With Rick Perry dropping out of the race to endorse Newt Gingrich this morning, four Republican presidential candidates remained for tonight’s CNN debate in South Carolina. Any comments about the debate or about Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul or Rick Santorum are welcome in this thread. I’ll update with my thoughts later–so far I’m most encouraged to hear some statements by the candidates against the Stop Online Piracy Act.

UPDATE: Missed the first part of the live broadcast, but finished watching the replay on CNN and added some comments after the jump.

Ron Paul didn’t say a thing that would move any undecided voter to his corner. He kept his supporters happy, but I didn’t hear anything new. His answer on abortion as a state issue made some sense but won’t go over well in South Carolina. At one point he seemed to admit that he’s in the campaign to spread a message rather than to win. Paul punched a lot less frequently on the anti-war rhetoric; I think he recognizes that it doesn’t resonate in this state. I doubt any committed Paul voters would jump ship after this debate, but I see him finishing fourth on Saturday.

This was the worst debate performance I’ve ever seen by Romney. Agree with Bleeding Heartland user albert in the comments, he came across as nervous and unprepared for obvious questions. It’s rare for a Republican debate audience to boo a candidate, but Romney drew boos and jeers with his non-committal answer on releasing multiple tax returns. Whatever he’s worried about exposing must be very embarrassing. If he’d gotten the tax returns out before now, the media wouldn’t be obsessing about this issue two days before an important primary.

Romney had a reasonable answer defending his “pro-life” record, but he sounded weak on health care reform and even referred to his own plan as “Romneycare.”

Romney’s best stretch came in the middle of the debate, when he mocked Gingrich for taking credit for economic expansions in the 1980s and 1990s. He also made fun of the fact that Reagan only mentioned Gingrich once in his diaries (alluding to an idea Gingrich floated that Reagan rejected). But Romney had too many bad moments for those lines to be memorable.

Santorum had a great night and delivered the best closing statement. I have always thought he did well in the debates. With fewer candidates in the mix, he gets more time to speak and a chance to answer every question. He didn’t make too big a deal out of the new results from Iowa. He presented his plan to support American manufacturing well. He landed some solid punches on the abortion issue–whispering into the microphone to highlight some Republicans’ reluctance to speak out against choice was effective. Incidentally, Santorum’s campaign is distributing copies of Romney’s 2002 Planned Parenthood questionnaire, showing several pro-choice answers. Reading the questionnaire, I liked how Romney twice called out the authors for writing questions with “confusing” double-negative wording.

Ignoring all evidence from every poll done this cycle, Santorum strung together a credible-sounding (to conservatives) case for why he would be more electable than Romney. The only odd moment from my perspective was when Santorum hedged on releasing his own tax returns, saying they were on his home computer and “I’m not home.” But no one’s going to remember that, because Romney stumbling over the same question is the story of the debate.

Santorum also undercut Gingrich’s claim to be a brave crusader for conservatism and effective leader as speaker of the House of Representatives. I think he had no choice, because there’s a real risk that South Carolina conservatives will abandon him for Gingrich in order to stop Romney.

I don’t have a clear read on how Gingrich did tonight. Overall I felt that he was a little flat, but maybe that’s because he was so “on” during Monday night’s debate. Right out of the gate, he got an embarrassing question about his ex-wife’s “open marriage” claims. Gingrich responded with an attack on John King and the mainstream media, and the crowd ate it up. But I am not convinced that any undecided women voters would buy his line about how we’ve all dealt with “personal pain,” and I don’t believe him when he says the story is false. I think he should have taken the path his surrogate Steve Deace took on MSNBC Thursday afternoon: chalk it up as one of many mistakes he made before the grace of God changed his life. Now he seems like a big jerk calling his wronged ex-wife a liar.

Like Santorum, Gingrich did a good job presenting himself as the most electable candidate, even though every poll shows Barack Obama would crush him. He defended his record on abortion and did a good job needling Romney about that issue and the missing tax returns.

