Winners
1. Donald Trump: I guess he is a better judge of his opponents than I am. Nobody made a concerted effort to attack him, and the debate was less interesting without him.
2. Jeb Bush: Is it a coincidence that he had his best performance in Trump’s absence? Probably not.
3. YouTube Questioners: They asked very good questions that deserved a more comprehensive response.
Losers
1. Ted Cruz: His only good moment was on the ethanol question. He missed the chance of a lifetime to hand Trump’s head to him, looked bad on immigration, and whined about unfair treatment from the moderators (I didn’t think it was unfair).
2. Marco Rubio: He might as well have appeared wearing a Ted Cruz mask. He looked and sounded angry and charmless. Bush and the moderators got the better of him on immigration. His repeated efforts to appeal to evangelicals sounded forced and wooden.
3. Ben Carson: Was he in a coma? Why would anyone vote for this guy?
Also-rans
1. John Kasich: He didn’t say anything memorable.
2. Chris Christie: More of his interminable terrorist fighter shtick.
3. Rand Paul: Managed to get in some good shots early, but gave an equivocal and basically dishonest answer to the question about the role of states in regulating abortion.
4. The moderators: The videos were a nice touch, but can we please cover some new ground with the questions?