Debate Roundup: August 11th GOP Primary Debate

The second major debate of the GOP primary season just ended and brought a little more clarity to the standings of the Republican presidential candidates. While we will know more about how the race will look going forward after this weekend's Ames Straw Poll in Iowa, the debate provided us with a glimpse at which candidates have a chance to win and which are dead in the water. While a “State of the Race” post will probably be forthcoming early next week, for now I'll just stick to my own post-debate format and rank the winners and losers from the standpoint of what the debate means for their campaigns.

Mitt Romney, lording over everyone else. Just the way he likes it.

Debate Roundup: June 13th GOP Primary Debate

Tonight was the first debate of the 2012 Republican primary season and it provided no shortage of awkward moments, political catchphrases and blatant misunderstandings about how the economy works. Instead of doing an entire recap of the debate, though, I'm going to give my analysis of the winners and losers in tonight's debate and how it may affect the race going forward. So, I may miss some of the better... ahem... “policy” gems of the debate, like Speaker Gingrich comparing Muslims to Nazis, or Congresswoman Bachmann saying that she thinks there should be both a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and independent state laws governing the issue, but I hope that you'll forgive me.

And so, from biggest loser to biggest winner, here's how the debate played out.

Dear CNN, this stage is so 2008. Step it up.