It was a tough distinction to earn (given the competition), but tonight ABC News managed to stage perhaps the most pointless debate of the Republican presidential race. George Stephanopoulos and Diane Sawyer seemed to be under the impression that Mitt Romney is in 5th place in the GOP race (they seemed to be aware that Rick Perry is in 6th) and therefore saw little point in asking the other candidates how they would distinguish themselves from him.  

Instead, the moderators encouraged tussles between Ron Paul and essentially everyone else on the stage (successfully managing to draw Rick Santorum, in particular, into that trap). Then, having entirely controlled the debate’s content and flow to the detriment of Republican voters and all but one member of the GOP field, they abruptly cut off debate at 10:45 EST — so as to leave time to broadcast their post-debate “analysis” in prime time.