poor debate performance with a loss to Herman Cain in the Florida straw poll Saturday, a defeat made even worse by the fact that he had actively campaigned there.

"Perry really did throw up on himself in the debate at a time when he needed to raise his game," Fox News' Brit Hume told Chris Wallace. "Perry is about one half a step away from almost total collapse as a candidate."

"This is a much more closed straw poll than the one in Ames, and these are discerning voters, very loyal Republican, they've been paying attention to this process all along," The Hill's A.B. Stoddard noted. "It was a real slap towards Perry and Mitt Romney. And you really got a sense when I spoke to Republicans on Friday -- as many as I could after the debate -- the sense was not only that Perry had given a dismal performance and, of course, Romney had won, but that they don't like their choices at all."