As a rule, I never score debates - at least multi-candidate debates. When the two general election candidates get together, very frequently you can offer some statements about who got the better of the other. But that is not really the case with these multi-candidate affairs. So, instead of a grade, I'll just offer a few thoughts:

(1) I was entertained by the number of recycled lines I heard. You know, the zingers that candidates delivered from the old debates and have reused for this debate. That is an indication that the summer portion of the campaign was not of great consequence. Candidates will only repeat lines if they think that the audience has not heard them yet.

(2) While I was not invited to be part of Frank Luntz's focus group - and therefore might not be all that qualified to judge - I thought Giuliani did a good job.

(3) Ditto McCain. I thought he's stunk in every debate I've seen (which, I must admit, has not been all of them). This time, he looked good.

(4) I thought that the flow of the debate was greatly improved by the absence of T. Thompson and Gilmore. Both of them were lousy orators. It helped that there were fewer bad speakers tonight.

(5) Now...if we could just get Brownback and Tancredo to leave - we could have a real barn burner of a debate. Those two have a tin ear for political speech. Buzz killers.

(6) I was a little dissatisfied with the questioning. I thought there was far too much baiting. Too often were candidates provoked into attacking one another just for the sake of attacking. It annoyed me and it just seemed small.

(7) Romney generally rubs me the wrong way in these debates. In most of the debates I've seen, there's a point at which he is eagerly waving his hand, or talking over somebody else, trying to get into the debate. Every candidate does that from time to time, but Romney strikes me as a tad too eager, a tad too aggressive, a tad too clever. Whatever. This is largely a matter of personal preference, and I wouldn't dare objectify my own subjective reaction. But I think he just seems too much at these events.

(8) I find Huckabee's folksy wisdom thing enjoyable in small doses, but it weighs on me as time goes on. Plus...I can't help but ask: did he steal my line (read the last point)?

(9) More signs of John McCain's troubled state: he keeps being complimented. That's a sure sign these candidates see him as no threat.

(10) The other candidates seem now to think that Ron Paul is good to have on stage. He caught everybody off-balance in the early debates. After Rudy ripped into him in the summer, I think the other candidates got the message. You can go after this guy and look better. Pretty much everybody took a shot at him tonight.

(11) These debates have absolutely no probative value. They are little more than entertainment for the viewer and an artificial news story for the media. This is annoying.