redblueamerica.com

This is where Joel and I will be blogging the donnybrook in Boca Raton.

Please add your comments below. Let's have a conversation.

Ben 8:40 p.m.: Never mind Chris Matthews and the other pundits... what did you think?

Ben 8:39 p.m.: McCain allayed some of my fear and distrust. I'm not sure I would vote for him. But I dislike him less.

Joel 8:39 p.m.: Well. It's over. I come away from this, actually, much more impressed by Mitt Romney. Whatever else you think of his ideology, he -- at the very least -- radiates competence. And if we were to have a Republican president, it'd be nice to at least have a competent Republican president.

Ben 8:36 p.m.:Ron Paul gets the last word! And what a great last word it was! "You're too strict on the Constitution! Why shouldn't people who believe in liberty be welcome?" By God, that's right. I don't think Paul should be president, but I'm glad he's in Congress. Liberty is the watchword.

Joel 8:38 p.m.: I'm not going to lie: I see Paul talking, and I hate the writers strike. Pure gold for Saturday Night Live.

Ben 8:34 p.m.: Some very kind, conciliatory words from John McCain to his potential running-mates. But this debate is beginning to feel like an old-fashioned Oscar night. End it, already.

Nice response from Mike Huckabee on faith. For goodness sake, we're Americans here! With rare exceptions, faith should not matter one way or the other as long as one is a good citizen. George Washington had some wise things to say on the subject.

Joel 8:31 p.m.: But the New York Times did endorse Giuliani for mayor in 1997, so it's not like they've always or even consistently disliked him. That said: NYT criticism is probably never a problem among Republicans.

Ben 8:29 p.m.: The final round seems to be focused on gotcha questions, relying heavily on what the New York Times has to say about Republicans. Well, that's nice, I suppose, but who cares? The final few minutes here seem to be a wasted opportunity.

Also, I'm sorry we didn't hear more from Ron Paul.

Ben 8:27 p.m.: Chuck Norris versus Sly Stallone? I'd probably pick Norris. Not that it matters.

Joel 8:26 p.m.: I think we've already settled this: You're already supposed to know English to become a citizen. It's already the law.

Ben 8:25 p.m.: A reader nails Rudy on the English language. Pandering in Spanish is as bad as pandering in English. Guiliani said the right thing about language, but he should practice what he preaches.

The "wet foot/dry foot" question is a good one. But the problem with the policy is not that it discriminates against other political asylum seekers; rather, it's that the losers -- the Cubans whose feet are not dry -- get shipped back to a slave state.

Joel 8:21 p.m.: You know, outside of religion, FairTax is the one thing that it sounds like Mike Huckabee knows what he is talking about. Too bad that what he knows is kinda crazy.

Ben 8:20 p.m.: Ron Paul, again, gives a substantive, thoughtful, revolutionary answer on policy: Social Security. And he's right! How about that!

Then Russert tries to pin Romney down on raising the payroll tax on Social Security, like Ronald Reagan agreed to do in 1983. That was two decades ago, Tim. We know better now.

Ben 8:15 p.m.: The Mormon question again? Good grief.

Ben 8:14 p.m.: You have a dirty mind, my friend.

Joel 8:14 p.m.: The bit about not wanting Bill Clinton in the White House with time on his hands. It was veiled ... but not that veiled.

Joel 8:13 p.m.: Wait -- Romney is running against health care? really?

Ben 8:13 p.m.: Sex jokes are one thing. But talking about fund-raising is just... unseemly.

Ben 8:12 p.m.: He did?

Joel 8:11 p.m.: Romney makes sex joke, then pretends he didn't. Stay classy, Mitt.

Joel 8:10 p.m.: Rudy: "I always expected this would be a very competitive race." He probably should've competed then.

Ben 8:08 p.m.: Funny line from Giuliani about lulling his competition into a false sense of security. And the quote from McCain's mom about how the GOP base needs to "hold its nose" is amusing. But we could do without the idiotic horse race questions.

Joel 8:05 p.m.: It appears the New York Times is endorsing Clinton ... and McCain. That ought to just about finish him off with the Republican base, eh?

Ben 8:04 p.m.: Cap and trade? No! McCain does not realize what it would do to the economy.

Joel 8:01 p.m.: Shorter Republican field: Growing government programs is wrong -- except for those programs that benefit you, the fine, fine voters of Florida.

Ben 7:57 p.m.: Ah, it's the Panhandle pander!

Ben 7:55 p.m.: Mitt Romney is treading a tortuous path on gun policy. I suppose the bottom line is that he opposes new gun control legislation. But it's hard to reconcile support for the assault weapons ban -- a silly and superficial law -- with support to the right to keep and bear arms.

Ben 7:53 p.m.: Ron Paul asks John McCain about the President's working group on financial markets. I'm not sure what the conspiracy-angle is there.

Joel 7:50 p.m.: Huckabee makes the claim that the FairTax would eliminate the "underground economy." But one of the better criticisms of the FairTax is that it would actually create a giant black market in America -- extending beyond the illicit stuff to include a lot of everyday purchases. And while FairTax might put IRS out of business, there would be another new bureaucracy rise in its place. FairTax is just a bad, bad idea.

Ben 7:49 p.m.: Huckabee is making the case for the Fair Tax. A national sales tax is not without its charms. But the idea of eliminating the IRS is a stretch. Who will verify that businesses are remitting all of the tax and not skimming?

Oh, and I still don't understand this line that drug dealers and prostitutes will pay taxes. Certainly not on drugs and other... um, services.

Ben 7:46 p.m.: Better to sue the Chinese than suing ourselves, I guess!

