Watched the South Carolina debate on FOX tonight. John McCain and Fred Thompson won this debate, hands down. As for the others, Mike Huckabee and Rudy Giuliani made some good comments, but in my view Mitt Romney was the real loser tonight. Wacko Ron Paul (who should never have been invited) never had a chance, except to show just how much of a paranoid schizophrenic he truly is, so who cares.

More than anything else, Romney lost me as soon as he opened his mouth to come out negative against McCain. Sure, there was a time and a place to do that, but not right out of the gate. To do so made him look small and petty, and I don’t think he ever recovered from it. I’m sure many others thought the same thing as I did – does this guy have ANYTHING positive to say?? Tonight might have proven to be his Waterloo.

Given that McCain was virtually untouched during the debate and the fact that he polls far better than any other Republican candidate against Hillary Clinton (who, like it or not, must still be considered the most likely Democratic nominee at this point), one has to come out of this debate with only one conclusion – John McCain has the wind at his back.