Fireworks! Going into the debate, the question seemed to be whether Donald Trump would survive as the Republican presidential candidate. My sense is that he substantially improved his chance of doing so.

He managed to field tough questions about the 2005 tapes by pivoting, somewhat frantically, to substantive issues. He managed to attack Hillary Clinton for her response to the women accusing Bill Clinton of rape or other sexual involvement — although he went over the top, in my judgment, by interjecting that he would put her in jail.