Last week's debates among Republican presidential hopefuls proved particularly challenging to some of the participants.
Among them was former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, this state's contribution to the field.
Huckabee, now a resident of Florida but a native of Arkansas, was clearly frustrated last week with the lack of opportunity he had to speak in the three-hour-long debate among the top 11 candidates.
He can argue he didn't get called on enough. And he has done that, asserting that he had just nine minutes of airtime in the whole three hours.
A variety of analysts said post-debate that Huckabee didn't use the time he had well enough to win more attention either from his fellow candidates or from the debate moderator or the other questioners.
An aside: Moderator Jake Tapper and the other questioners for the CNN debate, like their Fox News colleagues in an earlier round of debates, had an unenviable task, trying to dole out equal time and still get relevant questions answered.
The CNN format, intentionally designed to let candidates engage each other in addition to taking questions from the panel, did keep the debate interesting. But it might have contributed to a perceived imbalance about the time allotted to individual candidates.
Regardless, Huckabee didn't come out of the debate on a roll of any sort and that is a problem for him going forward. He probably scored points with his base, the evangelical Christians, with what he did say, but his reach isn't broadening.
Others among the lower-tiered candidates fared better. And, for the record, none of them seemed to get much time during the debate either. At least their time wasn't all that memorable.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is an exception. He might have at least stabilized his bid for the presidency.
Once considered a formidable candidate, Christie has struggled to rise among the too-large field for the Republican nomination. His "bridge-gate" problems haunt him still, but Christie's approach to the debate might keep him in the running longer.
Christie, like a couple of others, notably Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, managed to force their way into more of the conversation. Or they were drawn in, like Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), because other candidates called them out.
All of the candidates mentioned so far seem to be on some sort of slippery slope, not gaining traction that can sustain them for the long run.
The 2016 presidential election is still more than a year away; but the candidates are already vying for primary and caucus votes, the first of which will be cast in February.
It's still a long haul and some of these campaigns must be struggling.
In these days of unlimited campaign contributions, any candidate can have a sugar-daddy donor or two willing to bankroll them. But even those monied people must grow weary of writing checks to candidates whose campaigns don't quite live up to expectations.
Obviously, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry's money ran out and his campaign collapsed. The sooner some of the others disappear from the pack, the better it will be for those who remain.
Meanwhile, the folks at the top of the debate heap got the airtime and have made most of the news since the debate ended.
There's the ever-dominant Donald Trump, although he may have suffered some with this newest exposure.
The fortunes of both Dr. Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina, the other two "outsiders," continue to rise; and there's a newly energized Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., gaining attention. Ohio Gov. John Kasich, too, has gotten some buzz.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is having an inexplicably difficult time in the current environment. But he's still the establishment choice and sits above many of the rest who were on that debate stage. His problem is that he just hasn't met extremely high expectations.
As for the four who debated early in the evening, before the 11 leading candidates did, they're all in precarious positions.
They may have had more time individually to show themselves to voters than some in the later debate, but how many tuned in? Or stayed tuned in?
These candidates -- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), La. Gov. Bobby Jindal, former New York Gov. George Pataki, and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Penn.) -- will surely be among the next to fold their campaign tents.
Unlike Fiorina, who was among their number in the first round of debates, none of them seemed to distinguish themselves sufficiently to break into the higher order.
Next up: Democratic candidates debate on CNN on Oct. 13.
Commentary on 09/20/2015