There appears to be a consensus out there among pundits that Rick Santorum performed poorly and missed a major opportunity in last night’s debate. Some conservative commentators were among those most harsh in their rating of the former Pennsylvania senator.
Eric Erickson of Red State: “Newt Gingrich won it. He was the only candidate who repeatedly steered the questions toward Barack Obama. He …returned to the role of elder statesman.
“The crowd leaned to Mitt Romney. It was probably inevitable. Mesa, Ariz. (has) the second largest concentration of Mormons in America and the state Republican Party handled getting the seats filled. It threw Rick Santorum off his game. The crowd booed Santorum (for) taking on Romneycare’s individual mandate.
“Santorum did not shine. He came in, it seemed, prepared to be beaten up. He was off his game. In the second half of the debate he did better. But the beginning was stumbling, bumbling, angry, and in the weeds. One thing he did very, very well is steer the contraception issue to families.
Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post: “Winners — Ron Paul. Who knew the Texas congressman was such an attack dog? While we’ve seen flashes of it in previous debates, he really went after Rick Santorum on Wednesday and got himself plenty of camera time in the process. … Mitt Romney — It wasn’t his strongest performance, but he did what he had to do for the here-and-now — knock Santorum down a few pegs.
“Losers — Rick Santorum: For a guy who finally gained frontrunner status after a long haul, he didn’t handle it very well on the debate stage. As we noted Wednesday night, many of his counterpunches were difficult to follow and went way too far into the weeds.
“’I didn’t follow all of that,’ Romney said after Santorum spent a while explaining the earmarking process.
“Neither did the audience and most voters, which was Santorum’s problem.”
Here is a portion of a summary of the debate reactions compiled by Politico’s James Hohmann:
National Review editor Rich Lowry: “Rick Santorum’s night was defined by explaining why he voted for things he opposed … He didn’t know when to let go on the earmark discussion, which he couldn’t possibly win. … Again and again Santorum got tangled up in his Senate record. Overall, he was too defensive, too insider, too complicated. Per usual, Romney came loaded to bear with (opposition research) and was deft enough to use it effectively, catching Santorum, for instance, apparently having it both ways on Title X.”
Politico’s Maggie Haberman: “The former Pennsylvania senator, who has been an agile debater with a surprising ability to take the fight to Romney in past debates, seemed nervous, tired and uncomfortable at the outset.”
The Atlantic’s Molly Ball: “That was not the debate Rick Santorum needed. In what may have been the last debate of the Republican primary, it’s a win for Romney — and a major missed opportunity for Santorum.”
Slate’s John Dickerson: “Santorum used to complain about being (marginalized in) debates. He was in the center of this one and he missed his moment to shine. He fared better when he was on the periphery, jockeying for position and demanding attention.
“He was in a defensive crouch for much of (Wednesday’s) debate, fending off attacks on his tenure in Washington and his conservative credentials. Depending on how voters process the debate, it was either a middling night for Santorum or a bad one.”
The report card from Time’s Mark Halperin: Romney, B-; Gingrich, C+; Paul, C-; Santorum, D+.
ABC’s Amy Walter said all of the candidates seemed to be low on energy and not on their A-game: “… This final – maybe – GOP primary debate was not a particularly strong one for any candidate. It generated a lot of light, but very little heat. And, it did produce one sure loser – Rick Santorum.”
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