Well, look at it this way. He did better in the debate than he did all four years in college.
...After Wednesday night’s debate in Simi Valley, I gave Rick Perry a B-minus, meaning an average performance. Meanwhile, I gave Mitt Romney, his primary rival for the Republican nomination, a higher grade of A-minus.The grades are based on neither style nor substance per se, but instead mostly on strategy: how much each candidate did to improve his chances of winning the nomination. ...
...He got weaker as the night went along. Some of Mr. Perry’s odder moments — like his invocation of Galileo Galilei in response to a question about climate change — are liable to make for a funny segment on The Daily Show and then be forgotten about. What was more noteworthy was Mr. Perry’s response to a question about Social Security, where he doubled-down on rhetoric from his book and characterized the program as a “Ponzi scheme.”
This particular remark is not likely to sit exceptionally well even with Republicans, conservative though they may be. A CNN poll published last month found 57 percent of Republicans opposed to major changes in Social Security and Medicare. ...Nate Silver, NYT
As Nate Silver goes on to say, Perry's popularity with Republicans has to do largely with what they perceive to be his "electability." But "what Republican voters may perceive to be 'electable' and what swing voters think may be two different things." Republicans strategists here in Texas emphasize his scary record of never losing an election and his track record during campaigns of just "not screwing up." In other words, as long as he doesn't drop his water bottle or his Ruger, he'll be okay.
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The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza sees Perry as both a winner and a loser.
With all eyes on him, the Texas governor started out strong — delivering a solid answer on jobs and showing a willingness to mix it up with Romney. He was confident without being brash and seemed well versed — or at least well rehearsed — on the issues of the day. If the debate ended after 45 minutes, we might be talking about how Perry had dispelled all doubts about his readiness for the national glare of a presidential race and all it entails. ...
...After a strong start, Perry seemed to lose focus — meandering on his answer on Social Security and badly fumbling on climate change. Some of Perry’s struggles in the middle portion of the debate had to do with the fact that he was getting tough questions and having to weather a steady attack from his opponents — he joked at one point that he had become a “pinata” — but that’s what you get when you’re the frontrunner. Perry salvaged the second half of the debate with a very strong answer on the death penalty. But his uneven performance will likely keep the conversation about whether he is a clear frontrunner alive, which is not what the Perry forces wanted.
Bachmann is at the top of Cillizza's loser column. But it's interesting to find the other Rick -- Rick Santorum -- firmly in the winner column.
Santorum isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but for social conservatives looking for someone who is with them on every issue, he might well be the guy. Santorum came across as knowledgeable and credible — two adjectives that any candidate would like to have describe a debate performance.
