s Quarters – Here and here. Ed will be talking about the debate on CQ Radio today at 3:00 eastern.

More Later