I’ve looked around the web, and although there are many articles entitled “GOP Debate Scorecard”, none are actually what I would consider a scorecard, that is, a card with the names going across one way, various categories going across the other way, and marks where the rows and columns intersect.
Like so:
| Romney | Brownback | Gilmore | Huckabee | Hunter | Thompson | McCain | Paul | Giuliani | Tancredo | |
| Repeal Roe v. Wade | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | •/- | • |
| Disbelieve evolution | – | • | – | • | – | – | – | – | – | • |
| Ban stem cell research | – | • | • | • | • | • | – | • | – | • |
| intervene in schiavo case | • | • | ND | ND | • | • | – | ND | • | ND |
| slag Mrs. Clinton | • | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | • | – |
| pardon Libby | • | • | • | ND | ND | ND | ND | – | – | • |
| cut taxes without mentioning reducing spending | – | • | • | • | • | • | – | • | • | – |
| support flat tax/"Fair" tax or repeal AMT | – | • | • | • | – | • | • | • | • | • |
| talk about iraq in terms of winning instead of leaving | – | • | ND | • | – | • | • | – | • | ND |
| slag Bush | – | – | – | • | • | – | – | • | – | – |
| namecheck Reagan | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | – | • | • |
| set up a national ID system | • | – | ND | ND | ND | – | • | – | • | • |
| start WWIII | ND | ND | – | ND | • | • | • | – | • | |
| admit to beliefs dictating lawmaking | • | • | ND | • | ND | ND | ND | ND | – | ND |
| believe there is no consensus on global warming | ND | ND | ND | • | – | ND | ND | ND | ND | ND |
| wall off Mexico | ND | ND | ND | ND | • | ND | – | ND | ND | • |
| said "they do it too" in response to ethics questions |
ND | • | ND | ND | ND | ND | ND | ND | ND | • |
| Have Charisma | – | • | ND | – | ND | ND | – | • | • | – |
• Candidate made statements to that effect
-Candidate disagreed with statement
ND Candidate didn’t take a position
You can visit their website to get their supposed platform and stand on common issues; what is represented here is only what they actually said during the debate itself.
Caveats: I’ve used my own glib shorthand to refer to some issues. I’ve selected all the issues they all took a position on, but selected others according to my interests. The last row is my opinion only. Giuliani expressly said he was pro-choice, and only that it would be “OK” if it were overturned.
“It’s an issue for the states” was a common phrase, and it seems to have been used most commonly to try to hide lack of support for a mainstream position. For example, saying “It’s an issue for the states” in regards to abortion, means “Overturn Roe v. Wade” whereas “”issue for the states” in regards to the Schiavo case meant “I personally would have intervened”.
As you can see now that it’s all laid out, the only candidate remotely mainstream is Giuliani. The Right is pushing Romney, but it’s clear from his statements regarding the Schiavo case and the role of his faith in lawmaking that he’s just a puppet to steal get “compassion conservative” votes from Giuliani. McCain is close to mainstream, but way too hawkish to be trusted. Likewise, Ron Paul is close to mainstream, but extremely libertarian with regard to governmental services such as healthcare, welfare, and so on. The rest of the lot are absolutely off-the scale radicals. Brownback, Tancredo, and Huckabee make Pat Buchanan look like a centrist.