Candidates and their representatives filled the Spin Room provided by the Fox News Channel after the Presidency IV debate, met by a small army of news media personnel. I spoke directly with Ron Paul, Mitt Romney's son Tag, Charlie Bronson, and got some interesting comments from Mike Huckabee and another Mitt Romney representative, Tom Freeney.

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Only four of the 2008 Republican presidential candidates gave speeches at Presidency IV on Saturday. A few Ron Paul supporters in the crowd shouted their discontent when Mitt Romney appeared instead of their candidate. So I asked the congressman why he wasn't there. "I was travelling at the time, and it just wouldn't have worked into my schedule," he said. So it ends up being not a lack of funding or a lack of respect for Florida voters -- just a simple scheduling conflict. Mike Huckabee, on the other hand, said that he opted out of the speech because his campaign did not have the $100,000 to blow on a rally speech.

Speaking of Governor Huckabee, many of the Republican ambassadors and guests I spoke to on Saturday said that they thought Huckabee had some great ideas and spoke well in the debates, but that they probably would not vote for him in the primary because they did not think he could win. When I mentioned this to Mike Huckabee representative Chip Saltsman, he said, "Well, at first we were a no-shot campaign. Then we were a long-shot campaign. And now we're a sling-shot -- our support in states where were were just an asterisk a few weeks ago is suddenly up to 18% in Iowa -- and this without ads. We have not run one advertisement. Governor Huckabee is an incredibly effective communicator, and because of that he's starting to get the respect and support he deserves."

Mitt Romney's representative Tom Freeney said that this was a good debate for Governor Romney, but that some of the other candidates were spoiling it for him. "Social conservatives will waste their votes by concentrating on candidates who can't win the primaries," he said, likely referring to Tom Tancredo, Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee, and Duncan Hunter. "The only candidates in the nomination race are Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, and Mitt Romney will be more successful with evangelical Republicans."

Romney had many representatives in the Spin Room -- at least 5, including Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services commissioner Charlie Bronson, and Romney's eldest son Tag. I asked them what would distinguish Romney among his conservative competitors, all of whom seemed to share the same goals and ideals. "His policies on issues that appeal to conservative Democrats," said Tag Romney, "especially on health care and fiscal issues." "Mitt Romney will help people help themselves," Bronson added, "and he has always been and always will be a strong conservative."

It was rumored among members of the press that John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, and Fred Thompson were too important and popular to come out and speak with us personally. All four of them did not talk to anyone except Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes on their post-debate live television program. Only Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul, and Duncan Hunter came out to talk to the press directly, though all of them -- and Tom Tancredo -- had spokespeople on hand to answer questions. Like Socrates in Plato's story of the Symposium invaded by drunken revelers, Ron Paul outlasted both Mike Huckabee and Duncan Hunter on the Spin Room floor, answering questions, shaking hands, and signing autographs. Perhaps it was not because he had more to say, or because his Hannity & Colmes interview was late in the lineup, but because it was nearly impossible for him to leave, being constantly surrounded by young journalists who all but lost their composure in his presence. "People just love him," one reporter said to me as we watched the Ron Paul onslaught. None of the other candidates in attendance, nor the famous journalists and news entertainers associated with Fox News who were in the room with us, nor Florida governor Charlie Crist could shake them, but Ron Paul reduced those reporters and presenters to mush. At least from a media standpoint, it was the so-called "second tier" candidates that made this leg of the 2008 Republican presidential nomination race an exciting saga.

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