A Night to Remember

Before sitting down for tonight's debate at the Ronald Reagan Library in California, which is the last before Super Tuesday, the four remaining Republican presidential candidates shook hands with Nancy Reagan with Reagan's Air Force One as the backdrop.

From the beginning, Romney gave strong and definitive answers. It began with the first question Andersen Cooper posed to Romney, and from that moment on he never missed a beat. Since McCain refused to acknowledge Mitt's stance on the war in Iraq and troop withdrawals, Mitt finally said, "How is it that you are an expert on my position?" And when it came to explaining Mitt's record in Massachusetts, McCain quoted twisted statistics and policies that Romney was able to counter most successfully. In fact, Mitt said it best when he told McCain, "facts are stubborn things, I'm proud of my record."

When it came time to explaining the health care initiative in Massachusetts, Romney said that the state's desire was to have "no more free riders." This is yet another sign of his desire to increase individual responsibility and remove the burdens that the government places on taxpayers to pay for other people's healthcare.

As McCain skirted the central issues of his dreadful McCain-Kennedy amnesty bill, Romney took the opportunity to expose the z-visa program and explained his process for making sure all illegals go home and start the process like everyone else. He summed it up by strongly stating "illegal immigration -- that's gotta end."

Huckabee's game plan was answering every question posed to him with a sarcastic remark or joke. While laughter can be used effectively in particular situations, his abuse of it was blatantly un-Presidential. And, as long as Huckabee continues to make statements exclaiming that "he's [Rush Limbaugh] very wrong" he is not going to gain any ground with Republican voters.

While everyone is projecting Tuesday's winners and potential delegate counts, tonight's debate could prove to be the deciding factor for Mitt Romney, since he had the most to gain from it. This was a much needed opportunity to rebut the lies and misconceptions that were fueled by his opponents prior to -- and conveniently close to -- the Florida primary. Let's hope for the best and do what we can to make sure Mitt comes out succesful on Tuesday.