Tonight’s Republican presidential debate was absolutely the most entertaining in recent memory. It’s not easy to pick a winner.
Donald Trump will get the majority of the headlines and that probably means he won. I’m not sure that comments eliciting boos and groans from the audience — like refusing not to pledge to run as an independent — are going to hurt him in the polls. In fact, he might have actually helped himself. He’ll be the candidate everyone is talking about tomorrow.
A caveat: The only news network that matters in a GOP primary is Fox News and I suspect their coverage of Trump might not be that kind.
Of the more traditional candidates, Sen. Marco Rubio and Gov. John Kasich were both excellent. They’re both very talented politicians. In a more typical debate, they might easily have been the winners. But this was not a typical debate.
Of the others, Jeb Bush and Gov. Scott Walker were solid but overshadowed by better performances. Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Rand Paul and Mike Huckabee underpeformed significantly. Ben Carson is so soft-spoken it was hard for him to get noticed.
Finally, the Fox News anchors were excellent. They were prepared and had tough questions for every candidate.
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