Today’s Alpha debate: Seems as if almost all of the candidates who talked gained while they were talking, except maybe Paul and Kasich. The question is whether they made enough of an impression or faded into the woodwork. Trump and Jeb! helped each other by fighting it out (though Jeb!’s initial immigration answer was shaky, as was his  what-do-you-tell-the-troops Iraq answer).  … Since they can’t all gain–it’s a zero sum game–my reluctant guess is the loser is Walker. He did fine, but he now has rivals like Christe, Cruz, Rubio and Huckabee who might steal some of his votes. …

Update: Now watching Fox’s post-debate spin, which is all Oh-now-Trump-has-blown it. Theyv’e said this before! I’m skeptical. He was Trump. He did fine. We don’t have time for tone!  But I’ve been wrong before too. (I thought Rick Lazio cleaned Hillary’s clock.) …

Update: Fox also suspiciously Rubio-boosting — and Bret Baier says it as if he seems guilty about it … It also seems telling that Fox isn’t showing any of Trump’s sound bites (in which he allegedly blew it and began the end of his candidacy). If they’re so bad, why not show them? … … [OK, they’ve finally showed one answer.] …

More: They aren’t talking about Jeb! hardly at all on Fox. It’s almost as if he wasn’t there. But I’m not clear about the relationship of Fox to reality at this point  It’s like eavesdropping on an afterparty at the Comintern. …