SIMI VALLEY, CA — “We have no firm explanation at this time.”

That was as much as Patricia Drake, spokesperson for the Ronald Reagan Foundation and Library, would say to the press in the aftermath of a mysterious phenomenon that occurred on Thursday morning. All the Republican candidates gathered, apparently spontaneously, in the lobby of the Simi Valley Marriott hotel around ten a.m. on September 17, the morning after the second Republican debate. They all appeared suddenly clear-headed and rational.