Throughout his many campaigns, Texas Governor Rick Perry has only had a couple of really tough races. Even those elections carried him forward on a surging tide of Republican strength.

In the 2010 Governor’s race, he refused to debate Bill White. It was believed that he did not want to give that much exposure to his opponent. Others knew that Perry was concerned about debating the intelligent former trial lawyer.

It may have been a serious mistake for him to have avoided debating Bill White. Given the tide of Republicanism sweeping the nation in 2010, he likely would have won regardless of anything that happened in a debate. And, more importantly, he would have been better prepared for his Presidential campaign.

Perry blew into the battle for the Republican nomination for President like a hurricane. He was strong, a fierce opponent, and financed. He managed to shift the focus of the Iowa Straw Poll to his announcement in South Carolina. He immediately garnered front-runner status.

Thus, he blew and spread his winds across his opponents at full speed – level 5 hurricane strength, sweeping the nation and dominating the news.

The debates, however, caused the storm to slow and sputter. In the first two debates, he performed functionally and remained the eye of the storm. Though, the winds began to lose strength as his record was examined more closely.

The third debate, however, saw the storm break-up. He did not perform well and many of those supporting him began to feel prickly about some of his positions – from immigration to Social Security.

Most importantly, he did not appear to be the confident, slightly arrogant, leader that they perceived him to be.

Now, the conservative pundits have gone off on him and the perception of his performance seems worse by the day. Few people watched the debate but those that are paying attention at this point in the political season are greatly influenced by the media following the debate.

Will the Perry campaign recover? Never underestimate a powerful fundraiser. Though his performance and the following media assessment will likely hurt his national fundraising, Perry still has significant dollars in the bank. He will need to regain control of his message and figure out how to perform in remaining debates.

He may not be totally washed up at this point – just back to sea whirling around, trying to regain his strength.