Here’s a sampling of the candidates’ Post-Reagan Library debate late night spin:
Rick Perry:
Team Rick Perry touts this terse verdict rendered by NRO’s Stanley Kurtz: “Perry Leads…”
…and wants you to take away this message from tonight’s debate: “I will get Americans working again,” Perry promises, but he doesn’t try to spin a win.
Rapid response to Ron Paul’s Perry-bashing: PerryTruthTeam tweets scan of Ron Paul’s GOP “Dear John” letter when he quit for the 1988 Libertarian Party prez nod.
Mitt Romney:
Mitt Romney’s personal recap? Here it is, via an awkward cinema verité, sui generis video hosted by tout.com: “A lot of fun. A lot of give-and-take.”
How’d he do? “I checked with Ann (Romney), she says I did a good job – I sure hope so.” Romney’s communications director was more emphatic in her take than his wife, it seems.
Michele Bachmann:
Michele Bachmann gets a little ahead of herself in her post-debate YouTube video, introducing herself with “I’m the Republican candidate for president for 2012.”
“Bachmann Showcases Leadership at GOP Presidential Debate” is the Bachmann campaign’s formal take on the debate…
…and then posts some “fun” pics on Facebook from backstage in the spin room. Campaign manager-cum-Sr. advisor Ed Rollins looks grumpy in the first pic, but he perks up in the next snapshot.
Ron Paul:
Ron Paul won the debate, hands down, but the media ignored him. Or so say his online legions, again.
RedState.com blogger-in-chief Erick Erickson tweeted that Ron Paul’s rapid responses were the only campaign’s to fill his inbox, mid-debate.
The campaign shelled out some of that money bomb loot on a “Ron’s reminiscences of Ronnie” TV ad – titled “Trust” – that aired during the debate broadcast. Seems Dr. Paul “trusted” the Gipper, but when challenged by Rick Perry in the debate, he refused to “verify” Reagan’s legacy.
Jon Hunstman:
The Huntsman campaign put out a muscular statement insisting that their man demonstrated that “he’s the only candidate with serious solutions,” that “he’s the only serious leader with the experience” to defeat Barack Obama. This baffled the Examiner’s David Freddoso who blogged that “I must not have been watching the same debate.”
Huntsman implied that he was embarrassed by the “anti-science” stance of his Republican foes, but he wasn’t ashamed to tweet that he was “jamming” is his campaign trailer, or to shamelessly show off his dolled-up daughters.
Rick Santorum:
In a post-debate interview, Santorum took issue with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews when he claimed he shirked social issues. Matthews to Santorum: “You never turned” the question “to same-sex. You never turned it to ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.'”
Santorum’s campaign countered with a press release bragging that he took on Rick Perry over the Great Texas Gardasil mandate.
Herman Cain:
No stranger to brash rhetoric, Herman Cain’s campaign was understated in its debate wrap-up. Cain’s release – “Cain Touts Economic Plan and Job Creation Experience in Reagan Library Debate” – stuck to the issues, but did link to a video of his exchange with then-President Bill Clinton – a self-described Godfather’s Pizza “satisfied customer” – to back up his claiming credit for sinking HillaryCare back in ’93. (That’s why neither ObamaCare, nor RomneyCare, make him sweat, either, he assured the audience.)
Newt Gingrich:
How did Newt spin it? His campaign curated some “nice things” conservative movement and media types tweeted about his performance, featuring tweets from Laura Ingraham and folks from DailyCaller, Americans for Prosperity, BigGovernment.com and NewsBusters.org.
From off-stage:
Debate reaction from the darkhorses dubbed the “Frozen Out Foursome” by HuffPo’s Jason Linkens:
“Gov. Gary”(Johnson) issued a pro-forma statement lamenting his exclusion, but earlier in the day he let The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf in on what he’d say if he got a chance to be onstage.
Michigan Rep. Thaddeus McCotter was flipping back and forth between the debate and “This New House” on cable.
I bet Buddy Roemer doesn’t suffer Nancy Reagan for being snubbed. He probably blames the Chinese. Maybe Buddy’s angling for a post-campaign cable news pundit slot. He sure knows how to tweet like it.
“Johnny One Note” also-ran Fred Karger coulda chimed in to remind that Ronald Reagan fearlessly editorialized against the gay-bashing Briggs initiative on California’s ballot back in ’78, but he whiffed.
