All four candidates had a good night. They each got in memorable lines or quips. Gingrich did not blow away the debate as he did in South Carolina. Romney exceeded expectations and seemed more confident again (as he was when he was the sure winner in about October or November of last year).

Of course, Ron Paul will not get the nomination but he sure has a loyal following and I’m sure he will stay in to the end.

Rick Santorum is not getting any traction for some reason even though he looks great and is a smart debater. After the second Florida debate he looks like he's pulling out. This morning I got news that he was "disgusted" with the debates, furious that it's all about Romney and Gingrich, personal attacks not about policy, and he's out of money.

He was headed back to Pennsylvania to spend time with his family. Looked like he's bailing to me but too early to confirm. if it is true then it means the Iowa caucuses got it wrong. Santorum in the end will have been only the Iowa, evangelical, too socially conservative candidate. Stay tuned!

Florida finally brought the immigration issue full front. In the Sunshine State 15 percent of GOP voters are Hispanic, and in 2012, Hispanic voters are an even bigger factor in many of the swing states so the issue of jobs and immigration directed at Latinos will become even more crucial for a GOP victory in November. George W Bush got 44 percent of these voters in 2004, but John McCain and Sara Palin only got 31percent - and lost.
 
“Our problem is not 11 million grandmothers (to deport)” Mitt Romney said, criticizing Newt Gingrich’s comment that some immigration reform is needed and that “we are not going to deport 11 million grandmothers.”

Gingrich was also on the defensive about a 2007 statement he made calling Spanish “the language of the ghetto,” and in the same speech said English should be the language of “success” and that bi-lingual language instruction is a bad a idea. The Romney campaign used that in a radio ad, which Newt hated and brought up in the debate.

“My father was born in Mexico,” said Mitt Romney objecting to Newt Gingrich’s ad that Romney is “anti-immigrant.”
 Commenting on the 2012 GOP primaries and caucuses Peggy Noonan said in her column, “This is the most volatile and tumultuous presidential primary race of our lifetimes.” I agree. Never have three different people won the first three primaries! Now Florida is likely to give a second win to one of them. Probably Romney or Gingrich.

By the way, I’m not sure if having more and more debates is very productive. Maybe it’s the political geeks who are still interested but at some point the public gets burned out and there are so many channels on cable and on the Internet with NO politics! And, those of us who love all politics all the time have heard all of this stuff at least five times. Unless the candidates start hamming it up more, become more outrageous, give us a better “show,” the ratings will go down.

And the question is do we really want politics to become a four-ring circus?