The Fox-Examiner crew was so strong that the debate signaled a new degree of serious in the GOP field. We heard tough and well-tailored questions that forced everyone to raise their game, including cynical onlookers.  Paradoxically, this revealed a lot in terms of character and core strength, but little in terms of policy distinction.  The best lines were broad appeals for laughs and cheers. Herman Cain said that America needs to learn to take a joke, Rick Santorum drew a distinction between showmanship and leadership, and Tim Pawlenty offered to cook dinner for anyone who could identify Obama’s policies on Medicare, Medicaid, and social security. These resonated more than any wonky flourishes could. This is in large part due to the fact that no one really understands what can actually be done to get us out of the current national predicament.

Michelle Bachmann, I think, showed a few cracks, and these might combine with this past week’s hit jobs to do her some harm.  I don’t entirely agree with Jonathan that she slaughtered Tim Pawlenty. Up until his fact-based challenges this evening she’d only been dealing with broad, cheap, and impressionistic character assassination. Calling her out on policy specifics took her to new untested ground, and her passionate pronouncements didn’t fully satisfy. She started out the night yelling and gesturing meaninglessly about Obama being a one-termer and ended up having to defend her record to another Republican. She was late coming back from a commercial break, as Jonathan noted, and that’s exactly the kind of curious and memorable lapse she didn’t need. Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, and Ron Paul gave hopeless and erratic performances. The intricacies of Paul’s libertarian vision are as wacky as his passion and vision are genuine. But that he believes sincerely in something so undiluted gives him a strange edge over the others

Rick Santorum grew dynamic and credible as the night went on, showing an unexpected mastery of Iran and being the only one to take on Ron Paul’s eccentricities. But, at most, this served to remind Americans he was there. Jon Huntsman, on the other hand, could have used that kind of reminder tonight.

Jonathan has it right: no one laid a glove on Mitt Romney, which means he remains frontrunner. But I can’t help but think that Pawlenty might have done himself some good by going effectively on the offensive tonight. Among other things, it revealed that he has what was otherwise sorely missing on that stage: an actual vision for America.