Arizona Debate Live Blog

Debate Highlights

• There weren’t many. This was a pretty boring debate. What a cluster***k.
• Ron Paul made sense more than usual. In fact, he was probably the most clear candidate tonight. He was the only candidate who answered the question when asked what the biggest myth about him was in the media.
• Despite what we would call childish bickering at times, nothing too embarrassing happened, like one of the candidates forgetting which departments he’d cut or Ron Paul imitating a drug addict.
• Question about whether the candidates supported birth control and if not why. Seriously the loudest boo of a debate yet.

Debate Lowlights

• Where to begin? This could be the last GOP presidential debate this year after Mitt Romney pulled out of the Georgia debate scheduled for next week and Santorum and Paul followed suit. This debate was proof positive Romney made the right call. This debate was totally unnecessary.
• Rick Santorum’s answers on No Child Left Behind and earmarks were unacceptable. Santorum now says supporting No Child Left Behind was a “mistake” and he “took one for the team.” When asked about earmarks, he pivoted and claimed Ron Paul was the most earmarking member currently in Congress. He also tried to claim that Paul is one of the least conservative members of the Republican Party currently in Congress, according to the ACU, which is totally false.
• Mitt Romney packed a few punches, but at times his answers ran long and were incoherent. Perhaps he shouldn’t have let Michele Bachmann’s debate coach go after all . . .
• None of the candidates proved that they were ready to take on Obama. Even Newt Gingrich was oddly quiet.

9:54pm One of the best moments in the debate so far – John King accuses Romney of not answering the question (to be fair, he didn’t) Romney goes on the attack, says, “You get to ask the questions you want – I get to give the answers I want.” HA!

9:41pm Rick Santorum FINALLY says where he currently stands on No Child Left Behind. Too bad his answer was terrible. Says he “took one for the team” and he “made a mistake.”

9:30pm If you’re wondering where we went on twitter, Twitter temporarily locked our account for tweeting too much (it was all those #redalerts we were RTing) oops. Keep following our political team and #redalerts for our political coverage on twitter.

9:25pm Gingrich says he disagrees with Paul that we shouldn’t intervene in Iran – when you have a mad man . . . it’s your moral responsibility to protect the American people. There are times when we need to preempt.

9:20pm Their actual answers were: Consistent; Courage; Resolute; Cheerful

Follow our Red Alert Politics team on twitter tonight: Red Alert Editor @fran_chambers, Associate Editor @staceydisterhof and our political contributors @anniedwyer @AG_conservative @Gabby_hoffman @BrandonKiser and @MikeRWakefield.

9:15pm Candidates asked to describe themselves using one word and one word only. My predicitions: Paul – Liberty; Santorum – conservative; Romney – outsider; Gingrich – VISIONARY. – Francesca

Stacey: Paul – Strict Constitutionist; Santorum: Integrity; Romney: Olympics; Gingrich: IWANTIT! or MINE!

9:11pm John King asks how Santorum would deal with people who employ illegal immigrants as housekeepers, Santorum says he’s not going to make individual homeowners deal with e-verify. *cough, Meg Whitman* *cough, Mitt Romney* – Francesca

9:05pm Rick Santorum says he supported Arlen Spector in Pennsylvania over Pat Toomey in the Senate primary because Spector said he would support the President’s judical nominees. Spector was chair of the judiciary at that time, by the way. Best answer on Spector so far from Santorum.- Francesca

8:51pm Paul: You “can’t blame the pills for the immorality of our society.” Compares blaming the pills for the problem to blaming guns for murders. Good answer. UPDATE: Paul also points out that Plan B is basically the same as birth control – if you ban one you might as well ban the other. – Francesca

8:56pm Here we go . . . a question on contraception.

8:40pm This debate is like a cat fight among school girls – Rick Santorum is pushing off every one of Romney’s criticisms of him onto Ron Paul. Has claimed so far that Paul is the most prolific earmarker currently in Congress and that he ranks in the bottom portion of ACU’s conservative rankings. BTW, it is true that Santorum has a higher life-time rating from ACU, but it’s not true that Paul ranks near the bottom.

8:12pm Romney comes out swinging against Rick Santorum. This is a huge shift from his tone in debates prior to South Carolina. He is clearly taking the competition seriously now, as he should.

7:45pm Tune in CNBC in 5 minutes to watch The Examiner’s David Freddoso talk about the AZ debate.