(Image Source: CNN)

BY CHRISTINA HARTMAN 

ANCHOR JIM FLINK

Eight candidates. Five presidential debates. And one much-loved entitlement program taking center stage at Monday night’s CNN Tea Party debate in Florida.

ROMNEY: “The question is: do you still believe that Social Security should be ended as a federal program as you did six months ago?”
PERRY: “I think we ought to have a conversation about that.”
ROMNEY: “We’re having a conversation right now. We’re running for president.”
PERRY: “The issue is, are there ways to move the states into Social Security for state employees or for retirees?”

Going in - many analysts expected Rick Perry’s stance on Social Security -- which the Texas Governor has called a Ponzi scheme -- to dominate the debate.

Former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain didn’t take the bait, though.

CAIN: “I don’t care what you call it. It’s broken.”

So -- since we kinda have to ask the pundits’ favorite question -- who won?

The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza rank-ordered his picks. Topping the list:

“Mitt Romney: Four debates. Four times Romney has wound up in the winner’s circle. It’s not a coincidence. Romney proved yet again that he is the best debater in this field...”

And his pick for the debate’s loser?

“Rick Perry: The frontrunner didn’t get it done tonight.”

Romney called Perry’s “Ponzi scheme” language “over-the-top.”

But Fox Business’ Andrew Napolitano says -- Perry’s right. His colleague -- stocks editor Liz MacDonald -- is more in Romney’s camp.

NAPOLITANO: “It pays more than it takes in an presumes the bigger base than it knows it’s gonna have.”
MACDONALD: “It is not a fraud like a Bernie Madoff. I hear what you are saying, there is a superficial similarity but Mitt Romney does it right. It does keep senior citizens out of poverty but those kinds of characterizations miss the bigger point: that Congress has raided social security since the '60S under LBJ.”
 

While Perry calls for changes to the program -- USA Today points out he hasn’t provided much by way of details. Still - the paper points out -- whether that hurts him is still up in the air.

“The emerging Republican campaign could test whether Social Security remains the "third rail" of American politics — that is, touch it and die — or if strains on entitlement programs and concerns about government spending have altered the calculations and changed the risks.”