1. Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich Wish Fidel Castro To Hell (VIDEO) ‎ Huffington Post - 1 hour ago … GOP debate Monday night when discussing the potential death of Cuba's Fidel Castro, the dictator from whom many Cuban-Americans fled, often to Florida. Newt Gingrich Suggests Fidel Castro Should Go to Hell at GOP …‎ PolicyMic NBC News GOP debate recap: Historians, Fidel Castro and beet sugar‎ Dallas Morning News (subscription) (blog) all 98 news articles »

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2. The Florida Debate: Losers and More Losers ‎ Town Hall - 47 minutes ago Other question highlights included one about Cuba using the “3AM phone call” … escaped when both Mitt and Newt made jokes at Fidel Castro's expense. Florida debate marks pivotal moment in the Republican race‎ USA TODAY Romney finally finds his claws but Gingrich survives‎ The Guardian Romney, Gingrich clash in GOP debate‎ Austin American-Statesman Washington Post - Fox News  all 15194 news articles »

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1. Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich Wish Fidel Castro To Hell (VIDEO) ‎ Huffington Post - 1 hour ago Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich got into a game of one-upmanship at a GOP debate Monday night when discussing the potential death of Cuba's Fidel Castro, … Newt Gingrich Suggests Fidel Castro Should Go to Hell at GOP …‎ PolicyMic Newt Gingrich: I Will Overthrow Castro Regime‎ NewsMax.com GOP candidates weigh in on Cuba policy‎ The Associated Press Fox News  all 98 news articles »

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2. Florida debate marks pivotal moment in the Republican race ‎ USA TODAY - 1 hour ago Romney and Gingrich agreed the demise of Fidel Castro should be cause for celebration — a safe position in a state where Cuban exiles and their descendants … Romney, Gingrich clash in GOP debate‎ Austin American-Statesman Live Blog: Romney, Gingrich Spar At Start; Debate Then Settles Down‎ NPR (blog) In what could prove to be a pivotal moment in the GOP race, Mitt …‎ WTSP 10 News Washington Post (blog)  all 14859 news articles »

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3. Republican debate in Florida: Top 5 moments ‎ Politico - 1 hour ago ROMNEY: "First of all, you thank heavens that Fidel Castro has returned to his maker …" 4. Paul andGingrich discuss Texas endorsements.

The debate started off with Mitt Romney determined to attack Newt Gingrich. It turns out that Newt attacking Mitt is far more entertaining than Mitt attacking Newt, like the difference between a typical Simon and Garfunkel concert and one where Garfunkel takes over the songwriting duties for the evening.. It didn’t play to the strengths of the duo.

Mitt Romney’s general debate demeanor is reminiscent of a middle-aged math teacher trying desperately to show that calculus is fun. His attacks on Gingrich had the effect of prompting Gingrich to do a passable impression of the Benign, Aloof Frontrunner, which was certainly a change, but not entirely what Romney had in mind. But Romney’s Attack Dog needs work. Even Santorum does a better job. A very pugnacious Mitt Romney is somewhat like a very disgruntled housecat. It can’t do too much damage before it gets skittish. It might break a vase, but that is about it, and it will injure itself more than the decor.

Gingrich, as numerous commentators have pointed out, seems to be basing his strategy entirely on the idea that he could beat Obama in debates. After watching a debate like this, I have to say – I’m not sure he can, and if he does, will it matter? Sure, in theory, Gingrich could win any event that revolved around competitive talking. But if it’s anything like this one, even the winner’s a loser. And I have no idea who that was.

Possibly Ron Paul. It must have taken a lot of resolve to stay awake while Romney and Gingrich gave varying accounts of the 1990s, and it must have taken even more resolve not to sigh audibly.

I can’t conceive that this debate changed anyone’s mind, unless that person’s initial thought was, “Gee, these Republican debates are far too heady and exciting, and I worry that if I watch another of them, my weak heart will give out from the sheer adrenaline rush.”

Maybe, in the effort to keep the crowd sedate, they went a bit overboard. The two audience members behind Brian Williams didn’t even seem rapt, and they knew they were being filmed, so I can only begin to imagine the rest of the crowd. At the end of the night, they cheered loudly — for their sports team. And Williams appeared to be operating under some new contract that prevented him from asking questions that had been on anyone’s mind since 2006 or addressed issues on a national scale.

When the debate moved to the Terry Schiavo case and the problems of people in vegetative states, it began to hit uncomfortably close to home. If the debate had been hooked up to a monitor, the green line would have been beeping plaintively from the twenty-minute mark onwards. It was that bad.

At one point in the debate, Newt Gingrich tried to imply that Fidel Castro would not meet his Maker but would wind up in… another place. Hell? Possibly. Or maybe somewhere worse, like in the audience of this debate. It would serve him right.