What was running through Rick Perry and Mitt Romney's minds during their notably tense debate face off? Last night, Jon Stewart glanced inside the heads of both candidates in a "Fear and Pandering" Vegas debate recap. If you haven't seen the original exchange, it boils down to the Texas governor calling out Romney for hypocrisy for having formerly hired illegal immigrants on his property. Mitt, as always, had a nuanced retort. At about 6:00 minute mark in clip below, Stewart zeroes in on what  must have set Perry off: when Romney put his hand on his shoulder. A Daily Show recreation of Perry's brain at that second shows a teeth-gritted Clint Eastwood punching the lights out of someone. Near the very end of the segment it's Romney's turn to get his head examined, right at the moment where where he give his "for Pete's sake, I'm running for office" line to Perry:

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at ehayden at nationaljournal dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
Erik Hayden