She was the winner and it wasn’t even close — poised, forceful, fluid. It’s what anyone who has seen her at the cattle-calls or other events would expect (and many of the lines were the same). Now, we’ll see if it matters. She could get a bump from this event and the buzz, but it’s more likely that she’ll get more media attention now, with the opportunity to take advantage of it in coming weeks.
#related#I thought Perry was good, too. He was clearly amped up for this, and I always like Jindal.
Lindsey Graham seemed the worst to me. I get that he’s a foreign-policy candidate, but his obsession with talking about ISIS and the Middle East in almost every answer no matter what the question was monomaniacal. He’s famously supposed to be the upbeat, witty candidate, yet was downright depressing to listen to. He delivered perhaps the most mournful-sounding statement that the best days of America are ahead that I’ve ever heard.