Paul’s popularity can’t necessarily be explained by a previously undetected craving for gold-standard debates on college campuses. His message, even if packaged in obscure economic lectures, is that there is something very corrupt, very Halliburton-Blackwatery going on with our military-industrial complex, and that can attract some pretty weird followers. At the Iowa State event, a student stood outside in a tricornered hat and Revolutionary War–era suit, ringing a bell. Representative Tom Tancredo, another long-shot G.O.P. candidate, tells me that after a debate in New Hampshire, one of his staffers walked up to a guy in a shark costume and asked him if he was a Ron Paul supporter. “No. They’re all nuts,” replied the shark. “I’m just a guy in a shark suit.”

Mike Huckabee – Scored points for honesty by being the only candidate to note that Americans are worse off now than they were eight years ago (though he blamed it on Congress, not Bush).”

But Mike points out correctly that Ron Paul also gave us some straight talk:

Uhm, excuse me? Mike Huckabee was not the only candidate to say that. Ron Paul was aligned with Huckabee on this, with one further nugget of wisdom.

Straight from the CNN transcript (http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0801/30/se.01.html):

COOPER: Congressman Paul, 61 percent of Americans think there is a recession already — 61 percent of Americans say there’s already a recession. Are we better off than we were eight years ago?

PAUL: No, no, we’re not better off. We’re worse off, but it’s partially this administration’s fault and it’s the Congress. But it also involves an economic system that we’ve had for a long time and a monetary system that we’ve had and a foreign policy that’s coming to an end and we have to admit this.

Good catch, Mike.

KEY MOMENT:
McCain continued the line of attack he began in Florida by using an obviously out-of-context quote to accuse Romney of supporting a timetable for withdrawal in Iraq.  Romney defended himself well, at one point asking McCain why he considered himself an expert on his (Romney’s) record.  Even Anderson Cooper got in on the action by reading the full quote and defending Romney on the point.  The moment badly undermined John McCain’s reputation as a straight talker, and whatever traction he gained from that line of attack in Florida, it has the very real potential of backfiring nationally.

RANKINGS
1. Mitt Romney – The recent economic downturn was the best thing that could have happened to Romney’s campaign because he no longer feels pressed to try to be someone he’s not.  He was never convincing as the newly-converted social conservative, and as long as the topics were abortion, gay rights, and stem cell research, the size of the holes in his record were matched only by the physical discomfort he showed while answering questions on those subjects.  Last night, the topic was the economy and Romney was clearly in his element.  He made the mistake early of bringing up the subject of endorsements and John McCain hit him hard, noting that Romney’s hometown Boston papers all endorsed McCain in the New Hampshire primary.  But Romney recovered later with a strong defense against McCain’s timetable attack, and a strong case for why his time in the private sector displayed leadership not, as McCain asserts, management skills.

2. Mike Huckabee – Scored points for honesty by being the only candidate to note that Americans are worse off now than they were eight years ago (though he blamed it on Congress, not Bush).  He wisely pulled the discussion of conservatism away from the economy and back to his strong suit, social issues.  He also gave a good defense of federalism on the question of whether he sided with Governor Schwarzenegger or George Bush on California’s climate change policy, and he convincingly echoed Mitt Romney on why governors make better presidents than senators.  Unfortunately though, he did little to reassure voters about his foreign policy experience, as he stumbled through questions on Vladimir Putin and the military.  Also spent too much time complaining about the lack of attention he was getting from the moderators.

3. Ron Paul – Ron Paul supporters are notorious for crying foul, but tonight the moderators did seem to be, whether consciously or not, marginalizing his presence.  At one point, Paul attempted to use his time to answer an earlier question he didn’t get a shot at, and Anderson Cooper quickly jumped in to cut him off.  Nevertheless, Paul gave a typically strong debate performance, railing against government spending and American military overreach.  Perhaps overstepped his rhetoric when he seemed to absolve the president (not just Bush, but the office itself) of any responsibility for the economy.

4. John McCain – Unlike Mitt Romney, the recent economic downturn was the worst thing that could have happened to McCain’s campaign.  He fumbled the first question of the debate, looking every bit as uncomfortable on economic issues as Romney claims he is.  At one point, McCain said the words “sub-prime” but stumbled as though he couldn’t remember what came next, until finally abandoning the phrase altogether.  And on the question of why he’d be a better economic president than Romney, he made an awkward pivot to national security that didn’t work.  On the plus side, McCain came prepared with good oppo research and hit Romney hard on his economic record in Massachussets.  He also gave Romney a great shot on the Boston newspaper endorsements, and though McCain lost the debate, that’s likely to be the clip that’s played on news broadcasts across the country.  His attempt to continue the timetable attack on Romney failed miserably, mostly because it’s so obviously false.  When Anderson Cooper calls your bluff on an attack, it’s time to back down.  McCain would be wise to abandon that strategy altogether.  Overall, it was a long night for John McCain, and as long as the economy is on the frontburner he’s going to struggle.