Winning the debate doesn’t translate in winning the Presidency.
Newt tore them up. Obama could’ve been anymore mediocre. Gore sounded semi-retarded..”lockbox”. So, what does it all mean?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9pqmW-D14I
There's a flaw in your reasoning - if Newt had continued his strategy in Iowa early and then in SC, I think he would have won the Presidency. He stopped "tearing them up" in Florida. How? Because he quit focusing so brilliantly on Obama, Democrats in Congress, Reid, Pelosi, lib judges, lib unions, lib academics, and libs in media......and started obsessing on Romney. And it was over.
To fully test your theory, we'd need to see a Newt type performance carried all the way through. The good Newt tore them up. The bad Newt imploded...but the debates are the single biggest factor in both Newt's rise and Newt's fall.
The difference will be you will get precise statements from Trump....and blah blah blah statements from the others.
Newt and Perry both imploded when they went soft on illegal immigration. Romney stay hard line on immigration and won. Thus far Trump has not gone soft on illegals.