OCTOBER 29, 2015
That was just a hot mess.
The third Republican Presidential debate took place on Wednesday night in Boulder, CO, sponsored by CNBC in a debate that promised to be a dry evening focused primarily on financial concerns.
It turned out to be anything but.
The CNBC moderators, John Harwood, Becky Quick, and Carl Quintanilla, lost control of the debate early on, and the result was a chaotic evening of candidates trying to grab the spotlight out of turn.
The reason was evident — for so many of these lower-tier candidates, their window of opportunity is beginning to close. After they witnessed Rick Perry and Scott Walker fold up their tents after lackluster debate performances, all of these candidates realized that they had to manufacture a viral moment to keep their campaigns viable.
Though many expected the evening to be a showdown between front-runners Ben Carson and Donald Trump, their presence was hardly felt. Trump had one moment, a devastating response to an attack by John Kasich, and Carson got much applause after the audience booed moderator Quintanilla when he pressed Carson too hard on a question. Otherwise, the leaders were mostly wallpaper last night, letting the other candidates show their stuff.
How’d they do?
WINNERS
MARCO RUBIO
Rubio owned this debate. As was the case with Hillary Clinton in last week’s Democratic dustup, Rubio won this one because he came prepared. He knew that the recent controversy about his high absenteeism rate in Senate votes would come up, so when the question was asked, he had a strong answer ready to go. But as a good debater, Rubio anticipated that someone would try to pile on, probably Bush. And when Bush obliged him with a fairly toothless “do your job or resign” threat, Rubio laid him out in a way that became the most viral moment of the night. Rubio did what he came to do and then some. Let’s see if it was enough to move his polls.
TED CRUZ
Cruz, who has been poised to poach Donald Trump voters, waited until exactly the right time to make his move. And he used the most shameless debate tactic in the book — attack the questioners. When asked an economics question, Cruz ignored it and changed the subject to point out just how negative the CNBC questions had been. He went further and pointed to each of his competitors and ticked off just what silly question each had been asked so far. Cruz then pleaded for the moderators to ask questions that are more relevant to the lives of the American people. The hall erupted in the loudest cheers of the night. For Cruz, who has been trolling for Trump and Carson voters by simply not attacking the front-runners, he finally showed those voters why he deserved to be the safe alternative if/when Trump and Carson implode.
CHRIS CHRISTIE
Christie, who was on the cusp of being eliminated from the main event (Lindsey Graham, king of the kids’ table debates, actually ranked higher in a recent national poll than the New Jersey governor), waited until the end of the evening, when Bush flubbed (surprise!) an answer about fantasy football regulation, to swoop in and school the Heir Apparent about prioritizing issues. Christie also obeyed the first rule taught in TV Debating 101 — don’t look at the moderators or the audience, but look instead directly at the camera, which represents the audience that you’re really trying to reach. The moment gave us a glimpse of what Christie’s campaign could have been like had not Trump taken over the “tell it like it is” mantle. If his funding can hold out, Christie may have bought himself some extra time, which is in some sense, a win.
LOSERS
JEB BUSH
Jeb is toast. He won’t quit just yet — his Right to Rise super PAC has over $95 million that should keep him afloat (though adrift) for some time to come. But his hapless performance last night should prompt many potential donors to start looking around for a more viable alternative (Rubio). Jeb walked right into Rubio’s trap on absenteeism, offered a half-hearted attack and promptly got smacked down. Bush then retreated into the corner for the rest of the debate until the end when he responded to the fantasy football question with a feeble joke and promptly got another smackdown, this time from Christie. At an event this weekend, Bush commented that there are plenty of other “cool things” he could be doing instead of sitting around being disparaged. Maybe he should start working on that list of “cool things” sooner rather than later.
JOHN KASICH
At a Monday campaign event, Kasich made headlines by excoriating (though not by name) his primary opponents, shining a spotlight on some of their more wacko positions and saying that he’s simply had it with them. That promised a feisty performance for a candidate who could use one. Kasich brushed off the first question about listing his faults and started right in on the attack. Unfortunately, he simply repeated the same talking points that he revealed in his Monday speech. He totally telegraphed his punch, and Trump was ready for him, pointing out that Kasich was on the board of Lehman Brothers at the time that the financial firm plunged the country into the deepest recession in recent memory. That took care of John Kasich for the rest of the evening.
RAND PAUL / CARLY FIORINA / MIKE HUCKABEE
Were they even there? For candidates that desperately needed a standout performance, their pulse barely registered.
For the record, there was a kids’ table debate preceding the main event. George Pataki, Bobby Jindal, Rick Santorum and Lindsey Graham all showed up. That’s it.
Next stop on the debate trail — November 10 in Milwaukee. Be there or be square!
