Winners & Losers from the ABC News GOP Presidential Debate in New Hampshire – 1/7/12

The ABC News GOP Presidential Debate in New Hampshire just ended, and it was a very strong night for Mitt Romney.

The first segment of the debate had some fireworks, with Gingrich initially taking a shot at Mitt Romney by quoting a New York Times hitpiece on Romney. That was a mistake. Romney, quite predictably, brushed that attack off by attacking the New York Times! He said he wasn’t surprised at such an attack from the Times, but he said he was surprised to see Gingrich using the New York Times to attack him.

Rick Santorum and Ron Paul had a tense back and forth, with Paul calling Santorum “corrupt,” and questioning his work as a “lobbyist.” Santorum essentially blew Paul off by repeatedly telling Paul he is “not a libertarian” like Paul is – a not so subtle attempt by Santorum to say to GOP voters that Paul is not a true Republican.

The most tense exchange may have been between Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich, with Paul attacking Gingrich for not serving in Vietnam, and Gingrich responding indignantly that he felt “personally offended” to be attacked that way when he was not even eligible for the draft, and since he grew up in a military family.

But following those exchanges early in the debate, it settled into a muddle of bizarre questions by the ABC moderators on “contraception” and “gay marriage.” They were obviously trying to trap the Republican candidates with gotcha questions. Mitt Romney did a great job in particular of not falling into a trap by George Stephanopoulos. He tried to get Romney to agree there was a “right to privacy” in the Constitution on the issue of contraception, intending to then move to how Romney can oppose abortion when it is built on the same “right to privacy.” But Romney would not fall for it, instead saying the question was silly because no state wants to ban contraception.

Overall, I think Rick Santorum did well with the questions. He came across as someone in command of the issues. He should continue to do well. His momentum should continue, but I don’t think it will be enough to overtake Mitt Romney as long as Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich are still in the race.

Gingrich had some great moments, particularly when he slammed the bias of the media against Christians and traditional values, and Rick Perry had some strong answers – but not many of them. For much of the debate, it was as if Perry was not even there.

Rating the candidates in order of performance tonight: (1) Mitt Romney (2)Rick Santorum (3) Newt Gingrich (4) Ron Paul (5) Rick Perry (6) Jon Huntsman. Romney really just dominated this debate. Again and again, he took questions and moved to the big picture – talking repeatedly about how this election is about what kind of country we are going to be. He went after Barack Obama rather than attacking his GOP rivals, for the most part, and came off looking very Presidential. Whether you are a Romney fan or not, I think you have to admit he came across really strong tonight.