At the Examiner, Conn Carroll wonders whether Perry should just give up on the debates after his awful performance last night:

Perry has performed poorly in all four of the GOP debates in which he has participated. Even the candidate himself seems to acknowledge that debates can only hurt his campaign. So why show up? The Perry campaign is telling every reporter who will listen that debates don’t matter. OK. If they really believe that, then why have Perry show up at all? Why not just work crowds, raise money, and run TV and web ads? We know Perry can’t debate, so let the headlines be about what he CAN do.

Skipping the debates seems like a bit of a cop-out. But beyond that, if Perry believes the debates are just a sideshow, then he should follow through on that by shifting the focus of his campaign to grassroots campaigning, public speaking, organizing and fundraising. That’s what he’s good at. As John McCormack noted, Perry shined during his small, post-debate event.

Aren’t the debates starting to lose their significance at this point, anyway? Romney looks inevitable. The only reason so many of the other candidates are still showing up is probably because it’s free. Bachmann’s almost out of money. Newt clearly lost interest a long time ago, and is now just doing it for the entertainment value. Huntsman’s at zero percent in the polls, and Santorum’s campaign is heading there.

But Perry has none of these problems. He’s still in the top three in most polls. And he has $17 million to burn. No matter how many times he bombs out at a debate, he can still run a top-tier campaign in every other area.