I’ve been slammed on my post below for saying that it would be better if one of the governors — probably Kasich — stayed in the race longer. I wasn’t endorsing Ohio’s governor, and I was telling the truth when I say that there are those around here who like him.

Well, once again, I displayed my greatness as a predictive political scientist.

For one thing, the governors dominated the debate last night. Christie was mightily successful in branding Rubio a high-functioning robot with simulated humanistic features. He was too mean to really help himself, though. Bush still believes that, as a man of honor, his job is to take out Trump, which, of course, he once again failed to do (Trump is doing that to himself). But he was still better than ever, if not yet that great.

Kasich might not have been the MVP, but he was certainly most improved. He was able, for the first time, to stay on topic for a whole two or three minutes, and he was somewhat successful in distinguishing himself by being compassionate, collaborative, and reasonable. The obvious criticism is that he wasn’t campaigning as a Republican so much. But, you know, he was showing some astuteness in campaigning for New Hampshire, where independents and such get to vote in the primary. He’s locked up, we can guess, the 17 percent that went for Huntsman last time, plus more. Kasich is a much more likeable regular guy. So, contrary to what I thought below, he might (of course, I don’t really know) get a ticket out of New Hampshire and even finish second. My controversial opinion is that it wouldn’t be so bad to have him around a bit longer, even if I see no way he could get even close to the nomination.

Rubio choked in the first half of the debate and pushed replay when he was too nervous to think of something new to say. He did pretty well the second half, but his brand for the evening was already established. So let me repeat what I said below: I’m just not sure he’s ready. Nor am I sure, despite his capable eloquence (usually), he really knows his own mind. Strangely, I think he could probably take Clinton or Sanders (and we have to take seriously the possibility now that it might be either), but even with every establishment public intellectual and big donor behind him, I doubt he can take Cruz. Rubio is going to lose the momentum, verging on quasi-inevitability in some circles, and might even finish a disappointing fourth behind Cruz and Kasich. We will get to see what he’s made of, and I hope I’ve underestimated him.

The other candidates, save for the brief burst of Bush, pretty much left Trump alone. Once he figured out he had a pass, Trump exuded confidence and did pretty well. He certainly didn’t lose any votes and ended up triumphantly claiming that he who does well in the debate doesn’t need much of a ground game. Well, we’ll see. But there’s no reason to believe he won’t win New Hampshire, given that no other candidate is surging mightily. We can’t forget, though, that the reason Trump was left alone is that the other candidates no longer regard him as someone who might actually get the nomination.

Cruz, to me, was lackluster, although I’m always impressed by how flexible he is in deploying details. To his fans, he was presidential. To his foes, he was repulsive and evasive. The debate didn’t help or hurt him. Actually, the debate might help him a little if he distinguishes himself over the next day or two from the other candidates by being against registering women for the draft.

Two articles you should read on RealClearPolitics:

Our friend Peter Berkowitz, one of the top mainstream conservative think-tank intellectuals, attempt to brand Cruz and Trump together as promoting a caricature of conservatism as heartless indifference.

And the always astute Joel Kotkin makes us think about the fact that our young — our future – are all about Bernie Sanders. That’s partly because they don’t really know what socialism is, and they’re too young to remember it doesn’t work. But it’s also because there’s nothing really impressive about any of the Republicans for those anxious about their future security or looking for something to believe in. Bernie, I will add, is fun. He and Trump both did well mocking themselves on SNL.

UPDATE: Cruz just said that drafting women is nuts–an example of political correctness run amok. Good branding move on his part, which will pay off down the road.