Dan Balz: “Tentativeness has marked the candidates’ strategy in dealing with the Trump phenomenon. You could see their hesitation during the debate Thursday. No one really came to Cleveland with the goal of taking on Trump. Not one of the other nine candidates on stage came to Kelly’s defense when Trump went after her for asking him about derogatory comments he has made about women in the past.”
“It’s not in the nature of candidates to defend debate moderators from criticism, so their non-response was perhaps understandable. But as Bush said Saturday, standing silent as the leader in the polls for the GOP nomination attacks someone who is part of the 53 percent majority of the population is hardly a winning strategy.”

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