Republican Undercard Debate: Live Coverage

Christie is the strongest, most memorable candidate on stage. I’d give second place to Santorum, on the grounds that he keeps managing to hit his signature issue (family values) in the middle of an economics debate. Points for finding ways to play to his constituency.

I feel like Mike Huckabee faded into the background. Chris Christie did well. Going after Clinton is always a winner. I’m less sure about Bobby Jindal. He definitely stood out, but attacking fellow Republicans is usually not a winner. Rick Santorum did fine, but nothing great.

To my eyes, Christie was the most polished and tactically sound. And as we wrote before the debate, the media seems ready for a Christie comeback story, so he might get the best press coverage. But Jindal’s gotten the most search traffic, and historically that’s been as good a predictor of polling surges as pundit takes. Still, I guess I’d say Christie > Jindal > Shucktorumbee.