GOP Race Remains Wide Open

“The third Republican presidential debate was supposed to be one that winnowed the field. Instead, it is likely to revive several faltering candidates, while harming only one — former front-runner Jeb Bush,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

“The event Wednesday night suggested that, even as the Democratic contest is narrowing, the race for the Republican nomination remains wide open, with months to go before the first states to vote — Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina — finally force some consolidation onto a field that still includes more than a dozen candidates.”

Rick Klein: “If the Republican Party has a path out of its extended Trump moment, it didn’t find it at the third GOP debate of the election cycle. Wednesday night’s debate was as chaotic as the race it was designed to help sort out. A race that features two outsiders on top saw a group of veteran politicians squabble among themselves and take on the media as a group, with little apparent clarity imposed on the race. In its broadest strokes, the debate marked an attempt by members of the party establishment to reclaim the nominating process from forces they’ve struggled to understand and adjust to. But nobody on stage seemed to connect in a way that would change the dynamics that have Donald Trump and Ben Carson leading a field of veteran elected office holders.”