September 23, 2011 08:53 PM UTC

Rick Perry's Stumbles vs. Romney's Campaign Ad Kiss of Death

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• by: Colorado Pols

Regret enough for everybody, writes columnist E.J. Dionne at the Washington Post:

Rick Perry had a goal going into last night’s debate. He wanted to put Mitt Romney on the defensive for being an inconstant flip-flopper. There is plenty of ammunition for this change.

And when Perry’s moment came, he blew it. More than that, he created doubt in the minds of viewers (including the important ones, Republican primary voters, and not just people like me) as to how he would fare against a rather good debater named Barack Obama…

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the nominal Republican frontrunner, looked very weak in last night’s FOX News debate against Mitt Romney and seven other Republican candidates, fumbling in response to a number of questions and failing to pin Romney down on his long list of position reversals and gaffes. On the other hand, writes conservative Mark Thiessen:

Mitt Romney was the John Kerry of tonight’s debate. He was far more articulate than Perry (who flubbed what should have been an easy attack on Romney’s flip flops). But it was Romney who made the gaffe that will almost certainly appear in campaign ads that are probably being written as you read this, when he declared: “There are a lot of reasons not to elect me.”

The fact is, Romney was substantially better in last night’s debate over all–but campaign ads are not made from two hours of fumbling and failing to deliver anything really memorable, which is the night Perry had. Romney’s good performance in last night’s debate is meaningless if his “lot of reasons not to elect me” line emerges as a campaign meme later.

If we were running against Romney, we would make sure it does.