5:58 PM PT: 9-9-9 takes another shot, this time from Rick Santorum, who actually scores some points, I think, with the audience. Santorum asks the audience if anybody believes Congress won't end up raising taxes...of course they all think Congress will raise taxes. Santorum then goes on a tirade at Mitt Romney about health care reform, saying issuing a waiver to states is a bad idea because California wouldn't opt out of the law. Uh...state's rights are only good if they like what the states are doing, I guess.
6:00 PM PT: BTW, after Santorum's answer, didn't Charlie Rose basically lose control of the debate for a couple of minutes there? They started playing the music as if they were going to break, and then all the sudden Herman Cain was talking. But I didn't quite catch if it was Rose losing control, or just a technical snafu.
6:02 PM PT: BTW, Rick Perry continues to be MIA from this debate. He is saying next to nothing. And I just rewatched it: Rose was trying to give Cain and Romney a chance to respond to Santorum, but the producers played music when they shouldn't have. So he hasn't entirely lost control.
6:03 PM PT: Ryan Lizza on Rick Perry: "When Perry camp said Perry would get more sleep, didn't realize they meant DURING the debate."