Elephant in the Room

8:11pm. John McCain makes a book recommendation to Ron Paul -- The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith.

8:15pm Huckabee: "Prostitutes and pimps don't pay taxes, but we do." I cannot believe Gov Huckabee just said "pimp".

8:16pm Hunter: Too many jobs going offshore. "Fractured great industrial base of this country". Says Most Favored Nation trading status with China sent millions of US jobs over to China, where people are cheating.

8:17pm. Thompson again. He seems nervous. Argues against Hunter, and says we should not turn our backs on free trade.

8:19pm It sounds like most the candidates agree that the current tax code needs to go. Brownback calls it an "abomination" and offers a flat tax. Huckabee has a "fair tax". Everyone also agrees it's time to reign in spending. Tancredo wants to privatize Social Security and structurally change Medicare.

8:24pm Romney and Giuliani spar over the line-item veto. (Romney for, Giuliani against). Giuliani, on challenging the line-item veto in court: "I took President Clinton to court, and I beat him. And I don’t think it’s a bad idea to have a Republican presidential candidate who actually has beat President Clinton at something.[Laughter]”

Fun Fact: The Texas Governor does have the power to use a line-item veto in the biennial budget before he signs it. This year, Perry's line-item veto of $154 million for community colleges led to a very public outcry by both Republicans and Democrats. Lawmakers are currently still in the process of trying to work out a deal to restore the money.

8:29pm. Im not just saying this because I'm a female and an ethnic minority, but every time I see the wide shot of all the candidates I notice how much this bunch of candidates does not look like the rest of America.

8:31pm Speaking of minorities, illegal immigration enters this debate for the first time. Guess who brought it up? If you guessed a.) Tom Tancredo, you are correct.

8:31pm Romney says he's going to "go to work for Michigan". That "for me, Michigan is personal". Why is Michigan so personal for Romney? This smells llike pandering...

8:36pm We're a quarter of the way through and the big names have gotten the most face time. Though, second tier candidate Huckabee appears very smooth, poised, and uses the Southern colloquialisms like "we're going to get our britches beat" that Thompson needs to be working in a little more. (The folksy charm is one of the reasons people seem to like him.)

8:38pm. All the candidates take on The Dubai Question -- whether a Dubai company should be able to own 20 percent of NASDAQ? Most say yes, conditional on national security concerns. Duncan Hunter says no. Then he says "if Dubai wanted to buy Wal-Mart, I might think about it".

8:43pm Performance-wise, Thompson's hitting a more comfortable stride, his baritone is back. I'm noting his performance since this is his first time out -- and because he's a professional performer.

8:44pm. The first COMMERCIAL BREAK! The ads go in this order: Insurance, Telecom, Oil and Gas, Banking, Shipping, Banking, Telecom. Probably all good for the demographic that's actually watching (the replay of) this debate.

8:47pm. Thompson on Iraq: "We're showing signs of progress. The policy that we have right now is the right one." Says something about not wanting to leave with our tail between our legs, which I'm going to count as a folksy colloquialism.

Colloquialism count:
Huckabee: 2, Thompson: 1

8:49pm As moderator Maria Bartiromo, aka The Money Honey, asks a question, McCain gives her the steely, squinty stare.

FUN FACT: Joey Ramone of "The Ramones" wrote a song about Bartiromo, with lyrics that included: "Those eyes make everything okay / I watch her every day / I watch her every night / she's really out of sight." Full Lyrics here.

8:52pm Brownback says he and Democratic candidate Joe Biden will team up to talk about the so-called partition plan for Iraq, which Biden has been championing for more than a year.

8:55pm Interesting. Question: Does Congress have to authorize a strategic attack (in this case the example is Iran) Romney says "I'm gonna let the lawyers work that out."

8:57pm Ron Paul lashes out against this idea of skipping congress and attacking another country: "This idea of going to talk to attorneys totally baffles me! Why doesn't someone go into the Constitution and READ IT! This is just war propaganda! This is a road to disaster for us as a nation. It is a road to disaster if we don't read the constitution once in awhile."

9:00pm Whoa, Thompson demonstrates his knowledge of constitutional law by dropping "the lower-powers act". Snap.

Okay, as originally intended, I covered this for an hour, which wound up going by pretty fast. I think I typed quickly enough and with enough accuracy for Mavis Beacon to be proud. But the next hour of the debate will be pseudo-live-blogless on this forum... though I'm sure it's available on many others. Thanks for reading.