The Republican presidential candidates squared off Thursday night in Charleston, South Carolina in a debate aired on Fox Business Network. The debate was a little more low key than some of the others but there were some fireworks.
Donald Trump and Ted Cruz squared off over the “birther” controversy plaguing Cruz’s campaign. Then they squared off over Cruz’s attack on Trump claiming he has “New York values.” But Trump and Cruz were not the only ones to square off tonight.
Marco Rubio and Chris Christie went at it over Christie’s record and being an executive vs a Senator. Trump and Jeb Bush went at it over immigration and trade. Cruz and Rubio went at it over immigration and taxes.
Here’s who won the debate in order:
1) Ted Cruz: Strong, commanding presence. He won most of the exchanges with Trump and all of the exchanges with Rubio. Tried to present himself as the most consistent conservative in the race and generally succeeded. Cruz should have put the “birther” stories to bed in his exchange with Trump on that issue. However, his quip about Trump having “New York values” probably will cause problems in the long run. New York State’s primary awards a lot of delegates and is winner take all. There are also a lot of New Yorkers in Florida, Nevada, and even South Carolina. You can imagine Trump knows this and will make Cruz pay for it.
2) Donald Trump: His best debate performance of the campaign. Short on specifics, but he still had the commanding presence of a leader. Trump definitely won’t lose support tonight. He sparred with Jeb Bush on trade which ended with no real damage done to Trump. Other than exchanges with Cruz, he had a quiet night.
3) Chris Christie: He was the happy warrior of the night. Combative but likable. He had the better of the exchange with Rubio over his record. He also hit Rubio on his lack of executive experience. New Hampshire voters in particular will take notice.
4) Marco Rubio: Not one of his better nights. He landed attacks on Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, but didn’t do so well against his GOP rivals. Rubio lost both exchanges with Cruz on taxes and immigration. Most notable in the immigration exchange was that Rubio never answered the question about his previous support for increasing legal immigration. Rubio lost his exchange with Christie as well. At the beginning, Rubio came off as a guy who had way too many energy drinks and was talking very fast. He calmed down later on, but he never really recovered from after the clashes with Cruz later on. Rubio won’t fall too far in the polls but he probably didn’t persuade anyone on the fence tonight.
5) Rand Paul: He wasn’t even invited to debate, but he dominated the pre-debate press. His media blitz was almost as big as he announced. Paul also dominated social media. Easily his best debate performance of the campaign. Question is, did he persuade anyone outside of his base?
6) Jeb Bush: This is probably close to the end for Jeb! He attacked Trump on immigration and trade. While Jeb! did hold his own, his views on both are so out of step with GOP primary voters this cycle that his appeals fell on deaf ears. Other than that, largely forgettable.
7) John Kasich: Largely forgettable night for Ohio’s governor, but that probably doesn’t hurt him. Avoided any major clashes and was largely coherent when he spoke. He’s running a New Hampshire campaign at this point and he didn’t hurt himself.
8) Ben Carson: Another largely unimpressive performance by Carson. Too soft-spoken and did not project a commanding figure. When he did speak, he was largely incoherent.
AAN Staff
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