Herman Cain Photo by Tom Dotan

Points can be divided among the camps, but only the specter of Ronald Reagan, lording over his shine, seemed to come away stronger from the contest. Then again that happens anytime two or more Republicans meet up.

The biggest fear from Rick Perry's side was that his lack of experience on the national stage would leave him vulnerable. But playing down the candidate's acumen before the debate is a time honored tradition of pre-show spin, setting him up for the better-than-expected bump.

On that criteria Perry succeeded. He remained on message, even when his less attractive policies (like his early support of Hillary Care, or executive order to require women in Texas to take a cervical cancer drug) were made issues. 

After a mild battering from Jon Huntsman over the latter issue, he acceded sheepishly to feeling a bit like a piñata at a party; the only candy hitting the ground later was a point about Social Security.

He refused to back off his assertion that it was a government sponsored Ponzi scheme, a rather harsh description for a popular program viewed as a political third rail. When he clashed with Mitt Romney on the extremity of that belief, Perry threw in the qualifier "in its current state."

Social Security was one of the few times the two front-runners locked horns in the way the pundits predicted. For the most part, the Massachusetts governor remained congenial, pointed, and not particularly memorable. He tried to strike a balance between his time as governor of a liberal state and a business owner. It's supposed to be a concoction that picks and chooses his job creation in both fields and none of that unsavory stuff that makes people uncomfortable. Often it makes it seem like he isn’t happy having been either

If Perry is the self-appointed piñata at the party, then Michele Bachmann was the magician, disappearing before our eyes.  The days of her victory in the Ames Straw Poll are historical; she looked lost and insignificant on the big stage. Perhaps it’s the result of the ever-shifting media cycle, picking favorites and discarding the others like old toys, but Bachmann’s fiery eyes now look more deer-in-the-headlights. Even her criticisms of Obama's health care reform, always in her wheelhouse, were halfhearted and confusing (Obamacare means kids won’t have jobs?)

As always the most colorful moments came from the candidates with the long-shot odds. Newt Gingrich continued his media criticism seminar, upbraiding MSNBC moderators Brian Williams and Jon Harris for trying to instigate a fight between the candidates (and apparently missing the point of a primary).

Herman Cain put forth the most concrete solutions, though they were obscure to anyone not familiar with his 9,9,9 economic proposal or the Chilean Social Security system.

And once again questions lobbed toward Ron Paul were the equivalent of baiting your freshman year libertarian roommate. Williams seemed more to fascinate in the totality of Paul's anti-government beliefs than in actually producing discussion.

Jon Huntsman staked his claim as the moderate candidate by proclaiming his belief in evolution and global warming. It was a lull in the charged rhetoric of earlier, though did lead Perry to strangely compare himself to Galileo. Hopefully he learns how that career ended.

Five months remain before any of this really matters, so finding great meaning this micro-theater is foolhardy at best. But for an evening spent in Reagan's house, two challengers emerged as the top-tier picks without any doubt. Whether they can mount a serious effort to regain Reagan's former job, is still very much in question