What can Rick Perry do now? Newly released polls show his ratings being pulled down, down, down by the combined weight of poor debate performances, lackluster campaigning and a spectacular gaffe.

A new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll illustrates the depth of Perry’s problem. When Republicans were asked in the first week of November for their first choice for president, Perry was in fourth place, with 10 percent support. That was bad enough, but when the pollsters got back in touch with the same respondents a week later — after Perry’s infamous “brain freeze” moment at a GOP debate in Michigan — Perry’s support had fallen to 4 percent. That put Perry at fifth place in an eight-candidate race, barely ahead of Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman.