After debate, GOP race looks like a Giuliani-Romney dogfight

The Republican candidates met up in Dearborn, Michigan for their first debate since early September. The political world was watching especially closely, because this was Fred Thompson's first debate. The consensus appears to be that Fred Thompson did what he needed to do (appear, answer questions without dozing off) but that he failed to impress, managing to be overshadowed by Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney.

Giuliani and Romney acted as frontrunners -- and managed to make the race appear as a two-way contest. They have gone through many debates at this point, and know what they have to do. They both projected ahead to the general election and attacked Hillary Clinton, a sure way to sore up support among the Republican base by appearing above the petty crowd of GOP contenders.

Giuliani repeatedly took swipes at Clinton, especially her baby bonds proposal: “I challenged her. She has backed off that. She has a new one today. This one is, she's going to give out $1,000 to everybody to set up a 401(k).The problem is, this one costs $5 billion more than the last one.” Romney played a similar game, "I know how to make sure that we keep our taxes down and our spending down. I know how to help American companies do business around the world and stop those foreign companies from coming in here unfairly. I can't wait to debate with her, because I've done it. She's just talked about it."

Also helping was that most of the disagreements of the night played out between Giuliani and Romney -- making it evident that both consider the other as their main rival, and relegating everyone else to the second tier.

The two candidates attacked each other on taxes and spending, attacking each other's record in Massachussets and New York City. Giuliani charged, "The difference is that under Governor Romney, spending went up in Massachusetts, per capita, by 8 percent. Under me, spending went down by 7 percent." Romney responded, "When it's all said and done, if you're a New York taxpayer, city taxpayer, your state and city tax combined can reach as high as 10 percent. And in our state, if you're a Boston worker, it's going to be more like 5.3 percent."

Giuliani certainly did not agree that his record on taxes was weak. Giuliani exclaimed, “I led, he lagged." Romney's response: "Its baloney. Mayor, you've got to check your facts." The two then launched into an extended and intense debate over the constitutionality of the line-item veto. Giuliani stated his 100% opposition to such a veto (that Clinton had used), while Romney defended it.

Today, a poll from Nevada showed that Romney and Giuliani are battling it out now not only in Iowa and New Hampshire, but also in Nevada. In other words, in all three first-voting states, the two frontrunners are Romney and Giuliani -- threatening to make Thompson and McCain increasingly irrelevant:

• Giuliani at 31% is basically tied with Romney at 30%. The two are far ahead of McCain at 11% and Thompson at 8%.
• On the Democratic side, Clinton is much further ahead than expected: She leads with 51%, versus 14% for Edwards and 11% for Obama, suggesting she might very well come out with a win even if she stumbles in Iowa two weeks prior.