The four remaining Republican presidential candidates sparred on Thursday night in a debate held in South Florida on CNN. The clock’s ticking down to Tuesday’s primaries and the stakes are high as Marco Rubio and John Kasich need to carry their home states which hold winner take all primaries.
In the meantime, