GOP debate highlights

And just like that, all of Rick Perry‘s past debate struggles were forgotten. But only because he had topped them all, and then some. The Texas governor began talking about his tax plan, and how he’d reduce government regulations as president. It unfolded like this:

“It’s three agencies of government when I get there that are gone: Commerce, Education and -- the, uh -- what’s the third one there? Let’s see ...” Perry said.

Take two.

“Commerce, Education, and -- uh. The, uh ...”

Mitt Romney tried to assist. “EPA?”

“EPA! There you go,” Perry said, laughing (at least on the outside).

Moderator John Harwood pressed Perry: Was it really the EPA he was looking for?

“No, sir. No, sir.”

Take three.

“I would do away with Education. The, uh, Commerce. And let’s see. I can’t. The third one, I can’t,” he said.

“Oops.”  (Jeff Kowalsky / EPA)

Sharing a debate stage for the first time, Rick Perry, right, and Mitt Romney sparred in a series of testy exchanges over jobs, Social Security and the proper tone of a candidate who presumes to lead the country. The session at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley was the first to include the Texas governor, who supplanted Romney as the presumptive GOP front-runner, and was the focal point throughout most of the evening -- though not always happily. At one point, the oft-targeted Perry compared himself to a piñata.  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), standing next to Newt Gingrich, used the first major presidential debate of the 2012 campaign to announce that she was formally running for president.  (C. J. Gunther / EPA)