Live Blogging of the SC FOX Debate:

First question to Romney about an upcoming recession, Chris Wallace points out that under Romney’s term – it had the second worst record of job growth. Romney didn’t answer the question why he should be trusted.

8:09 McCain. "Why I won in NH is because I wen there and told the truth." Straight Talk comes up.

Wallace gives him a full question about an upcoming recession and McCain  goes to his bread and butter, one that resonates with conservatives, and that is to stop the spending.

Chris goes to Huckabee " Do you think we are heading for a recession and do you have a better option?" Huckabee "Hope not but there are four things we can do...gas prices, cannot be two dependent on foreign oil...second is the sub prime issue...then goes to the fair tax."

Question to Rudy about his tax plan, Rudy "some tax cuts do add to revenue and some don't, mine is an add revenue" Cut the corporate tax as Reagan did. Good answer from Rudy, didn't sound like a NYC cheerleader but a leader. McCain  "we have to make Bush Tax Cuts permanent." Hmmm, didn't he vote against the tax cuts? Then he says Ronald Reagan understood tax cuts but also the need for cutting spending. I am a Reagan fan, but he failed to cut government spending...that was a Democrat House problem, not his, but to evoke it like he did it ... not a good choice.

8:15 Finally a question to Thompson, after Paul which is strange, Thompson "I've got to defend Rudy because his tax plan looks like the one I proposed months ago" Fred with his silver tie looks like he is going to a formal, or is that just me, but looks good!

Carl Cameron to Huckabee about the Reagan coalition is gone and your'e not running as Reagan Huckabee corrects Campaign Carl on saying he isn't running for a third Bush term. Huckabee goes into what is Reagan Principles. I was part of the evangelical coalition that helped get Reagan elected, we need to

Question to McCain about Huckabee's camp saying Reagan's coalition is gone, McCain won't take the bait and says that its true that we aren't living up to Reagan's principles. Ut oh, he is sounding the climate change alarm. "We have to return to the those principles..." He does sound like he is trying not to be negative, almost like he is asleep.

Carl Cameron asks about abortion services in Massachusetts, Romney "was required by the courts, not by me" to have the abortion portion of the health care... that's the first anyone has heard of that.  Romney says Washington moved from the Reagan Principles and in some ways the Republican Party has... hmmmm, will he be criticized for criticizing the party like those want to criticize others? Good point talking about his record saying Thompson cuts in ("Carl, can I say something) about Reagan and uses it as an attack on Huckabee. Hmmm, he is sounding strong. Now he is attacking Huckabee, hmmm, this is the South Carolina last stand. He did garner a loud applause in his response. Huckabee responds with a great line back at Fred about being only getting flack when you're over the target meaning he wouldn't be attacked if he was right. Good comeback. Good Applause back. I think Huck wins that one.

8:28 Rudy says the reason Ronald Reagan won was because he was a strong leader and Carter was not and he had a 50 state strategy... hmmm, seems a little bit of a hitching to a wagon answer that could have been different. "I am a conservative..." He is making the case he can win the General Election and a "broad tent" strategy.

Question to Huckabee "did the commander act appropriately by being " Huckabee I am going to trust the president that he had the right information and made the call. "Be prepared for the Gates of Hell" to a LARGE
applause. Hume follows up saying that the commanders felt like there was a threat and engages Huckabee on should they have been able to engage it.  Sounds very presidential. Thompson agrees with Huckabee. "If they had taken one more step and they would have seen those Virgins they've wanted to see" with another round of applause. Rudy says the NIE shouldn't be ignored and says we shouldn't be led into some sense of false confidence with regards to Iran. McCain I would have placed my confidence in the captain of the ship and if I was captain I would have done what they did. Nice return to close back to and talk about the troops, he will always seem credible on this subject. (WHERES ROMNEY, he is getting shut out on this debate)

8:41 Paul gets asked ahead of Mitt, wow, I can hear HUGH ALL THE WAY FROM CAL! Paul just shows how out of touch with America is. "All the candidates so far have supported the commanders to be passive, I just wonder what you are complaining about." (In the backgound Fred says Passive?) Romney (how do you follow up Paul) and says "I don't Cong Paul should be reading all of Ak-maloony's press releases" to a chorus of applause and boo's. He is clearly getting frustrated that he isn't getting asked anything, sounding very defensive.

8:45 Wendell gets the next round, to McCain "can the democrats win by denying...." is a good response. Showing a difference between GOP and Democrats. Softball question about troops, right to his strength, and he does well as he should. Rudy gets the next question about how he would keep a palestinian state from being a breeding ground for future terrorists. 1 accept Israel as a state, 2 forgo terrorists and goes with Reagan's Trust by Verify line... a little awkward. Now he attacks McCain by saying "John there were others on this stage that also supported the surge and documents his support. McCain briefly says he called for a change from Rumsfeld. No fireworks.

