"Republicans are so excited about the possibility of Christie getting into the race. I have not seen anything like this in my time in politics," noted Luntz.

Political analysts say Governor Perry must show improvement in upcoming debates or risk losing his frontrunner status.

David Gergen has served as an aide to Republican and Democratic presidents and teaches at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

"How long he will stay there we don't know," said Gergen. "It is unclear whether Governor Perry of Texas is a rising star or a shooting star and we will have to wait and see how the next few months go."

Perry still leads Romney in the latest

CNN-ORC

poll by a margin of 28 to 21 percent, but Perry's support is down slightly from the same poll two weeks ago.