SEPTEMBER 17, 2015
A star is born. Again.
Just as she did in the kids’ table debate last month, Carly Fiorina, who was at last asked to join the adults’ table, shone at last night’s second GOP Presidential debate held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. And in the process, she cleaned Donald Trump’s clock.
Here are some quick takeaways the morning after:
Carly Fiorina — The consensus winner of the evening. Her simple response to Trump’s disparaging of her face (“I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said”) was all that needed to be said. And her attack on the edited Planned Parenthood videos, while factually inaccurate, was passionately expressed and probably won her some new fans. Clearly the winner of the debate wars so far, it remains to be seen if she has assembled the ground game in Iowa to turn these wins into votes.
Donald Trump — A tough night for The Donald. He had to take incoming fire from all sides during the debate’s long three-hour slog. And when the subject turned to knowledge of foreign affairs, he virtually disappeared. Not good.
Jeb Bush — Not a bad outing. Jeb admitted he smoked pot in the ’70s and finally found a way to defend his brother George (“He kept us safe”) that, while not entirely accurate, seemed to satisfy the Simi Valley crowd. Was his performance good enough to pull him out of single-digit poll numbers? Doubtful.
Ben Carson — Another snoozy performance. Yet after the first debate, Carson’s numbers have risen to the point where he’s now a real threat to Trump. Yes, Dr. Carson appears to be a nice guy, but is there any political substance here? I have yet to see it.
Chris Christie — Best moment: Telling Fiorina not to interrupt him as he argued that the back-and-forth between Trump & Fiorina about their business successes are irrelevant to the life of a 55 year-old blue collar worker who is worried about his job. It was rude, but it did show some life. Interesting that he focused on Fiorina’s interruptions and not Trump’s.
Marco Rubio — Best moment: In a swipe at Trump’s previous criticism, Rubio defended speaking Spanish in an effort to reach Latino audiences, which the party clearly needs to do. This guy’s a good debater, so it’s surprising now little traction he’s getting from these contests.
Scott Walker — What happened here? He was the guy who was supposed to win Iowa in a cakewalk, and he’s now running 10th (!) there, and he’s down to 2% in the most recent national polls. He’s run, by all accounts, an absolutely terrible campaign and last night he did no better, with one scripted joke about “The Apprentice” and that’s it. On life support.
John Kasich — One of the winners of the first debate, Kasich completely blended into the background last night. He’s now running 3rd in New Hampshire, but if he wants to keep that momentum going, he’s got to do better than this.
Ted Cruz/Rand Paul/Mike Huckabee — Fading…fading…fading…
Lindsey Graham — For what it’s worth, the consensus winner of the kids’ table debate. Graham was sharp and funny, the complete antithesis of his performance in Debate #1. It might even be enough for him to rise to 2% in the polls.
George Pataki/Rick Santorum/Bobby Jindal — Bye, Felicia.
Next stop on the GOP debate calendar: October 28 in Boulder, CO. Get your popcorn ready.
