What’s my bottom line on CNN’s Republican debate(s) at the Reagan Library? It’s that this Republican race looks like it’s going to go on for a long time. The field has been winnowed just a bit from the 17 candidates who participated in the two Fox News debates Aug. 6 to 15 by the withdrawal of Rick Perry (for 14 years the governor of the second largest state) and the decision of CNN not to include Jim Gilmore (for four years governor of the 11th largest). The candidates in this earlier debate — Lindsey Graham, Bobby Jindal, George Pataki, Rick Santorum — are not going to be nominated, and the candidacy of each seems to have a different rationale. But more on that anon.
How did the candidates do in the three-hour prime-time debate? Here are some initial thoughts.
Donald Trump: He didn’t dominate this debate as he did on Aug. 6, but he also was not dominated. He had his uncomfortable moments, but he plugged away and, given the failure of analysts’ predictions that his support would fade, he must be regarded as still the front-runner. He leads the Washington Examiner‘s presidential power rankings.
Marco Rubio: An incredible gifted political communicator, fluent and assured on foreign policy (a big contrast with Trump), but also on other issues as well. At the least he strengthened his position as the candidate least disliked by the primary electorate and the one least likely to be considered unacceptable.
Chris Christie: He clearly came in with a strategy, portraying himself as caring about ordinary people, and executed it successfully and aggresively, from the opening question when he directed the camera to pan out into the audience. A performance that could juice up a candidacy that had seemed to be floundering.
Carly Fiorina: As strong a performance as was expected from her performance in the non-prime-time debate Aug. 6. She also hit some strong emotional notes, recalling her family member’s death from drug abuse and her stony faced response to Donald Trump’s wan insistence that he considered her beautiful. Lots of specifics, impressive for a candidate who has never held elective office, and again the strongest attacks on Hillary Clinton of any candidate.
Scott Walker: More assertive than on Aug. 6, and using his time, and some interjections, to good effect. He managed to stress his record of standing strong under very strong pressure.
Jeb Bush: Occasionally he seemed as “low energy” as Trump has charged, but overall he made his case strongly and mixed it up with Trump with more success than in August. He managed to defend his brother’s record on issues from Iraq to the nomination of Chief Justice John Roberts.
Ted Cruz: He wasn’t given his fair share of time, but he made his points with characteristic incisiveness, even when defending his demand that congressional Republicans pass measures sure to be vetoed by President Obama. I think he made a connection with a significant Republican constituency.
John Kasich: He managed to highlight both his political and policy experience and his congenial, appealing, nice-ordinary-guy personality.
Ben Carson: He emerged again as a very nice person and a conscientious conservative, but one with some views that run skew to those of any discernible constituency in the party. But he didn’t end up, as he did in August, with a truly memorable one-liner.
Rand Paul: Donald Trump denigrated him as the 11th candidate who had no warrant to be on the stage, and Paul did relatively little to refute that. He had an interesting interchange with Christie and Bush on marijuana.
Mike Huckabee: He wasn’t given much chance to talk, and he was charming when he got the chance. But he is clearly aiming at the slice of the traditional Republican primary electorate — evangelical Protestants — which may not be as large, relatively speaking, as in previous years if Trump (and perhaps others) have expanded the Republican electorate.
So all, or almost all, of the Republican candidates in the prime-time debate seem to have advanced their cause, if only marginally. Which means, as I said, that there’s reason to expect that this contest is going to go on for months to come.
