The CNN moderators, as advertised, did their best to pit the candidates against each other last night. That occasionally resulted in enlightening entertainment; more often, it just led to pointless bickering.
I think we have reached the end of a phase of the campaign. The public now has its first impressions of the candidates, and the large number of people on stage makes it impossible to engage in (badly needed) detailed evaluations of the positions of each of them. Barring terrible gaffes, the debates will no longer make a big difference until the field has been substantially winnowed and cross-examination becomes more meaningful. The next phase will be about commercials, and money, which plays more to Jeb!’s strengths.
The most revealing discussion, in my view, was about climate change. It would appear that Rubio has decided that “I am not a scientist” sounds wimpy on a debate stage, so he ditched that position in favor of “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” Chris Christie essentially followed his lead. I guess protecting the jobs of coal miners in Kentucky is more important to him than protecting beachfront houses on the Jersey shore from monster hurricanes. One wonders if his constituents agree.
Winners:
1. Carly Fiorina: Made clear and forceful (albeit vacuous, if you were really listening) arguments. Dealt with her HP firing problem reasonably well.
2. Rand Paul: Appears to have decided that he cannot win the nomination by pandering to the GOP mainstream, so went back to his Conservative Libertarian roots. Gave consistent and logical answers based on his CL ideology.
Losers:
1. Jeb Bush: Tried harder to be an alpha male, but ultimately lost the swagger battle to Trump again. Fumbled the John Roberts question, did not make his electability case, and did nothing to set himself apart from his brother. Viewers have to be wondering how he could say that his brother kept us safe when he was in office during 9/11.
2. Ben Carson: In addition to being typically low-energy, he sounded dangerously moderate for his constituency at times. Could lose supporters to Fiorina.
Also ran:
1. Mike Huckabee: Described his plan to ignore the Supreme Court in a little more detail. Only seems to be interested in abortion, same-sex marriage, and Iran.
2. Ted Cruz: Was clear and provided plenty of red meat for his Reactionary constituents, but did not get to talk much. Virtually everything he says is demonstrably false, if that matters.
3. Scott Walker: Launched one moderately successful attack on Trump, but blended into the scenery the rest of the night. Hurts his cause every time he blathers on about how kicking union butt is good preparation for dealing with foreign bad guys.
4. John Kasich: Did little to add to what he said last time.
5. Chris Christie: The whole basis of his campaign as the blue state bully who gets things done evaporated when Trump joined the race. Has no chance of beating Trump in a swagger contest.
6. Marco Rubio: Joke about the water bottle fell flat. Sounded forceful and reasonable, but his statements about Putin’s objectives in Syria were completely nonsensical. As noted above, simply does not care about climate change.
7. Donald Trump: More polished than last time, but wildly inconsistent. Still the alpha male in the crowd, and sounds authentic to his supporters. Suffers when the discussion turns away from illegal immigration, particularly to foreign affairs. Shtick about being a butt-kicking businessman is starting to wear a little thin.
The under won on Reagan references, but just barely.