Had Marco Rubio performed a week ago in the New Hampshire debate as he did Saturday night in South Carolina, the Florida senator might have vanquished his non-Trump, non-Cruz rivals for good. Seven days after having the worst debate performances of his presidential campaign, and even less time after coming in a disappointing fifth place in the New Hampshire primary, Rubio seemed to bounce back with strong, informed answers on national security and taxes. But with his top establishment rivals, John Kasich and Jeb Bush, delivering solid turns themselves, has Rubio’s opportunity to break out of the pack passed?

It helped that Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor who elicited Rubio’s debate malfunction on February 6, has since dropped out of the race and was not onstage in South Carolina. But Rubio also looked and sounded looser than he had a week earlier. He slowed down his typically rapid delivery. Most importantly, he didn’t repeat a 25-second speech.