After the Fox News debate last night, a Frank Luntz focus group panned the spectacle. The only good words they had were for John Kasich – which very much suggests he may be Fox’s next golden boy.

Luntz opened by asking for “a word or phrase to describe tonight’s debate.”

“Sophomoric,” “embarrassment,” “disappointing,” “shameful,” “despicable” and “disgusting” were just some of the answers.

“Now, this ain’t good,” Luntz acknowledged, “because there are millions and millions of people who watched the debate tonight, and this is the most negative response I have had.”

Luntz also pointedly asked, not whether the debate was informative or helpful for the voters but, “How many of you thought this helped the Republican party, what they saw tonight across the country? Raise your hands if it helped the GOP?”

“They’re giving sound bite fuel for the Democrats,” one person said. Another, “I think it’s a lot of baiting by the moderators at times, Frank.” A third said, “They’re constantly attacking Donald Trump.”

But then, when asked how many thought Trump won the debate, only one person thought so. They also expressed disapproval of Marco Rubio.

“But I want to focus on John Kasich,” Luntz said. He asked for “the clip that absolutely scored through the roof.” It was a clip of Kasich talking about his proposed policy in the Middle East.

“What was so positive about it?” Luntz asked, thereby eliciting praise for Kasich.

I have repeatedly posted about the fishy makeup of Luntz’ focus groups. Even Fox’s own then-contributor Bob Beckel has debunked them. So there’s every reason to be suspicious about the fact that Luntz did not say how he chose this panel or what its overall makeup was: undecided voters? Disaffected Rubio supporters? We never even found out how representative it was of Republican voters.

A few days ago, I noted that New York Magazine reports that Fox News chief Roger Ailes is reportedly “finished” with Marco Rubio and is “now back to searching for a candidate the channel can rally behind.”

After watching this segment, I think Ailes’ latest anointed one may well be Kasich.

Watch it below, from the March 3 The Kelly File, via Media Matters.