During the first minute of the debate, O’Rourke managed to point out that he’d visited all 254 Texas counties during his campaign. (Hitting every single county at least once is a classic political ploy, but try doing it in Texas.) He was, inevitably, asked about a drunken-driving arrest in his past and managed to veer into both a salute to his family and a tribute to second chances.

Cruz has a long experience as a debater, and Republicans are generally cheered when he gets out of their faces and onto the podium. On Friday he pushed very hard on gun rights — he staunchly took a stand that no Texan should be “shot and killed in their own home.” When O’Rourke talked about the danger of assault weapons, Cruz said the real problem was “removing God from the public square.”

Whatever else you feel, you’d have to admit this race has been darned interesting. Beside the normal fights over guns and health care and immigration, at one point the Cruz campaign called O’Rourke a “Triple Meat Whataburger liberal who is out of touch with Texas values.” The state is still not entirely clear on what that means. Whataburger is a popular fast-food chain, and it seemed a lot like announcing your opponent was a left-wing Big Mac.

O’Rourke responded by eating a Whataburger and then skateboarding around the restaurant parking lot. We definitely need more of this kind of cheery diversion in politics. People are already talking about a presidential run if he wins. Actually, Beto is so hot that people are speculating about a presidential run if he loses.

Immigration was naturally a big issue in the debate; O’Rourke defended the Dreamers while Cruz implied that his opponent loved illegal immigrants more than Texans. It will be interesting to see how this all pans out in November. Outsiders tend to underestimate Texans’ rationality on the subject. You may be shocked to hear that most of them want well-trained border guards who do not separate children from their mothers. Also, they aren’t necessarily crazy about having a monster wall in the backyard.