Actually, on a national stage, it is.
Yes, it is. I think holding his own on his first national test, especially coming late to the debate from what had to be an exhausting few days dealing with the coordination of effort on the wildfires, was a good result.
I liked what he said, and know he could have said it better. He answered questions a lot better at the Tim Scott town hall — he had more time, was more relaxed, and looked less tired.
Given that the focus of the debate was “let’s trip up Rick Perry”, I think he did fine.
And as the frontrunner, he doesn’t really have to stand out, he just has to not fall over badly. And Romney’s teams declaration notwithstanding, I don’t think he had any real gaffes.
Heck, the biggest attack against him coming out of the debate appears to be whether or not he should have been so truthful about Social Security, with Romney, the liberals, and a few conservatives backing other candidates thinking he would have been better of lying and saying SS was fine and there was no risk to people of getting their checks.
So if that’s the worst they have, it was pretty good.