Liveblogging the debate, 5

Huckabee: "We're a great nation not because government is great, but because people are great." See, he's slick. Oh, and he mentions Reagan again.

Thompson believes it's okay to fire people for being gay.

Romney talks about the separation of church and state -- appropos, for some reason, the question of whether Catholic communion should be regulated by the government. Subtext: "There's nothing wrong with voting for a Mormon!"

Huckabee: "When a person says my faith doesn't affect my decision-making, that says their faith isn't significant enough to be part of their decision-making." Direct attack on Romney. It's starting to get ugly. Mitt's trying to be gracious about it, though.

Rich Lowry thinks "they're all talking too fast."

Also at the Corner: Peter Robinson thinks Mitt blew it on abortion, but Jonah Goldberg thinks he nailed the religion question. Lowry agrees.

Thompson: Reagan, Reagan, optimism.

Harris asks Brownback: "What's with your party and all this corruption?" Brownback blames it on the breakdown of the nuclear family. Fair enough.  ¶ Posted by Paul Curtis 7:36 PM