I did laugh when Gingrich acknowledged, “I think grandiose thoughts.” The Romney campaign tried to spin its way out of a bad situation by mocking that comment with a press release listing various grandiose Gingrich statements. I enclose it below because it’s entertaining, but it won’t change the media narrative or the dynamic.

Gingrich’s answer on the immigration question was quite skillful; he managed to avoid a negative reaction from the crowd without walking back his previous comments about a path to legal residency for some undocumented immigrants.

Gingrich’s closing statement was better than Paul’s or Romney’s, but not as good as Santorum’s.

“I THINK GRANDIOSE THOUGHTS”

Mitt Romney Press | January 19, 2012

A Selection Of Speaker Gingrich’s Thoughts Over The Years

Gingrich on Gingrich:

“I Think I Am A Transformational Figure.” (PBS.org, 12/2/11)

“I Am Essentially A Revolutionary.” (Adam Clymer, “House Revolutionary,” The New York Times, 8/23/92)

“Philosophically, I Am Very Different From Normal Politicians … We Have Big Ideas.” (Andrew Ferguson, “What Does Newt Gingrich Know?” The New York Times, 6/29/11)

“I Have An Enormous Personal Ambition. I Want To Shift The Entire Planet. And I’m Doing It. … I Represent Real Power.” (Lois Romano, “Newt Gingrich, Maverick On The Hill,” The Washington Post, 1/3/85)

“I First Talked About [Saving Civilization] In August Of 1958.” (Robert Draper, “He’s Baaack!” GQ, 8/05)

“Over My Years In Public Life, I Have Become Known As An ‘Ideas Man.'” (Andrew Ferguson, “What Does Newt Gingrich Know?” The New York Times, 6/29/11)

“I Am The Longest Serving Teacher In The Senior Military, 23 Years Teaching One And Two-Star Generals And Admirals The Art Of War.” (GOP Presidential Candidates Debate, 12/15/11)

Speaker Gingrich Has Compared Himself to a Litany of Historical Leaders:

Ronald Reagan And Margaret Thatcher: “Gingrich said he learned a lot about himself in the political wilderness. … In the same breath, he compares himself to two conservative giants. With Gingrich, humility has its limits. ‘Because I am much like Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, I’m such an unconventional political figure that you really need to design a unique campaign that fits the way I operate and what I’m trying to do.'” (Jim Acosta, “Newt Gingrich Back From The Brink,” CNN.com, 11/16/11)

Abraham Lincoln: “Gingrich began his speech with remarks in which he predicted an economic recovery ‘literally’ the night Republicans would send Barack Obama home, and then announced, ‘I begin as Lincoln did.’ He argued that, like Lincoln, all his ideas came out of the Declaration of Independence.” (Jason Horowitz, “Newt Gingrich Draws Contrast With Romney,” The Washington Post, 12/1/11)

Woodrow Wilson: “He earned a PhD in history and taught college before winning a seat in Congress. He has often spoken of himself as a historian. In 1995, he told CNN’s Bob Franken: ‘I am the most seriously professorial politician since Woodrow Wilson.'” (John Pitney, “Five Myths About Newt Gingrich,” The Washington Post, 11/22/11)

Henry Clay: “Putting his tumultuous four years in the speaker’s chair into historical perspective, the former history professor compared himself to 19th century statesman Henry Clay, ‘the great compromiser’ who lost three bids for the presidency and served as speaker and secretary of State. Gingrich said that like Clay, he did more than just preside over the House. ‘I was not a presider, I was the leader,’ Gingrich said in the interview. ‘I think Henry Clay’s probably the only other speaker to have been a national leader and a speaker of the House simultaneously.'” (William Welch, “Gingrich: I’ll Go Down As Leader, Clinton As Tragedy,” USA Today, 8/30/99)

