Spin Cycle

The Republican debate in Florida tonight featured a lack of the conflict that dominated the last Democratic debate, a fairly strong performance by Mitt Romney, a concession by Rudy Giuliani that he had faded, and enough attacks on Hillary and Bill Clinton to make it clear that she is again the Democratic frontrunner.

Romney used his business background to put emerging questions on the economy in his wheelhouse, and repeatedly hit his new theme of being a GOP change agent not responsible for "Washington" problems. Giuliani, a former frontrunner now down in the polls, compared himself to the underdog Giants. Everyone hammered Hillary for urging "surrender" in Iraq, and Romney said he couldn't imagine Bill back in the WH with nothing to do.

Chuck Todd of MSNBC, the debate sponsor: "Overall, the tame affair was good news for both Romney and McCain, the two frontrunners in Florida; both got to sound and look presidential. Romney, in fact, may have had his best debate performance in a long time because he wasn't attacked."

McCain was hurt when he was asked about a quote in which he admitted not knowing much about economics. He denied the quote, but TPM did some factchecking: "Seems McCain did say that." Multiple times, in multiple places, in fact.

The Page grades Romney at A-, McCain B+, and Rudy B-.

Giuliani's passivity in the face of political doom caught the eye of Cillizza at The Fix: "That Giuliani was unwilling to take any direct shots at his opponents seems to signal that either his campaign knows something the pollsters don't or that he is content to make his policy points and let the chips fall where they may -- even if that means a third-place finish, which would badly hamstring his chances at the nomination."

But the conservatives over at Powerline were more impressed with Rudy, citing a poke at Castro in defending asylum for Cubans who flee to the US and a strong slap at the NYTimes for insulting the ex-mayor in an endorsement of McCain:
"However, I doubt that Rudy had a good enough night to turn things around, assuming he’s in the kind of trouble some say he is."

Rich Lowry at The Corner (Natl Review) noticed when McCain jumped in to defend Rudy against the Times' harsh language: "Had an unmistakable undertone: 'You're no longer a threat to me.' "

Captains Quarters' Ed liked Romney and Rudy, less so McCain, claiming credit for the surge and backing a cap-and-trade scheme to limit greenhouse emissions: "He did well on the war questions, but his repetitive pillorying of Donald Rumsfeld has gotten old, a crutch that he uses far too often. He falsely claimed that a majority of Republicans worry about global warming, which shows him to be a little out of touch with the base in a very obvious way."

And A. Sullivan finds it jarring to hear Romney denounce Hillary's health care plan, which is based on the same individual-mandate universal-coverage model he imposed in Mass.: "Romney's ability to treat his own policies as if they were utterly anathema to him is ... how to put it? ... unsettling."

But Hugh Hewitt fell head over heels for the Man from Massachusetts when he said he wanted Gen. David Petraus to guide Iraq policy, not "General Hillary Clinton:" A "memorable and effective display of the sort of energy and tactics the GOP candidate must make every day for the next eight months."