Bert, I didn't watch the debate you saw but I watched the Fox debate (on the eve of the New Hampshire primary) as well as the conjoined debate on ABC a day or two earlier. My thoughts align almost exactly with yours with only some small differences:
Mitt Romney is an unimpressive candidate. He looks so good on paper, but he has a calculating edge that makes him appear entirely inauthentic. I'm very divided on Romeny--I think his experience is of the sort that would make an excellent president, but when you see him on TV he just never appears to be the same guy that his resume suggests. Moreover, the fact that the Republican establishment is pushing so desperately for his nomination gives me pause. (Incidentally, I believe Fox stacked their pre-New Hampshire debate in Romney's favor, by giving him more time than the other candidates, and fluffing their bogus focus group in his favor.)
Rudy... is he still around? I agree with you... it's tough to trust Rudy on anything that isn't directly related to 9/11.
McCain is unsurprisingly my favorite on the Republican side (of those who can actually win, see Thompson below). I'm a fan of Republicans who stick their thumbs in the eye of the establishment (I'm pleased to have Specter as a Senator... by the way, thank Specter for forcing NFL network to let us watch the Giants-Pats). His campaign finance bill has made a messy thing messier and probably worse, admitted. I admire his resistance to play the 'who-hates-immigrants-more' game, but I think he is being pushed into a dangerous position on immigration.
Huckabee is incredibly likable. He does well everywhere he goes. He was a little weak in the Fox debate I saw him in, but again I believe Fox was biased towards Romney. I'm still convinced he would make a terrible president.
Thompson is a puzzle for me. Of all the Republicans he seems most grounded, the most honest, and I think he would make a terrific president. But then, I view his supposed inactivity as a plus. In the nomination process, I'm just not sure what he's doing there. He and McCain are obviously allies... nowhere was this more obvious than in the ABC debate. They were seated next to each other, and they both treated each other like old guns who suddenly found themselves on the same side in a shoot-out. A McCain-Thompson ticket would be extremely attractive to me, but perhaps is impossible. McCain wouldn't pick Thompson unless Thompson did better in the primaries, but then Thompson would not drop out if he was doing well. Did Thompson attack McCain on anything in the debate you saw? They stayed out of each other's ways in the ones I watched, but that could have been a function of attacking the presumed frontrunners (Huckabee and then Romney).
Ron Paul: Still like Ron Paul, though the racist-bigoted letters that have his name all over them are troubling. At the very best, he was not paying attention to how someone was using his name. If he were a viable candidate, these letters would be enough to sink him, but he's not, so I think he may weather the storm and stick around.
