I can’t decide if it’s a blessing or a curse that I don’t have a TV that gets cable or broadcast programming (ours is hooked up to Netflix streaming and a DVD player). I am not able to watch the Republican debates. When I make my move to Louisiana in December, I’m going to sign up for cable. Can’t write about the 2012 election without having tee-vee.

I say that to explain why I didn’t watch the GOP event last night. Reading the postgame commentary, it seems to be fairly unanimous among commentators that Texas Gov. Rick Perry once again bombed in the debate format, and that Herman Cain, while sounding perfectly ridiculous on substantive questions (see Bruce Bartlett’s evisceration of Cain’s 9-9-9 plan), came across as really likable. Oh, and that Mitt Romney completely outclassed the competition.

Any of you watch the debate? What did you think? Is there any stopping Romney now? Doesn’t seem like it. The line on Perry is so discouraging that it’s hard to imagine him getting any traction from here on out. Has he given up?:

After three debates in which Mr. Perry had been a central figure, the Texas governor seemed to fade into the background this time. The moderators asked him fewer questions, and he went long stretches without interjecting a thought or trying to steal the spotlight back. His rivals appeared to no longer view Mr. Perry as the looming political threat they once did.

But, as the NYT points out, Perry’s got millions in the bank, and can spend it on ads. So we’ll see.

Two questions:

1) Are there any Ron Paul supporters who honestly believe the Texas Congressman will ever break outside of his core supporters?

2) Does anybody else find it remarkable, and encouraging, that the GOP candidate who is the favorite candidate of the core conservative grassroots voters — even in South Carolina, where he’s now the favorite, period! — is a black man?

UPDATE: Alex Massie types four words that have never appeared in the English language in the same phrase: “Mitt Romney’s Haggis Problem.” And what might that be? Writes Alex: “Romney’s haggis looks quite like the real thing and it smells and tastes quite like genuine haggis but it is not, in the end, quite the real thing. It lacks something.” Read on, MacDuff…