Sioux City Debate Part I: Tebow & conservative revolt

The highlights of the opening round of tonight’s GOP debate:

Gingrich in his opening answer (sort of) repeated what he said during Iowa Press taping this morning, said it’s “sort of laughable” to question his conservative cred. “Part of the difference is I strive for very large changes,” he said.

Paul, when asked about his electability, said: “Probably anybody up here could beat Obama….so the challenge isn’t all that great on how to beat Obama. I think he’s beating himself.”

Santorum was next, and he was the first to swipe at fellow candidate Gingrich, stressing: “You can trust me…The speaker had a conservative revolution against him when he was the speaker of the House….that’s the contrast.”  (BTW: the new Santorum ad played during the first break.)

Perry, after saying he’s getting to like debates, said he wants to be “the Tim Tebow of the Iowa Caucuses.” (A Santorum supporter used the Tebow line for his candidate earlier this week.)

Romney talked about the “blessing in disguise” of having the Massachusetts legislature be 85 percent Democrat. “I found a way to find common ground,” he said.