Mike Huckabee

Showed his different-kind-of-Republican chops, along with preternatural calm and homespun charm. Didn't brag much on his record in Arkansas, but offered a plain-spoken, gubernatorial confidence, and had the second best presentation after Romney. Will enjoy some morning show and cable net play with his cheeky responses to the Schwarzenegger presidential eligibility question and his unneighborly crack about the former Arkansan-dwelling Clintons.

— Mark Halperin