Republican debate

The Republicans just conducted their last last debate before the Iowa caucuses in Des Moines. It was generally pretty boring. But I will nonetheless name my winners and losers:

Winners:

Mike Huckabee

He managed to escape any questioning about playing the religious card against Mitt Romney. He also gave sophisticated answers on education, which will help to fight the notion that he is a small-minded baptist preacher who knows nothing about the wider world. His line about unleashing "weapons of mass instruction" was well received.

Mitt Romney

His answers were smooth in the debate. It was also refreshing when he chose to avoid complaining about the tax burden of wealthy people and instead talked about how he worried about middle class people.

Losers:

Alan Keyes

Does somebody want to tell me what this man is doing here? He contributed nothing except for needless histrionics and generally avoided answering the moderators questions directly. What a worthless addition to the debate.

The moderator

She had trouble keeping control of the debate at times, and when she wasn't doing that, injected herself too much. Plus, I'm tired of hearing questions that require a simple hand raise.