Have you had a chance to catch any of his face to face interviews? He does very well. I've saw him with Cavuto, Hannity and on the hot seat with the Fox News round table crew and he's done extremely well in all three cases.
Many times, as well as seeing him on the campaign trail and even a fundraising dinner with him back during his last run for governor (and about 200 others so nothing special). His debate performances were highly out of character.