This is a massive plus, primarily from an optics viewpoint. I wasn't keen on the idea of being in the undercard debate because of how it would have looked to the voters. Even though Christie bounced back from being sent to the lower debate, it's only because of living in New Hampshire for the past several weeks and spending all that money there, same with Kasich. They have all their eggs in one basket and they won't go very far without a national campaign, which neither of them have. Rand has a national game plan, so him falling to the lower tier would have damaged his chances in several other areas.
While I understand why there was some pessimism earlier before this announcement, it got completely ridiculous, and there are a number of long-standing members of this forum who should be ashamed of themselves for some of the rubbish that they posted.