Here are a few brief thoughts on Thursday’s Republican presidential primary debate.
No Trump
The Jan. 14 debate was memorable for silly exchanges between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz over Cruz’s eligibility and Trump’s “New York values.” This time, candidates were able to have a more serious debate over substantive issues, like the particulars of immigration reform without Trump’s vague promises.
Not having Trump on stage also gave political junkies the chance to find out what the race would be like in an alternative universe without Trump running. Cruz and Marco Rubio were attacked as if they were front-runners, while Jeb Bush and Rand Paul had solid moments and shouldn’t be counted out. Although Ben Carson had his time in the spotlight earlier in the campaign, that moment seems to have passed. The same is true for Carly Fiorina.
Trump Lost the Debate
Donald Trump is worse off for skipping the debate. The first GOP debate was basically the Trump show. Since then, he has gradually gotten less and less attention during debates, to minimal coverage Thursday. Whenever Trump was mentioned Thursday he didn’t have the chance to respond. He also did not have the chance to defend his own record and push his platform.
We won’t see TV ratings until Friday, but even if debate viewership was below average, this will likely be the most important debate for undecided Iowa voters. Once the decision to skip the debate was made, Trump was smart to schedule his own counter-event, which got plenty of its own media attention. Most eyes were still on the debate, but Trump at least stole a piece of the show.
Gil-mentum?
“When I’m president” came out of Jim Gilmore’s mouth more than once in the undercard debate. It’s not going to come true, at least in 2016, but you’ve got to respect Gilmore for coming out guns blazing. Gilmore gave a good debate performance and is so unknown he might get a small polling boost just from the publicity. Gilmore’s Google searches spiked 700 percent during the undercard.
Alas, Gilmore probably won’t be earning delegates anytime soon. Furthermore, as ABC’s Ryan Struyk pointed out on Twitter, it is already mathematically impossible for Gilmore to win more than 40 percent of the GOP delegates, before any votes have even been cast. Yes, you read that right. That’s what happens when you miss the ballot deadline in 19 states.
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