Charles De Gaulle: “‘At one point, I asked Gingrich, now a healthful-looking 65, about his sudden exit from Congress in 1998. ‘First of all, in the Toynbeean sense, I believe in departure and return,’ he told me. ‘In the what sense?’ I asked. ‘Arnold Toynbee,’ he replied matter-of-factly, referring to the English writer Arnold J. Toynbee, who wrote ‘A Study of History.’ ‘I believe in the sense that, you know, De Gaulle had to go to Colombey-les-Deux-Églises for 11 years.’ ‘I’m sorry?’ ‘Departure and return. And someone once said to me, if you don’t leave, you can’t come back, because you’ve never left.'” (Matt Bai, “Newt. Again.” New York Times Magazine, 2/25/09)

William Wallace: “‘If you go out and see what’s happening in the Tea Party, the last thing you want is a passionless election,’ Gingrich says, then refers to the epic movie about the battle for Scottish independence in the 13th century. ‘Remember Braveheart? These people want somebody who plants a flag in the ground, gives a speech and yells “Charge!” That is, someone like him.” (Susan Page, “Rising From The Pack, Gingrich Invites Scrutiny,” USA Today, 11/21/11)

Pericles: “In a long interview on May 4, 1992, devoted almost exclusively to the topic of Gingrich, [former White House aide Richard] Darman concluded that Gingrich was ‘an unstable personality’ who talks about four or five great people in history, including Pericles and himself.” (Bob Woodward, “In His Debut In Washington’s Power Struggles, Gingrich Threw A Bomb,” The Washington Post, 12/24/11)

The Duke Of Wellington: “Obsessed recently with Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, [Gingrich] likened the appropriations triumph to the way the British expeditionary force maneuvered against the French during the Peninsular War, a campaign in Portugal and Spain in the early 1800s that eventually led to Wellington’s ascendance and Napoleon’s abdication.” (Michael Weisskopf and David Maraniss, “In A Moment Of Crisis, The Speaker Persuades,” The Washington Post, 8/13/95)

A Viking:  “With his machine-gun staccato delivery, [Gingrich] is the center of attention. He terms himself a ‘Viking.'” (“Gingrich Delivers For GOP Faithful,” South Bend Tribune, 7/28/95)

Thomas Edison: “Once he took over GOPAC in 1986, the organization became what he called the creative thinking and research group of the Republican Party. ‘We are on the way to becoming the Bell Labs of politics,’ Mr. Gingrich proclaimed. ‘That’s the closest model you can find to what we do, and nobody else is in that business. The first thing you need at Bell Labs is a Thomas Edison, and the second thing you need is a real understanding of how you go from scientific theory to a marketable product.'” (Katharine Q. Seelye, “Birth Of A Vision,” The New York Times, 12/3/95)

Vince Lombardi: “By four in the morning, [Gingrich] had moved on to football metaphors. What the Republicans had accomplished, Gingrich said, was like the old Green Bay Packers sweep during the days of Coach Vince Lombardi: The opposition knows you are going to run at them, but they cannot stop you. Lombardi, Gingrich said, believed that the team that doesn’t break in the fourth quarter wins.” (Michael Weisskopf and David Maraniss, “In A Moment Of Crisis, The Speaker Persuades,” The Washington Post, 8/13/95)

The Wright Brothers:  “At that dinner, held in a convention center in Johnston, Gingrich sought to add more emotional lift into his stump speech. ‘I am asking you to embark with me on a voyage of invention and discovery,’ he said, ‘to be as bold and as brave as the Wright brothers.'” (Jason Horowitz, “Newt Gingrich Draws Contrast With Romney,” The Washington Post, 12/1/11)

Moses: “On this night, Gingrich congratulated his troops on standing united and inspired them with stories about Charles de Gaulle’s heroism and George Washington at Valley Forge … At one point, he likened himself, lightheartedly, to Moses. He’d help them cross the Red Sea once again, Gingrich vowed, but only if they promised, this time, to stay on the other side.” (Matt Bai, “Newt. Again.” New York Times Magazine, 2/25/09)