To the casual observer, someone without extreme bias or an agenda, it could appear that Rep. Ron Paul “won” the Aug. 11 Republican presidential debate.

He stood out from the pack, received the most crowd support, came across as very knowledgeable and stated his opinions very well.

At at time when dissatisfaction with the federal government is at an all-time high, abolishing the IRS and the Federal Reserve, putting an end to the 10-years War and cutting back on ridiculous, wasteful, unprecedented spending all seem like pretty good ideas. If poor monetary policy helped get the economy in a mess, let’s go back to a gold standard.

Why do we need to pay the government for a marriage license, he asks?

The chances that he is the favorite candidate among the most American people? Pretty good, really. The chance that he will be the Republican Party’s nominee next year? I hesitate to say anything is impossible, so I’ll say less than one percent.

Paul could actually draw in a huge number of the traditionally more leftward leaning anti-war crowd who are unsatisfied with Obama’s hawkish activities.

Michele Bachmann stood her ground and represented herself pretty well. However, the business community will not allow her to become the nominee. I’m ruling her out.

But speaking of the business community, I could see them getting behind Herman Cain. He does not seem to care that much about any sort of social issues and is getting a reputation of not being incredibly knowledgeable of foreign affairs, but if he keeps up the talk of tax cuts, Lordy, watch the big money roll in.

Honestly, I don’t really care if any of the candidates know what the Palestinian right of return is because they’re not running for president of Palestine or anywhere else. Cain’s an American, and there are more than enough problems to solve on U.S. soil without being the world police.

I’m going to give second place in this Fox debate to Newt Gingrich. He’s a very bright, articulate and reasonable guy. He knows his history and economics. He is in well with the Republican establishment. He possesses the right balance of business and financial rhetoric, Christian values, perpetuation of the global war on terror and energy policy reform to score points with almost any Republican.

I would not be surprised to see Newt as the nominee and even the next president.

I would be surprised to see Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorum or Jon Huntsman Jr. as the nominee. It’s a possibility that Pawlenty and Santorum look too much alike for people to remember who said what. Given, that’s no reason not to vote for either of them, but I’m serious.

Santorum’s comment that he has defeated three incumbent Democrats could make some Republican ears perk up, though.

I heard “frontrunner” and mainstream media darling Mitt Romney being described as “very presidential.” I’ll agree, he did come across as very presidential, in other words, like a tool, out of touch and snake-like.

So, in summery, Ron Paul is absolutely the only one of these people I would ever vote for. But I’m narrowing down the field of legitimate Republican candidates to Gingrich, a certain Texas governor who did not even participate and Romney.

IF YOU CARE, VOICE YOUR OPINIONS AND REGISTER TO VOTE NOW, NOT WHEN IT’S TOO LATE.