Gingrich Dominates Debate

Wednesday night's debate will be remembered for its less-than-stellar moderators, Rick Perry's senior moment, and Newt Gingrich's rise to the top.

The former Speaker of the House made the most of his camera time and showcased his intelligence, knowledge of history, and statesmanship.

In a debate that was supposed to be solely about the economy, CNBC moderator Maria Bartiromo upset the audience, and most of the people watching when she asked Herman Cain about the recent sexual harassment accusations that have been brought against him.

I give kudos to Mr. Cain for handling the question professionally and not going up to Ms. Bartiromo and kicking her in shins like everyone else wanted to.

Also, Mitt Romney deserves credit for taking the high road when asked if he would hire Mr. Cain.

Both questions were unnecessary in a debate about the economy and the people at CNBC should apologize to both Cain and Romney.

Now, on to substance!

Herman Cain really needs to step up his game if he wants to remain a front runner in this race. He continues to speak in generalities and market his 9-9-9 plan as "bold".

The New Deal was bold too, but it failed and prolonged the Great Depression and led to many of the entitlement programs we struggle to fund today.

When asked how he help America compete, he responded by saying we need to, "grow this economy" and repeated that phrase several times during the debate. We need more specifics from Cain, not just flashy rhetoric.

Mitt Romney just keeps getting better and better in the debates. On more than one occasion, including the question I described earlier, the moderators attempted to trap him with a question.

Governor Romney was asked about his flip-flopping on the auto industry bailout. The moderator suggested that he supported government intervention before but now he thinks it was a mistake.

Romney very easily put the moderator in their place and said his call for government intervention was in reference to repealing regulations that were favoring foreign car manufacturers and hurting American ones.

Rick Perry may become the butt of many jokes after he failed to name the three government agencies he would eliminate. He named two, but could not recall the third one, which he later revealed was the Department of Energy.

This may seem like a minor gaffe for any other candidate, but Perry has had a rough go of it in the debates and people may just give up on him.

Now, Newt Gingrich continues to have strong debate performances. He relies on his immense knowledge of history to justify his positions, a strategy that should be successful in both the primary and general election campaigns.

Gingrich knows his stuff, and that's important. He is a very accomplished politician and person.

In addition to his time spent as Speaker of the House, Gingrich was a college professor and a successful consultant.

You can call this an endorsement or not, but as of right now Newt Gingrich is getting my vote.

In the debate, he called out the moderators and shed light on the ludicrous debate format.

When asked to describe in 30 seconds what he would do to fix the health care system he responded, "in 30 seconds?"

I like the fact that Gingrich wants to have Lincoln-Douglas style with Obama, as I think Obama will make a fool out of himself if he had to go one on one with Gingrich for 3 hours.

As for the rest of the field, Huntsman needs to just drop out; he is a non-factor. Ron Paul sounds smart until he starts talking about foreign policy. Michele Bachmann needs more face time in the debates, and Rick Santorum needs to stop whining.

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