For what it is worth, if Rick Perry does not lift his game, he will be toast in a general election (if he is nominated). He has lots of vulnerabilities, and unlike Romney he can get tongue-tied dealing with them.

Perry is still the favorite to be nominated; he projects strength and toughness and being a straight shooter. But he appears a bit dull, to be perfectly honest.  Not impressive. People will tire of his Texas miracle as they did mike Dukakis' Massachusetts miracle. Perry seems to get tired in the debates.  Romney is far more adept at this, and has gotten better since 2008.

Cain and Gingrich are only ones refusing to trash Perry in the debates.  Maybe  they think he will win and there is Secretary of State for gingrich, and a Georgia Senate run for Cain (though I doubt this one).

But the others will badly damage Perry if he is the eventual nominee. Bachmann is going nuclear with her charge that Gardasil causes mental retardation. A doctor she is not, and the charge is irresponsible, regardless of the merits of her criticism of Perry's decision on the vaccine.   Paul Ryan would sure be clarifying and welcome, but does not have the fire in the belly for this (not now anyway).

Some of the candidates seem to be lunging towards post WW2 isolationism, a very bad sign.  Ron Paul is awful on this, and incendiary when he says that that we created jihad.  He, the academic left, and the third world nations at the UN Human Rights commission are on the same page on this.  Huntsman is not much better.  Perry had a mangled answer in response to Huntsman that was not too reassuring either.

Update from Russ Vaughn:

I'm stunned at the stupidity of two people I previously admired. Tonight, two supposed Republican leaders handed the Democrat Party oppo videos that will no doubt be used ad nauseum when Rick Perry becomes the Republican candidate. Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum, two wannabees who have no chance of winning the Republican nomination demonstrated why they aren't even close to being presidential material.

Their emotion-driven attacks on Perry will most certainly come back to haunt the Republican Party as it seeks to rid us of Obamanation. Playing right into Wolf Blitzer's hands, Bachmann and Santorum let themselves be manipulated into vicious, emotional attacks on Perry on an issue where he had already admitted he was wrong. He manfully stood there before them and the nation and admitted his mistake and these two lacked the professional grace to back off and let the issue rest.  More than anything else they resembled a pair of rabid MSNBC loonies.

Sensing the blood Blitzer had chummed into the water, both continued to attack and bloody not just Perry, but the Republican Party, conservatives as a whole and the Tea Party, selfishly weakening our chances of victory in 2012. What self-centered, mean-spirited short-sightedness was demonstrated by both. Bachmann in particular seemed determined to bloody Perry, our apparent front runner, with her motherly appeals to emotion, repeatedly using the phrase "little girls." Notice that the more circumspect and wiser debate participants didn't partake of this ill-informed feeding frenzy.

What was she thinking?

She has no chance of the nomination so what was her motive? Is she PO'd because Perry's entrance into the race knocked her ratings down so badly? Is she trying to assist fellow-northerner Romney over Texan Perry? Whatever her motivation, she served her party poorly with her ill-thought-out performance. It will come back to haunt all of us who wish to see Obama dethroned. It will particularly come back to haunt an over-wrought Bachmann who revealed what she's missing in leadership qualities. And this is a woman I had admired and defended.