In fifth debate, Perry finally shows up

(By Byron York, Campaign 2012) - Twenty-four hours before the Republican presidential debate in Las Vegas, an adviser to Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Perry would try a new strategy after a series of lackluster debate performances. "We're going to pay a little less attention to the rules," the adviser, who asked to remain anonymous, said. "They have rarely been enforced, and we're not going to pay much attention to them." In previous debates, the adviser explained, Perry had tried to abide by time limits, leading some observers to say he seemed passive and withdrawn. Perry intended to make sure that didn't happen in Las Vegas.

It didn't. The Las Vegas debate was Perry's fifth, but the first one in which Perry really showed up to play. That doesn't mean he won, doesn't mean he was particularly likable, doesn't mean he always had cogent answers. But it does mean that Perry, on the verge of being completely written off as a candidate, gave himself a chance to get back in the game.

And Perry, for the first time in any GOP debate, rattled former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. He did it by bringing up a 2007 charge that Romney hired illegal immigrants to do lawn work at his Massachusetts home. Jobs are the magnet for illegal immigrants, Perry said. "And Mitt, you lose all of your standing, from my perspective, because you hired illegals in your home and you knew about it for a year. And the idea that you stand here before us and talk about that you're strong on immigration is on its face the height of hypocrisy."