We’re now in a stage where each candidate gets to ask a question of another.

Romney talks about how China will be a tougher competitor because they’re currently making toys, Christmas ornaments, and dog food, and will want to start making jumbo jets. Yeah, but their toys poison kids, God knows what’s in their dog food, and the folks making the Christmas ornaments aren’t free to celebrate Christmas. If their jumbo jets work like their toys, they’ll probably fall out of the sky on a regular basis.

Giuliani says the rise of China is “a wonderful opportunity,” more customers, and touts their rise out of poverty. “We can sell them energy independence — they need it more than we do.”

He goes on to hit Clinton’s “peace dividend.”

McCain asks something of a softball to Huckabee on the Fair Tax.

I wish he asked, “Governor, earlier tonight, did you really compare Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction to Easter eggs?”

Huckabee makes a nearly-impossible-to-pass Fair Tax plan sound like a peace of cake. Does it in a really likeable way, too.

Another correspondent just e-mailed me that this debate is, so far, “a snooze-fest.” Go figure, all along, Fred Thompson was the zesty wild card of this field.

Something about McCain’s answer to Paul seemed a little shaky, but I want to go back to the transcript. Phil Gramm was cited frequently.

As expected, Huckabee asks Romney the most pointed question, about the Assault Weapons Ban. Romney says he does not support any new legislation. “We have laws in place that, if enforced, will provide the safety we need.”