Joel 7:46 p.m.: Giuliani is bucking for trial lawyer support, which is usually not a Republican issue. Of course, he's talking about Chinese trial lawyers, but still.

Ben 7:44 p.m.: Candidate question time. This is always death. Mitt Romney's question -- he did ask one, finally -- is a decent one, on China, to Giuliani. Trade with China is a weird symbiotic one. The Chinese need our business as much as we need Chinese goods. What can we sell to China? Lots. We're still number one in the world on research and development.

Joel 7:44 p.m.: Wait, Romney. You're supposed to be asking a question, not making a speech.

Joel 7:41 p.m.: I'll say this: A much more substantive 30 minutes from MSNBC than the previous outing. Maybe it's the shorter debate time, I don't know. But it's nice to hear about the issues.

Ben 7:38 p.m.: Was the war in Iraq worth the price in blood and treasure? Again, a clear contrast. Except for Ron Paul. But he's right about the origins of the policy. Regime change goes back to the Clinton administration. By the way, it was never about 9/11. It was about killing a regime that fostered and funded anti-American terrorism. And WMD was one rationale of many, but not the sole rationale.

Joel 7:33 p.m.: Romney wants to add 100,000 active-duty personnel to the military. But the Army is, increasingly, scraping the bottom of the barrel to make it's recruiting goals.

Ben 7:33 p.m.: Romney is right. You don't need a draft to rebuild the military. A draft is wrong. You need incentives, you need to reward the people who volunteer with education and other benefits. Common defense is a constitutional duty. That's something we should be spending more money on.

Ben 7:31 p.m.: McCain doesn't mince words on Iraq. And here we see the glaring contrast between the Republicans and the Democrats on the war. "We have American troops all over the world today," McCain says. That's right -- some 100 countries, if memory serves. "Let us win."

Joel 7:29 p.m.: Romney says, "Washington has failed to deliver over the last decade." That's not exactly a compelling case for Republican leadership, even if he wants to pretend otherwise.

Ben 7:28 p.m.: Mitt Romney says when Republican act like Democrats, they lose. And the country loses. Romney is sound on business, but I don't think this stuff about running against Washington is sincere. No man in his position, with his resume, can run as a Washington outsider.

Joel 7:25 p.m.: McCain says Democrats will increase spending, taxes and the size of government. But -- ahem -- I think the last seven years or so show Republicans do two of the three. And if you're going to spend and expand the size of government ... well, eventually the taxpayer is going to pay for it. Taxing is at least responsible if you're going to do the other two things.

Ben 7:21 p.m.: I'm loathe to admit it, but McCain is ... whoops. I was about to praise him. "Straight talk!" No, no, I should be fair. He is a deficit hawk and a fiscal conservative to a fault. But, sad to say, the Republicans have spent like fiends.

Mike Huckabee says "Don't blame me! I didn't do it!" Of course, while the deficit was ballooning, we were fighting a war.

Ben 7:19 p.m.: Dissatisfaction about the war was one factor among many in 2006. But if it was the deciding factor, Joel, the Democrats would have been more successful last year.

Joel 7:18 p.m.: Republicans lost 2006 because of the Bridge to Nowhere? Maybe a little bit, but I think discontent over the war was a stronger factor. That doesn't really fit McCain's narrative very well.

Ben 7:18 p.m.: Hey, Ron Paul is on stage! Paul gets to talk about monetary policy, which is his forte. Lower taxes, get rid of regulations, don't appropriate more money. If Paul weren't... well, Paul, he might actually be doing better than he is. "Empire" invoked at 7:17. "Sound money" at 7:18.

Joel 7:15 p.m. Russert. Again. "Do you trust?" It's a question designed more to elicit conflict than to elicit information. As least he's an equal-opportunity asker of dumb questions.

Ben 7:13 p.m.: Romney did manage to get Massachusetts back on track. But I don't like this weaselly stuff about taxes versus fees. User fees are taxes by another name.

Ben 7:10 p.m.: Uh oh, Tim Russert is playing divide and conquer on taxes. Glad to see Mike Huckabee isn't taking the bait. Huckabee rightly notes that we're going to borrow a ton of money from China to fund this $150 billion stimulus. But infrastructure as stimulus? Maybe.

Joel 7:09 p.m. McCain doesn't know where Russert got that economics quote? It's been all over the place.

Ben 7:08 p.m.: Giuliani mentions the scourge that is Sarbanes-Oxley! Repeal that monster. We don't want London to be the financial capital of the world... again.

Joel 7:08 p.m. McCain is worried about pork barrel add-ons to the stimulus package? I thought Congress was skipping the committee process he's talking about for this.

Joel 7:07 p.m. McCain sure loves those Bush tax cuts now, doesn't he? What's he running for? But it's worth noting that as a short-term economic stimulus, making those cuts permanent does absolutely nothing.

Ben 7:05 p.m: Mitt Romney tries to put lipstick on the pig that is the Bush stimulus. Romney emphasizes long-term, structural fixes. "If you want to turn the economy around, the key thing is to create jobs." You don't do that by doling out little checks. "Net-net, something I support." Oh, well.

Joel 7:02 p.m. After the disaster in Nevada a couple of weeks ago, it'll be interesting to see how MSNBC performs tonight. A half-hour of stupid questions before we get to the serious stuff, again?

Ben 7:02 p.m: Mercifully, the debate is just 90 minutes. But the answer times are too shorts -- 90 seconds. Mister, we could use debates like Lincoln-Douglass again.

Joel 7:00 p.m.: No scotch yet. Haven't had dinner -- pizza is on the way.

Ben 6:51 p.m: My wife has command of the television! The contest might be over before it begins.