Talk about it here. Watch it live on CNN or
CNN.com.
5:12 PM PT: Mitt Romney brags about balancing the budget when he "served in the Olympics." Yeah, actually, the American taxpayer balanced that budget—with $1.2 billion.
5:15 PM PT: Rick Santorum just accused Mitt Romney of raising taxes—and of using the Occupy Wall Street rhetoric. Romney says Santorum is full of baloney, and proceeds to talk about the top 1%. Romney is really running hard to the right—and Santorum chooses not to respond to his rebuttal (or perhaps John King didn't give him a chance). Romney sounded really indignant.
5:18 PM PT: I still don't quite get why Ron Paul is always attacking Mitt Romney's chief rival instead of Mitt Romney. I wonder what his game plan is?
5:20 PM PT: Santorum, at least so far, is really throwing it back in Ron Paul's face, however.
5:23 PM PT: John King asks Mitt Romney about the "severely conservative" comment. Romney says that he meant "severe" as in "strict." Side note: is that a bead of sweat forming on his upper limit.
5:25 PM PT: Gilbert really is the star of this debate so far.
5:27 PM PT: God, these debates over who is the bigger earmarked are tiring. As long as it is transparent, earmarks aren't bad: why should Congress give the executive total control over the budget?
5:28 PM PT: Romney is so wildly insincere, but I'm not sure it was wise for him to say he couldn't follow Santorum's answer, which was pretty easy to follow.
5:31 PM PT (Barbara Morrill): New thread is up here.