GOP Debate Wrap: Candidates Won And Everyone Else Lost

While it was a boring debate for long moments last night, it still was a pretty interesting debate for a few reasons. First of all, the whining and bitching by the Republican candidates about CNBC definitely affected the way Fox Business handled the candidates. Hosts Maria Bartiromo, Neil Cavuto, and Gerard Baker were on their best behavior all night and made almost no effort to get the candidates to engage with each other on policy differences or asked any tough follow-up questions. They also framed many questions as if Karl Rove sent over his crib notes. It was the exact type of debate the candidates had hoped for.

BARTIROMO: Almost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. That's what the participation rate tells us. You've said your policies will drive the economy back to 4 percent growth, which we haven't seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change? And how will that lead to jobs and growth?

If Mitt Romney was president, this question would have been phrased much differently, considering today's economy. With the stock market running near all time highs and unemployment is a 5.0%, Maria would have asked how they would keep up Romney's pro-growth, pro-family economic policies.

The first hour of the debate was so sedate that it felt as if we were all at a distant cousin's wake and were making sure to keep the noise down.

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