NEW YORK – The hands came out of the pockets. The gaze was intense. Mitt Romney leaned confidently into the lectern.
Even with the sound turned off, Romney would have stolen Newt Gingrich’s debate thunder with a surprisingly commanding and aggressive performance in the latest Florida faceoff, body language experts said Friday.
To some, in fact, it was as if the two Republican presidential candidates had swapped roles, with Gingrich, the aggressor (and ultimate victor) in South Carolina, suddenly seeming the uncomfortable, squirmy candidate in Florida.
It was a marked change for Romney, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, an expert in political communication at the University of Pennsylvania. “All his nonverbal cues suggested directness,” she said. “The halting delivery was gone. He didn’t hesitate before responding. The indecisiveness disappeared.”
The former Massachusetts governor also showed flashes of temperament, unafraid to display real anger at Gingrich’s calling him, in an ad, an “anti-immigrant” candidate.
“Mr. Speaker, I’m
Read More from the Article Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_el_pr/us_debates_body_language
