The stand outs in this debate turned out to be John Kasich and Rand Paul, just in terms of bringing the other candidates back to dealing with actual facts or things like counting.

In terms of who helped themselves or hurt themselves, I'm not terribly sure. Whatever you can say about the CNBC debate, it was tight, with sharp exchanges and memorable moments. There was very little of that tonight. Trump lacks energy and punch when he's not the center of attention. Jeb Bush was better than he was in the last debate but not nearly enough to shift the balance in what seems like a dying campaign. Carson seemed fine by Carson standards but mainly because it's not permitted to ask him any real questions or press him for an answer.

In the post game Ben Carson just told moderator Neil Cavuto he and the rest of the candidates were very happy with the moderators - which pretty much tells the whole story. "Well, can I say the candidates were very happy with you guys." All in all, though he stuck to his same talking points, I think the net effect is to help Rubio since the decline of candidates like Jeb Bush mean he is the one establishment Republicans seem likely - seem basically forced - to continue to rally around.