Matt Dowd on the Debate

DES MOINES -- The chief strategist of George W. Bush's 2004 re-election effort said that he believed John McCain won the third Republican debate in New Hampshire tonight.

Dowd made his comments during a seminar on political journalism at Drake University in Des Moines.

"If I were McCain's people, I'd be very happy," Dowd said after watching the 2-hour debate with journalists from the Poynter Institute and around the country. "My guess is that McCain's people wanted him to come across with vigor, and I think he did that."

Dowd, who most recently served as a strategist for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, is one of the featured speakers at a 3-day seminar here.

Dowd said that when McCain stood up to talk with the woman who had a brother killed in Iraq, " he made a campaign moment."

But Dowd also made the point that he believes the formats of these debates that include all 10 candidates hurt the entire Republican field.

"If I were one of the strategists of one of the major candidates, I would say, how many more of these do we really want to do?," he said. "This doesn't help in the big fight for 2008. If I were them, I'd stop doing them."

Dowd said the debates that allow only short responses, to at times, trivial questions, "diminishes the entire G.O.P. field."

Dowd also said that he believed the expected candidacy of Fred Thompson "loomed large in the room tonight."

"(Mitt) Romney did well in the first debate. But I think he's diminishing with each debate," Dowd said.

Dowd, who is not affiliated with any candidate this cycle, also said that LIbertarian Ron Paul's message on Iraq speaks to 30 to 40 percent of Republican primary voters.

"I'm just surprised one of the major candidates isn't saying what he's saying," Dowd said. "A huge chunk of the Republican primary voters feel the way he does."

"Overall, I think Romney lost some ground. McCain gained some ground and Giuliani was in the middle. Watching Huckabee, you think he might be able to make a move, but he just doesn't get any traction. The national press corp just doesn't take him seriously," Dowd observed.

Prior to 2004, Dowd served as a senior strategist on the 2000 Bush campaign, where he oversaw market research and managed a $150 million advertising budget.

Dowd now calls himself "a former Democratic, and former Republican" strategist.