The first GOP presidential debate

[Jered]

I didn't watch it.

I don't think I missed much.

[Jericho941]

I didn't watch it.

I don't think I missed much.

Yup. Spent the day at Mount Rainier instead.

[Netpackrat]

Thought about pinging you guys to see about getting together briefly while I was down there for a family reunion this past weekend, but as it was I didn't even get to see all the family members I wanted to.

[MiddleAgedKen]

The "fellate the state" crowd at the Weekly Standard lurved them some Chris Krispykreme, claiming he wiped the floor with Rand Paul.

That's a sideshow, though. Krispykreme won't be the nominee, and neither will Sen. Paul. The main thing now is to stop Jeb! (Trump will stop himself sooner or later.)

RD Brewer (I think gets the credit) sums up the Spare (not the Heir) in one image.

[Langenator]

Did anyone watch the undercard? I lack cable TV, but everything I've seen this morning says that Fiorina owned it.

[g-man]

... everything I've seen this morning says that Fiorina owned it.

Which is like the team that won the NIT being able to claim "We're #65" since they didn't make the big dance. Big whoop.

[Langenator]

At any rate, she's now the top choice on Instapundit's reader poll, leading Walker 36% to 23%, with Cruz in third at 19%.

http://poll.pollcode.com/76459685_result?v

The same readership polled pre-debate had Walker at 44%, Cruz at 21%, and Fiorina at 16%.

Although Instapundit's readership tends to skew much more libertarian and wonkish than the general electorate or the GOP base, so make of it what you will.

[PawPaw]

Yawn. I spent the evening entertaining my lady, drinking adult beverages at a local watering hole.

Don't recall even turning the TV on last night. The election is more than a year away, and anything can happen.

[Langenator]

Oh, I watched a couple of episodes of Bluebloods on over-the-air TV, and chugged water to hydrate for PT this morning. (97% humidity at 0630...yay!)

[Aesop]

At any rate, she's now the top choice on Instapundit's reader poll, leading Walker 36% to 23%, with Cruz in third at 19%.

http://poll.pollcode.com/76459685_result?v

The same readership polled pre-debate had Walker at 44%, Cruz at 21%, and Fiorina at 16%.

Although Instapundit's readership tends to skew much more libertarian and wonkish than the general electorate or the GOP base, so make of it what you will.

So, in sum
1) She is Number One among Candidates Who Don't Matter
2) In a self-selected poll of total geek fan boys, she's prom queen. Among a representative sample of likely voters, she's maybe moved from #16 (out of 17) to #11.
3) Then everyone remembers this is a presidential campaign, she has no actual conservative creds, no political experience, and this is still the White House we're talking about, and she immediately drops back to being everyone's first choice for Secretary of Commerce when the actual candidate emerges, or else the next chick selected for The View, either of which provide commensurate political clout and influence.

In the actual fight at the top of the card, Dubbya 2.0 was leaking fuel and taking on water, Christie, Carson, and Huckabee should collect their door prizes, GTFO, and write their books now, while Rubio and Cruz both performed solidly.
Unfortunately, come the day after, the entire GOP remembers that Rubio is the guy who came out for amnesty along with Grahamnesty himself, and Trump, having taken little damage, will be beating him up over that like a rented mule for some months to come. The last two guys who gave Trump crap were found at the Children's Table Debate in days. Time will tell if that will apply to Rand Paul, and if so, he can go back to being a fine senator. And both Kasich and Walker avoided stepping on their own cranks.

A week from now the debate will be history, and about as important as a fart in a windstorm, while all evidence thus far points to Trump being right back on top of the media churn, and with 2-4 fewer serious challengers.
Some of those lost points will boost Rubio, Cruz, and Walker, among others.

Another debate like this, coupled with some legitimate polling, and we should be down to half a dozen serious legitimate candidates by the Iowa caucuses, and both the upfront and backstage pressure on the other 10+ to GTFO of the way will be a tidal wave.

And if Trump doesn't rein in speculation that he'll go rogue, the GOP national leadership should, and will, start noting that he's setting himself up to be Ross Perot 2.0, another pampered spoiler, who'll usher in President Sanders if he does, at which point I suspect his actual support will shrink to the mid single digit range, assuming he hasn't managed to melt down sooner.

All things being equal, the debate was entertaining, in a Special Olympics Thunderdome sort of way.