THERE’S ONLY ONE QUESTION TO ASK ABOUT TONIGHT’S DEBATE, Jonathan S. Tobin writes at Commentary:

But [if] next week’s polls show Donald retaining his spot at the top with none of the more established candidates breaking out of single digits, then it may be time to recognize that debate performances don’t matter all that much and that the normal rules of political gravity don’t apply to either him or this Republican contest.

In that case, it will really be time for the party establishment and mainstream activists who don’t want the GOP to become Trump’s personal property to panic. It won’t be possible for them to wait until after Iowa and New Hampshire to settle on a single, viable non-Trump alternative. That’s why the only question to ask about tonight’s debate is whether it will produce some sort of shift in public opinion that will create a stumbling block for Trump. Anything other than that will mean he continues cruising to the nomination while the party he seeks to lead starts to collapse in chaos.

Actually, there’s another question that you should be asking about tonight’s debate: Will Steve Green, your friendly neighborhood Vodkapundit be drunkblogging tonight’s debate?

But of course he will!