My quick thoughts on last night’s GOP Gubernatorial debate (full disclosure: I have contributed to the Rick Perry campaign, and am endorsing him for re-election):

Rick Perry

Not a great performance. He seemed nervous at times, too cocky and fratboy-like at others. But he didn’t make any big mistakes, nor did he give his opponents any new ammunition to use against him in the coming weeks.

His best moments were when he stayed on message about his record as Governor of Texas, and the fact that Texas has persevered through this incredibly bad national economic crisis and remains the envy of nearly every other state. Facts don’t lie, and the fact is that Texas has fared much better than nearly every other state in terms of economic health over the last year.

And that success is a direct result of Rick Perry and Conservative policies in our state — low personal taxes, low business taxes, incentives for new business to move to Texas and to do business in Texas (resulting in more jobs for Texans), cuts in property taxes, etc.

His best jabs at his opponents were when he noted that “there are two candidates on this stage who want to tear Texas down,” and then listened as his opponents continued to attack his successes as Governor. Also, when he accused KBH of not knowing what the truth looks like anymore “after 16 years in Washington.”

Score 65 out of 100.

Kay Bailey Hutchison

After the debates were over I followed the immediate reactions of a lot of MSM journalists and other notable Liberals — The Austin American Statesman, The Dallas Morning News, the Libs at The Texas Tribune, and other admittedly Liberal viewers via Twitter — and the reactions were all overwhelmingly in favor of KBH’s performance.

One has to ask why a bunch of Liberals and Democrats thought KBH’s opinions and stances on issues last night were the winner? It’s because KBH’s views are more in line with typical Liberals than they are with typical Conservatives. There’s a reason why most Texas and national Conservatives think KBH is one of the most egregious RINOs in D.C..

There’s a reason that Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named KBH as one of the Porkers of the Year — the only Republican on their list.

Bottom line is that KBH did nothing to cut into Rick Perry’s double-digit lead. She didn’t give us any reason to believe that she’s not the Washington Porker that she’s been shown to be.

Score: 35 of 100

Via Rick Vs. Kay:

With only two 1 hour long debates that are currently scheduled and a high unlikelihood that the two camps will agree on other debates… Kay needed a game changing debate to catch up with Rick.

She did not score that game changing debate she needed… Medina was in some ways the winner of the debate in that she did not delve into her Alex Jones conspiracy theories despite being a guest of his on the radio… she came off as confident and calm and other than her errors on the drug question and her grating delivery she did quite well…

[snip]

Kay seemed pro choice and pro bailout which were both huge blunders… and Medina stayed pretty level headed except for that drug legalization question and answer… she was not sure how to answer that obviously…

Debra Medina

Rumor has it that Ms. Medina was at last night’s debate. But the way Rick Perry and KBH ran roughshod over the moderators and the rules of the debate…Ms. Medina had very little opportunity to spout off some more of her interesting conspiracy theories last night. Perhaps she should stick to appearances on Alex Jones’ conspiracy radio program.

Medina had the most to gain and the least to lose last night, but she came off as inexperienced (I’m the new kid, so you’ll have to excuse my dumb answer because this question is really hard…) and not really all that likable.

Though she did have some big ‘ol Texas hair working for her last night.

While I support her stance on the second amendment and the elimination of gun registration, I oppose her reason…which is one of her nut-job conspiracy theories: that the gov uses those registration lists to confiscate guns. The reason to eliminate gun registrations is simply because our right to own guns is supposed to be uninfringed, and it’s our right to own guns without having to register them. Simple as that.

Dumb question of the night was whether or not Ms. Medina — who does own guns but does not have a concealed handgun license — carries her gun into the grocery store with her (which would be illegal under current Texas law).

Though, with her typical Libertarian views on the complete legalization of drugs, the better question would be to ask her how often she walks through the grocery store stoned. In fact, if you told me she was stoned during last night’s debate, that would actually make sense and explain some things.

Bottom line: Medina never should have been a part of the GOP debate, because she’s not a Republican. She’s a classic Ron Paul-esque Libertarian looney. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But there’s a reason that every car you see with a Debra Medina sticker on it also has a Ron Paul sticker and an InfoWars sticker on it.

The people who today are saying she did well or that her appearance will make an impact on the coming election are people outside of the Republican party who are simply hoping that Medina can force a run-off and more political theater for their enjoyment.

Score: Barely registered. Maybe a 10 out of 100