[vulturesrow]

My final impressions after all is said and done:

Mitt Romney - Consider this my official 2p2 Politics Forum eating crow statement. He started off slick (too slick for me as I said) and quickly showed how not good he is at straddling the fence. However, I give him full credit for his answer to the Confederate flag question. Good on him for that. But at this point I cant see myself voting for the guy. Maybe he'll convince me but I doubt it. Also, gold star to Borodog for his incredulity at me saying Id vote for Romney. Apparently he knows me better than I know myself. [censored] astrophysicists..

Huckabee - Came off well and obviously a likeable guy. However, I dont buy into his whole compassionate conservativism schtick. Not that I dont think he doesnt believe, I think he does, and thats what scares me. As someone else astutely pointed out, he's kind of the worst combination of a Democrat and Republican. I dont see myself voting for him, even he gets the nod from the GOP.

Tancredo - Sort of turned around this guy some. YEah I think he is still primarily a one trick pony and I definitely am not as rabid on immigration as he is. However, I thought he gave some great answers and the one about the mission to Mars was an epic homerun. I think Im going to look at him a little more seriously.

Hunter - I agree with whoever said LOL.

Thompson - Dont know how to explain this, but I really dont any particular impression. He seemed polished, had some good answers, evinced a bit of a genuine sense of humor, but I'm still kind of meh on him. I'm keeping an eye on him but Im not sure how realistic his chances are.

Giuliani - As I said before, I admit I'm biased against him. But I wasnt impressed by him. Decent debator, definitely worked hard to turn everything into a chance to brag about his accomplishments as Mayor but a little too over the top with that particular tactic. And his odd speaking style still gives me that cat with scotch tape on his paws feeling.

Paul - First time I've listened to him speak. I was fairly impressed. AlexM needled me about this earlier, but he seriously needs to work on not coming off so bitterly. He definitely pwned some guys, McCain in particular. I'm definitely considering supporting him, but I'm not sold yet.

McCain - I agree with whoever said McCain seems tired. I feel sort of bad for him since I consider him somewhat of a hero of mine, but boy did he give some bad answers tonight. He said some good things too but it was definitely overshadowed by some of the other stuff. I hope he makes a good run, but I dont see it happening. And I still havent quite forgiven him for the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform.