One of the lesser-noticed,  but perhaps most telling, moments during Mitt Romney‘s interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier Tuesday night came toward the end, at the start of Baier’s “lightning round.”

Asked what book he’s read most recently, Romney said, “I’m reading sort of a fun one right now, so I’ll skip that,” adding, “I just read ‘Decision Points’ by President Bush.”

In the competition for the GOP’s Best in Show, the junkyard dogs are barking. Yesterday, Rep. Ron Paul released a brutal attack ad against national polling leader Newt Gingrich, and this morning, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman put out a web spot that takes apart New Hampshire frontrunner Mitt Romney‘s interview with “overly aggressive” Fox News anchor Bret Baier.

On Wednesday night, Factor host Bill O’Reilly invited his colleague Bret Baier on to discuss Baier’s recent interview with GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. “Why are you asking this cat the same questions he’s been asked 800 times?” O’Reilly asked, basically.

There were quite a few tense moments during Bret Baier‘s great Fox News interview with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney Tuesday night, especially when the subject turned to the individual health insurance mandate that Romney signed into law as Governor, but which he now opposes at a national level. When Baier pressed Romney, the cracks showed a little bit, as the candidate said, with an exasperated laugh, “This is a very unusual interview.”

Fox News’ Bret Baier conducted a great interview with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney Tuesday night, challenging the candidate to answer a number of harsh criticisms that have been leveled at him. Romney was back on his heels for much of the interview, but never more than when Baier tried to get him to explain how his position on immigration differed from the one he attacked Newt Gingrich for.

Rick Perry made a bold policy proclamation Monday night on Special Report with Bret Baier, declaring he supports a no-fly zone in Syria without approval from the United Nations. “Would you do what we did in Libya, which is to institute a no-fly zone over Syria?” columnist Charles Krauthammer asked the Texas Governor. “If you were president today, would you advocate that we do that in Syria?” “Absolutely,” Perry exclaimed. “Absolutely.”

Herman Cain‘s uncomfortable Libya gaffe is certainly not doing much to elevate Charles Krauthammer‘s confidence in him. Krauthammer, who had already told host Bret Baier previously that he had a feeling Cain was “winging it,” repeated his suspicions tonight, adding that he didn’t understand “what there was that required almost a minute of thought gathering” in the question that stumped him.

On Monday’s Special Report With Bret Baier, Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume thought Herman Cain‘s political days were numbered with the latest revelation coming out and an accuser speaking out publicly. “I didn’t think he could survive the other allegations,” Hume expounded. “Although I have misgivings about how they came about and the whole case, I think now it’s almost impossible.”

Mark Block, the chief of staff for Herman Cain‘s campaign, appeared on Fox New Wednesday evening to drop a pretty serious whammy of an allegation: Cain’s campaign, it would appear, believes Rick Perry and his campaign people have been “stirring up” the sexual harassment accusations against Cain that have recently come under the media spotlight, kicking off with a report in Politico.

When MSNBC decided to move Lawrence O’Donnell to 10 p.m. and put Ed Schultz in his time slot, they had to be hoping for better results than a third-place finish at 8 p.m., especially on his debut night. But Schultz’s first appearance at 8:00 was merely the side story to Nancy Grace‘s second-place finish in [...]

Fox News’ Bret Baier — one of the moderators, you’ll recall, for last week’s Fox News / Google GOP debate in Orlando — was a guest on the Kilmeade & Friends radio show today, where he told host Brian Kilmeade that Barack Obama‘s recent generalizations about Republicans aren’t quite accurate.

On CNN’s Reliable Sources today, David Shuster (Keith Olbermann‘s substitute host at Current TV) criticized the moderators of the Fox News GOP debates, and specifically called out anchors Bret Baier and Megyn Kelly, calling them too inexperienced to moderate a political debate. Howard Kurtz pointed out to Shuster that many of the questions asked were substantive and fair.

Fox News’s Bret Baier broke news this afternoon that the Obama administration is looking to draw American troop numbers in Iraq down to 3,000 by the end of this year. According to Fox’s sources, this number is significantly less than than the military personnel had expected, and, notedly, less than they believe they need. ”We can’t [...]

