SEATED IN THE 2ND ROW, ANDREA SHEA-KING AT THE GOP DEBATE IN ORLANDO

Kitty, thanks for the comments. I miss your blogging. We all do.

Last night's debate was very exciting as well as draining. The purpose of the live-blogging wasn't for political analysis, as some thought; it was done to give you an insight as to what it's like to be at one of these high-charged, political events.

Andrea has her wrap-up of the event posted at her site--The Radio Patriot--and she's included many great pictures of people she saw and people she met. Tonight, on her BlogTalkRadio show, she'll be talking about her experiences at the GOP debate. The show begins at 9 PM ET. Douglas V. Gibbs will be her co-host. Btw, Douglas is great.

As I said, the event was exciting for me because, using her cell phone with an earpiece, I was able to experience the debate proceedings, all the sounds, other people talking, from the second row as she fed me information--some things you see on tv, some you don't. For example, I knew about Mitt's hair malfunction before it was on tv. Andrea said, "Oh my, God. Mitt's hair!" And, as it would happen, Andrea was seated behind Mrs Romney.

Anyway, you can read all about it in the post just below this one. At any rate, it was exciting, draining, and it could be a blogging first. No matter though, it was fun.

My thoughts on how the candidates did: Well, I'm not an expert but I do have an opinion. I'll leave the analysis to the experts. Capt Ed has an interesting take.

First, I noticed that Ron Paul was asked a lot of questions. I thought that was a waste. And I took note that his followers skewed the Fox polling. Too bad.

Tancredo and Hunter did well with the few questions they were given. I would've enjoyed hearing more from them. They did very well, though. Andrea was in the audience as a guest of Duncan Hunter, so we thank him for that.

Gov. Huckabee was rock solid and it appears he's gaining more momentum. I like him. No doubt he'll be on the short list for VP if he doesn't make it to the #1 spot.

Rudy was strong, as always, and he helped himself in a big way. Of all the candidates, he's the one who will destroy Her Royal Pantsuit in a debate. He's not afraid of the spotlight, questions, or Her Royal Pantsuit. However, at heart, I still think he's a democrat, on paper, anyway. He did promise Florida voters that he and the other candidates would be spending time in the state. When he comes on Andrea's Sunday show, I'll believe him. Trust me, we'll be holding him to his word.

Mitt was the big loser of the night. Not because of the hair, though that was funny, but because he's so robotic, prepared, scripted, perfect--you pick the descriptive. He doesn't come across to me as a regular guy. More like the republican version of John Kerry. I don't feel comfortable with him.

Fred Thompson was under pressure to do better than last week, especially after the short speech the night before. I thought he scored in a big way as well. I'm comfortable with him, so far, but I still need to know more and am looking forward to seeing him in future debates. Though not as quick as some of his opponents, I thought he showed great improvement. Fred Heads can breathe a sigh of relief. I can hear Pam exhaling now. His sense of humor worked well.

John McCain, along with Fred, needed to show improvement too. And he did. I said that Mitt was the big loser of the night and I think it's mainly because of McCain's attacks on him. Devastating. The Woodstock comment targeted at HRP was pure gold as well. Long ago I thought McCain was politically dead. I had a shovel in hand ready for the burial. Now, I'm not so sure. I liked him last night, and that's saying something. Overall, McCain was the most improved and I think it's a toss-up between him and Rudy for winning the night, but I'm leaning towards McCain. Brainster will love that I'm preparing to eat my words.

Finally, Andrea did one hell of a great job with this project. It was no easy task making the trip to Orlando, getting shuttled around, security checks, finding the right places to be, hanging out with Sean Hannity et al, not to mention all the walking in those high heels. A real trooper, she is. I encourage all of you to stop by her site and leave a comment. But, before you do that, here's a picture she took last night of Florida Gov Charlie Crist. I think it screams for a caption, but I don't do those caption contests, so If you agree, send it along to someone who does. Click it to enlarge. Give Andrea the hat tippage.