Analyzing the Dance of the GOP Debaters

"He's capturing the complexity," says Studd.

And no one knows how to put on a listening face like Huckabee. Eyes wide open, brows at attention, very I'm taking it all in.

John McCain: The man doesn't move a whole heck of a lot -- understandable, given the injuries he suffered as a POW in Vietnam. Except for the occasional chopping hand gesture, he's got both arms on the podium, bracing. Does that make him boring? Undynamic? Hardly, Studd says. "He's a pyramid -- the most stable shape in nature."

The topic is Iraq, and McCain keeps his head down, his neck tense. His upper arms and shoulders are drawn in; Bradley calls that a "control" thing. "He's definitely appealing to the military community," she adds.

But then, as he holds forth on border security and the "heart-wrenching" quandary for U.S. children with undocumented parents, his torso spreads and sinks -- a kind of full-body sigh, like "he's frustrated that this hasn't been solved already," says Whitener.

McCain has a "bound flow," she says, as opposed to Huckabee's free-flow body language, and it evokes the time he spent confined in small places as a POW. "There's a sense of a line that can't be crossed with him."

Mitt Romney: Well, he's certainly sending some interesting signals. He's praising the work ethic of immigrants, especially those who seek legal status through proper channels, but he's doing this with his chin coyly tucked, a smile dancing on his lips, his eyes twinkling up from under his brow.

"He's doing courtship things," says Bradley. "It's almost like he's going to wink at you."

"He's cute," says Whitener. "He's so focused on you, he's not seeing anyone else in the room and -- well, you'd just want to go out with him!"

"Clinton had a lot of that," Bradley scoffs.

Romney talks about families separated by the border, but when he gestures, it's mostly with his wrist, not his full arm. "It's detached, it's peripheral, it's not touching the core," says Studd. But when he brags about his record of insuring Massachusetts's uninsured, he's suddenly engaged -- pelvis back, forearm forward, like "he's about to pounce," says Bradley.

Rudy Giuliani: Where Huckabee is expansive and McCain establishes a solid perimeter, Giuliani keeps his frame narrow and controlled. His gestures are often at odds -- hands spread wide while his head moves forward -- and with pinched expressions and a habit of pointing, he has a tendency to look "schoolmarmish," says Studd.

He telegraphs his discomfort over a question about border security, Bradley says, by flinging a dismissive hand to the side and licking his lips.

The fidgetiness could work, though, say the profs. "He's bound and quick, with a controlled shudder -- it's a gearing up, a preparation, like he's ready to attack," says Studd.

Fred Thompson: He's the actor, but his face -- forever fixed in an expression of concern -- isn't nearly as malleable as Huckabee's. His head droops, his hands don't move. "Whatever he's talking about here, he's not selling it," says Bradley. "He doesn't even seem interested in selling it." On the question of when to leave Iraq, he makes a pushing gesture that seems to the profs as if he's pushing the problem away from himself.

What happened? "He's got broad shoulders and he's tall, and I think that bought him a lot of status, but it just doesn't read so well when it's you by yourself," says Studd. "You put him in a scene with someone else, and it plays to his advantage, but at a podium, there's nothing."

Duncan Hunter: Swagger is a good thing, right? Not when you're swaggering with a backward lean, like Hunter, who has a way of gesturing off to the side. "It's disdainful," Bradley says. "You get the sense he doesn't listen."

Hunter looks exasperated when asked about anti-Hispanic sentiment. He's talking about all the support he gets from Hispanics in his district, but he grabs his head with his right hand, "like 'there's no answer I can give that's going to sound good to you,' " Studd says. And then he jabs his thumb toward the space behind him onstage.

"Oh my gosh, you do not usually see that!" gasps Bradley. "It's past, it's negativity, it's 'Send 'em back.' "

Ron Paul: He's the only candidate who, when he gestures, keeps his fingers loose and wide apart. "There's more thinking than sensing," says Studd.

His eyes are alert, but his face barely moves. "He's self-involved," says Bradley. "The focus is inside his own head."

As he rages against the flight of jobs overseas, Paul finds his groove. His head lifts, his torso follows, in a rare display of authority and power. For the most part, "he comes across as likable but not authoritative," says Studd.

Bradley shrugs. "That may be why people like him."