Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Politico:

Sequels are almost never as entertaining as the original. And if political junkies were looking for a repeat of the last night’s throwdown at the Fox News Channel forum this evening they came away disappointed.

Gone was the gang-up on Mitt Romney and in its place was a relatively tame exchange between five of the GOP candidates who were intimately seated at the same table in a make-shift studio on the campus of Goffstown, N.H.’s Saint Anselm University.

The outbreak of civility was likely a product of last night’s sharp elbows. To collectively dump on the despised Romney one night may have made for a feel-good experience, but to do so again would have reinforced the notion that they were being gratuitously mean-spirited and probably evoked sympathy for the former Massachusetts governor.

So the discussion largely stayed on policy matters with only a few sharp exchanges flaring up.

John McCain was notably subdued, either as a product of his tough shots at Romney last night his growing confidence here going into Tuesday or both.

He repeatedly declined to hammer his top rival here and, when citing Romney’s 2005 quote supporting an early version of the immigration reform bill, acted as though it pained him to even have to go there again.

Mike Huckabee did in the early going, however, embrace the role as McCain’s personal attack dog. He jabbed at Romney over taxes, but Romney came prepared to hit back tonight.

“You make up facts faster than you talk,” last night’s victim quipped, proving Huckabee isn’t the only one who can get off a good line.

Overall, Romney was much more effective at driving his message this evening, taking advantage of numerous opportunities to talk up his new theme of bringing change to Washington.

He was able to discuss taxes and immigration — precisely the issues his campaign wants to spotlight here before the primary — and seemed at ease and relaxed the whole time.

But McCain, too, had a strong performance. He had a ready answer when posed with a question as to whether he, a 25-year veteran of Congress, could bring change to Washington.

The best, not to mention politically most effective, example of his affecting change in the capital was his most recent, he said — pushing for a new Iraq policy.

“I don’t know any better change than saving American lives,” McCain said.

Huckabee, Thompson and Giuliani all had their moments, but the two Granite State front-runners seemed to own a sedate Sunday evening.