E-mail from my friend Quin Hillyer, a senior editor at the Spectator:
Subject: No flop at all!
Rich – PLEASE quote me on this. I have no idea where you heard that Romney “flopped” at the Spectator dinner, but from where I sat, that was absolutely, positively NOT the general consensus. Indeed, just the opposite: Everybody at my table seemed absolutely enthralled and impressed by Romney, and so did the people I heard talking on the way out of the dinner. My wife, in particular, who is not very political, pronounced herself tremendously impressed. It should also be noted that I am NOT a Romney partisan; I have no favorite yet for 2008.