"There were three central themes Tuesday night in Las Vegas. Number one, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry don't like each other; number two, all the Republican candidates don't like Herman Cain's '9-9-9' tax plan; and number three, Anderson Cooper lost control at a key moment in the debate. Perry went after Romney on the illegal immigrant issue, leading to a heated back-and-forth. CNN's Anderson Cooper, the moderator, should have stepped in and allowed Romney to respond without interruption. Perry accused Romney of hypocrisy; Cooper should have provided Romney a moment to respond without chaos. The facts are these: After learning that his lawn mowing company in Massachusetts was using illegal labor, Governor Romney fired them. You can decide whether the issue has any relevance. Also, Herman Cain was pounded over his '9-9-9' tax proposal. Low income folks would pay a little more to the feds if the 9% individual flat tax was passed into law, and a 9% sales tax would hurt things like the fast food industry and clothing. However, Herman Cain is all in said his rivals don't understand the plan. The debate was the liveliest yet and marks Rick Perry's return to the fray. Mitt Romney maintained his status as the guy to beat, while Herman Cain lost some momentum, which is to be expected. The other candidates are long shots with the primaries closing in. In order to compete in the presidential arena the candidates need big money, and that flows only to those who are perceived to have a good chance to win the nomination."

Guest: Dick Morris

Political strategist Dick Morris provided his post-game analysis of Tuesday's GOP debate. "Romney won and Perry lost decisively," Morris declared. "Nobody likes a dirty fighter and Perry looked like Richard Nixon, he looked like a dirty, low-blow fighter. On top of that he was talking over everybody and looked completely out of sorts." Morris also opined that Herman Cain was not at his best in the debate. "His defense of his tax plan was rather inept, it's a much better plan than he gave it credit for. Remember what happened when Reagan cut the top tax rate and the economy exploded with 20 years of prosperity? That's what would happen if '9-9-9' passed." Finally, Morris predicted that "money won't matter" in the GOP primary, saying what will count most is "these debates and the Fox News coverage."

Guest: Bill Burton

For a view from the Democratic side, The Factor welcomed former Obama press aide Bill Burton. "I would give the debate to Rick Perry," Burton said, "who showed a little bit of energy and fight and landed a couple of punches. He did as well as he's done in any of these debates and it was fun to see what happens when you get under Mitt Romney's skin. Romney couldn't take it and he was begging Anderson Cooper to help him." The Factor contended that Romney had no choice but to turn to the moderator, saying, "Romney was doing the proper thing by asking Anderson Cooper to give him his time." Pressed to predict who will be facing President Obama next year, Burton went with Mitt Romney.

Guest: Michael Daly

According to a piece in Newsweek magazine, the Occupy Wall Street protesters are ordinary Americans. The Factor challenged Newsweek's Michael Daly to back up that claim. "There's a general feeling in this country," Daly said, "that things aren't right and that there aren't any leaders taking us in the direction to make things right, and on both the left and the right there is frustration and anger and worry. The protest is not an articulation, it's an expression that has grown. It's very difficult to make generalizations about them." The Factor compared the Occupy Wall Street crowd unfavorably with their right-leaning predecessors: "The Tea Party protests got hammered by the media as racists and lousy right-wing people, but the Tea Party people want to work within the system and they want politicians to stop the massive spending. The Occupy people, by and large, want to blow the system up."

Guest: Dennis Miller

The Factor called on Dennis Miller to decide who hit the jackpot at the Republican debate in Las Vegas. "In horserace parlance," Miller began, "Obama won, Romney was second, and in the show position was Newt Gingrich. My guy Herman Cain was out of the money and as for Rick Perry, you might have to put him down in the backstretch. I knew Perry did badly, but I had no idea how badly he did until that wizard Bill Burton said he won last night." Miller theorized that Obama is the big winner whenever Republicans go after one another. "We can't do this twelve more times, we're shooting inside the tent. We can not have everybody up there like nine praying mantises in a mayonnaise jar with three air holes, breaking antennas and trying to get to the air. This is helping Obama! It should be like Survivor - every week we should vote one person off and winnow this down." Miller also criticized President Obama for sympathizing with the Wall Street protests. "I wish the President would have been as encouraging to those kids running down the streets of Tehran two years ago as he is with these jerks down at Wall Street. I would say the President has his priorities askew."

Guest: Juliet Huddy

Fox News correspondent Juliet Huddy reacted to actress Susan Sarandon, who called Pope Benedict a "Nazi." "She's been very quiet," Huddy observed, "and she's usually very outspoken. You would think that maybe she would apologize because she was so wrong about this. This may hurt her career because many people are very offended - when you start talking about Nazis and Hitler it takes it to a whole new level." Huddy also watched footage of the wild animals who were let loose in Zanesville, Ohio. "There were bears, monkeys, cheetahs, and at this point 48 of the 56 have been killed. The question was why they didn't just tranquilize them, but cops in Zanesville don't have tranquilizer guns. This was horrible!"

Dennis McMahon, Burlington, VT: "The way the protesters treated John Stossel has turned me completely off to them. I had hopes that conservatives and liberals could unite against corporate greed but the irrationality of the left makes that difficult."

Dr. Angela Ongcapin, Chino Hills, CA: "I'm also a psychologist and agree that the groupthink occurring among Wall Street protesters can lead to the loss of critical and rational thinking."

Joe Tisdale, Nebo, NC: "The president's visit to this state is purely a re-election campaign trip paid for by me and other taxpayers. Not fair."

Wednesday's Pinhead or Patriot: The 4-year-old boy who threw a tantrum when his dad told him the family TV would remain tuned to the Republican debate.