GOP Lincoln Day Dinner In Iowa

So far Rudy, Mitt, an unknown John Cox, and Mike Huckabee have spoken and all had pretty much the same thing to say, Mitt has gotten the most applause and only full house standing ovation so far. Rudy did make an interesting comment, a quote from Reagan to never speak badly of a fellow Republican and that every person following him was qualified to be POTUS and far better than any of the candidates on the other side of the aisle. I like Gov. Huckabee alot as well, very personable. John Cox is one of the founders of the Club For Growth and confirmed what ground Rudy and Mitt had already covered. Conservatism is alive and well in the GOP. Gov. Gilmore, Sam Brownback, Tom Tancredo, Gov. T. Thompson and John McCain are coming up.
update: Tom Tancredo as usual is single issue, illegal-immigration, I agree with him to an extent and have contributed to his congressional campaign in the past. I like Tom alot but he is really hardline on the issue, not a politically winning one, good speech though and echoing the top two, Rudy and Mitt and gets a standing ovation.
update: Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore is next, a rock-ribbed conservative as I hear. I know little about him but it seems his resume is deep as is our GOP field of candidates, a good thing. Same conservative message as Mitt and Rudy with good personality and presence. OOps, he violated Reagan's Rule not to speak ill of your fellow republicans with a shot at "Rudy McRomney" saying they are not conservatives, I would beg to differ as he has not mentioned anything they didn't.
Update: Sam Brownback was his typical very pro-life religious self, not a bad thing but very little policy that actually a POTUS can persue.
Gov. T.Thompson is definately animated though I know nothing about him at all. He's good with the crowd and has some good ideas and an accomplished record as a governor. He is a good speaker and could gain some traction if Fred Thompson does not enter, same basic theme that Rudy and Mitt set though. I could easily cast my vote for him in the general election if he beats Mitt in the primary. He would make an great VP as a voice for the administration, I like the animated energy.
Senator McCain, plays followup and has little ground left to cover and opens with some self-deprecating humor that he is so good at. I don't have to go over why conservatives have a problem with John but he is a great American and solid conservative with a rigid backbone for national defense and success in Iraq and the greater war against the jihadis and would get my vote if he is the nominee of my party, though I would be holding my nose over his maverick ways within the GOP. He is right on the money on the war and has been from the beginning.
I cannot express how impressed how I am with all our GOP candidates, a group of great American patriots and the finest I have seen in the quarter century I have been voting. All of them have their strengths and weaknesses but not when it came to the conservative message of the Reagan Revolution. As y'all know this country boy is a Romneyite and this showing by our candidates made me proud to be a Republican as Tommy Thompson forcefully declared.