The wild card after this debate is Rand Paul—the audience seemed more sympathetic to Rubio during their confrontation, but by taking on Rubio as his father, Ron Paul, took on Rudy Giuliani in 2007, the younger Paul may have given his campaign fresh direction and appeal, both to his father’s libertarian base and to Republicans who hope that the next president from their party pursues a foreign policy very different from that of the last Bush administration. If Paul does get a boost from his performance last night and heads into the next debate ready to challenge Rubio again, he might yet live up to his early promise of making the Republican contest a battle of ideas.

Daniel McCarthy is editor of The American Conservative.

Image: Creative Commons/Flickr/Gage Skidmore.