Republican presidential candidates on Thursday night didn’t care much about Sen. Bernie Sanders’ rise in the polls, and kept their eyes trained on Hillary Clinton as they told voters they’d be best to take back the White House from Democrats this year.
Republican candidates invoked Hillary Clinton over 35 times during the two and a half hour debate, usually using her as a point of comparison to conservative policies or to bolster their own. In contrast, Sanders was mentioned just once.
In their opening remarks, Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio took the opportunity to slam Clinton, and Rubio went so far as to claim that “Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being president of the United States” because of her failure with the Benghazi attack.
Cruz later chastised Clinton’s vast personal wealth that helped fund her 2000 Senate campaign. When discussing foreign policy, numerous candidates mentioned the “Obama-Clinton foreign policy agenda,” linking the two to the current crisis in the Middle East, even though Clinton only served as secretary in Obama’s first term.
In his closing statement, Rubio said electing Clinton would make the next four years “worse than our last eight years,” and Ted Cruz spoke of the 2012 crisis in Benghazi as Clinton’s largest foreign policy failure.
While Clinton took center stage on the main stage, Sanders’ has taken the lead in the polls, surpassing Clinton in both Iowa (49-44) and New Hampshire (53-39). But Sanders was quickly dismissed.
“We’re going to win every state if Bernie Sanders is the nominee,” John Kasich said of Sanders’ recent rise in the polls. as the audience cheered. “That’s not even an issue. But look, I know Bernie and I can promise you he’s not going to be president of the United States.”
No other candidate invoked Sanders or explored Ohio governor’s answer. Throughout the debate, Clinton live-tweeted, texted and emailed rapid response to supporters and reporters, supplying opposition research to combat the GOP candidate’s claims.
“Psst: There’s only one candidate — on either side — who’s prepared to be commander in chief,” the Clinton campaign tweeted.
Psst: There’s only one candidate—on either side—who’s prepared to be commander in chief. #GOPdebate pic.twitter.com/xMV7v3EEIE
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 15, 2016
Clinton and Sanders will face off on the Democratic debate stage Sunday night in South Carolina for the fourth primary debate.