Next question from Wendell to Thompson about supporting Pakistan..."oh my goodness go against a poll" and "you can tell things are going so well in Iraq because you read so little of it in the New York Times." This is the Fred Thompson many people have wanted to see, too little too late? He needed this kind of a performance several debates and two states ago! Press but don't give up.. Romney about Musharaff not still going out Bin Laden and should we support him...then has a weak line about things used to be checkers and now it's three dimensional chess... is he trying to say winning the cold war didn't take much work, it was simple? Weird.  Never did answer the question about supporting Musharaff. Huckabee are we throwing good money after bad in Pakistan. He says we need to talk about better accountability but, like the others on stage, we have to be worried about the vacuum that could happen. Then he contrasts himself with Paul and has a very strong presidential look. One good about Paul is it gives the candidates a chance to show how strong they are because of how weak Paul is. Thompson says Huckabee is worried about the money we are giving to Pakistan is going for military and he is saying that is where it is supposed to go. No rebuttal allowed, they go to break which is a break for Huckabee.

Break #2  GOLD: Fred, SILVER Hucakbee, BRONZE Rudy

9:04 Chris Wallce says because McCain and Hillary won, does the country really want change? Romney  Nope, and gets a mild laugh. He goes into a resume speech. Not a good night for Romney. It's hurting him tonight. Wallace tells Mccain that Romney has been more polite tonight than he has been on the campaign trail Senator McCain, are you part of the solution or part of the problem. McCain talks about the positive things he has done in Washington. Wallace goes after Huckabee saying that Huckabee was big government. He is saying results drive what he did, but he doesn't say he isn't big government. He will not win over the critics with his answer, but will he win over the voters... he did in Iowa. Thompson rebuttal. Says he signed the tax pledge but flip flopped on it. Good answer. He is making the same argument that McCain did that he can be a part of something good in Washington. Again, the only question is it too little too late? Huckabee responds. You passed the welfare reform but Governors made it work but those who had to govern at the state level and they had to make it work (applause.)

Cameron question to Rudy is what makes him a better Commander in Chief than McCain but he talks about the previous question and it isn't a strong response..it's a no response to the question. Is it just me, but when Rudy talks about his resume...like Romney...it sounds canned. Just a style question. McCain is asked did he answer the question, and McCain says he has been involved in every major national security decision and not out of profit but patriotism. Cameron asks about electability and asks about his Southern Baptist and Huckabee and has a great "Huckabee" moment  with We are always told we can't talk about Religion but its ok to ask me about, They need to learn not to ask a Baptist Minister about Religion. It's like asking McCain about service in the military. Largest Sustained Applause of the night. (9:19) Great question to Paul, speaking of electability, do you have any? WOW! Paul, put the pencil down, you might throw it at Cameron after that question.

Break #3 ... same as before, Fred, Huckabee, Rudy

Immigration, finally, to McCain: How wold you fix the problem about securing the borders? McCain says the 2 million that have committed crimes must be sent back immediately. uses that same line about not deporting the wife of a service man and goes WAY past the bell. Romney "Governor Romney I didn't hear how McCain would remove the illegals." and is asked how he wold remove the 12 million and he says it wasn't addressed by McCain. He says the should stand in line and given no special privileiges and says they are examined in a case by case basis. Thompson ... Romney says we have to handle it on a case by case and Thompson says we can't. "hide fences and wide gates and we get to decide when to open it"  Good line and says we use federal funding to control what happens, cut if off if they don't do it right. Then attacks McCain on the bill and Huckabee on scholarships for illegals and goes past the bell too. (How about turning off the mic when the bell rings) Huckabee is asked about President Bush's outreach to hispanic then we get to illegal immigration, how do we convince hispanics we want them here? Good answer talking about hispanics who wanted to be here legally have been the ones who have complained. Don't agree that "the government didn't get them here so the government doesn't have to get them back" except that no one can answer how to get 12 million people out of the US. Rudy is asked if he ran a sanctuary city and as President would it be ok for other mayors not to ask about their status. He says if you ask about their status they will not report crimes. There are ways to get around that, I would think. Bottom line is there isn't a one perfect answer. Again, someone goes WAY past the bell. TURN OFF THE MIC!

Debate is over, winner is Thompson and second goes to Huckabee... then second tier would be Rudy and McCain...bad night for Romney.  Of course, Hugh Hewitt will pick Romney as the best thing since sliced bread.

Frank Luntz's focus group agrees with me. Too bad, because he could be in Hugh's blog if they had picked Romney.

Post Debate on FOX:
McCAIN: to be honest, I didn't watch.. .needed the break

ROMNEY This says it all about Romney, he was asked by Alan Colmes in his post debate about saying in 1994 distancing himself from Reagan/Bush. The answer was he went the funeral and had a convergence and now he knows how optimistic he was. Ok, Huckabee gets hit for not knowing about the NIE and it took Mitt Romney till 2004 to understand Reagan's optimism and his and GHWB's importance to the Republican Party. EXCUSE ME. This has bee the biggest flip flop of them all. Come on, SOMEONE HAS TO ASK HIM ABOUT THIS!

RUDY This is why I do like him, he is honest and doesn't duck. Do I agree with him on the social issues, not at all. But when he is asked about his strategy, the tells you like it is. He is likeable, that's for sure and I don't think he is the kind of a guy that would get mad at you if you told honestly how you felt.

FRANK LUNTZ says MIKE HUCKABEE's line about the Gates of Hell was "off the charts!"  Fred's "going to see those seventy virgins" line was also off the chart.