It’s looks like it’s going to be an extra special Special Report today as Bret Baier and his staff will have to be producing the show outside. After today’s earthquake ripped through the nation’s capital, Baier and the rest of the employees have been forced to evacuate Fox News’ D.C. bureau. “Who said August wasn’t an interesting news month?” the anchor said with a laugh while reporting the situation earlier.

Former White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton appeared on Fox News Sunday this morning to debate Karl Rove on job creation, but Rove didn’t stop at attacking Burton and President Obama. The former Bush Chief of Staff also lashed out at host Bret Baier for exposing the rigidity of the GOP presidential field by asking them if they would walk away from a deal with $10 in spending cuts for every $1 of tax revenue, telling Baier, “With all due respect, that was a lousy question for a debate.”

For someone who used to work at Fox News, Newt Gingrich seems to have a real problem with the way people at Fox News do their interviews. After going at it for a bit with co-moderator Chris Wallace for asking about his campaign’s disorganization, he took offense at a question from Bret Baier on his stance on Libya, rather than going after other candidates.

Senate Minority Leader Republican Mitch McConnell discussed the debt ceiling negotiations with Bret Baier on Fox News Sunday. McConnell was in agreement with Speaker John Boehner’s decision not to support a large deficit deal, yet also made a curious assertion that none of his Republican colleagues have ever claimed they don’t want to raise the debt ceiling.

After a heated debate with Jon Stewart, it appeared Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace fell out of the frying pan and into the fire by asking Rep. Michele Bachmann if she is a “flake.” Host Bret Baier announced today Wallace apologized privately and the Congresswoman accepted, though the debate over whether such a question was appropriate continues. To that, Charles Krauthammer had a simple answer: yes, and Rep. Ron Paul deserves to hear it.

Bret Baier spoke with Brian Kilmeade on his radio show about the epic confrontation between their Fox News colleague Chris Wallace and Jon Stewart. Baier described the interview as being “tense” and “entertaining to watch,” while also echoing some of Wallace’s thoughts about Stewart’s role in politics.

For the first time in what feels like time immemorial, someone had a worse day than Rep. Anthony Weiner. Newt Gingrich may still be officially running for President, but after today’s mass exodus of staffers, it’s hard to believe his campaign will last for much longer. So said Charles Krauthammer on Special Report today, who noted the lack of “seriousness” in the campaign ultimately led to its demise.

Rep. Anthony Weiner‘s admission to having lied about sending lewd photos has been received in some circles as a cause for celebration, but conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer isn’t taking a victory lap, even though he can’t see the Congressman’s career surviving today’s press conference. An exercise in restraint for Republicans, he warned, would be the only way to ensure that Democrats clean up their ranks among themselves.

Vice President Joe Biden‘s praise for the President’s decision to raid Osama bin Laden‘s home– a decision he described as “the boldest undertaking any president has taken in any event in modern history”– has on the Democratic side blanketed many issues beyond homeland security. On tonight’s Special Report, the (mostly conservative) panel took objection to the idea that this one issue would translate to a mandate in domestic policy, arguing Americans are not that “stupid.”

The special election defeat last night in New York’s 26th Congressional District has been widely interpreted as a referendum on Rep. Paul Ryan‘s budget proposal and, furthermore, his proposal of cutting Medicare specifically. And, surely, the Senate voted down the Ryan budget 57-40 today. On tonight’s Special Report, Charles Krauthammer argued that, as much as this appears a sign for Republicans to retreat, now more than ever they needed Rep. Ryan to stand by his bill.

Cable news ratings, May 20, 2011:

•Fox’s Bret Baier hit nearly 2 million total viewers Friday night, easily demolishing the competition at 6 p.m. Baier had 1,957,000 viewers, far ahead of MSNBC’s Cenk Uygur (594,000) and CNN’s Wolf Blitzer (491,000). In terms of viewers 25-54, it was a far closer race, with Baier winning the timeslot with 328,000 viewers. Blitzer was second with 171,000 and Uygur third with 151,000.

Cable news ratings, May 19, 2011:

•On Fox News, Bret Baier‘s Special Report jumped to second place overall behind Bill O’Reilly Thursday night, with an average 403,000 ratings among viewers 25-54. That rating was stronger than higher-profile Fox hosts like Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck, and far ahead of the competition in the 6 p.m. hour, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer (172,000) and MSNBC’s Cenk Uygur (141,000).