It’s not always that you get a consensus on who was the winner in a multi-candidate debate, but there seems to be a consensus — in which I share — that Carly Fiorina was the clear winner of the second-tier Republican presidential debate at Cleveland. She came through with the best single line, and one that took a sharp dig against Donald Trump, “I didn’t get a call from Bill Clinton” before she entered the race.
She managed to highlight her resume and to argue a principled case for conservatism against “progressivism.” She cited specifics in arguing that the Obama administration hasn’t heeded warnings about home-grown Islamist attacks. On foreign policy, she made the case that when America does not lead, the result is danger and tragedy. And once again she made a strong case against Hillary Clinton in a way which no male candidate seems entirely comfortable doing. Does she move up into the first tier in the polls? Is she an increasingly plausible nominee for vice president? I suspect the answers to both questions are yes.
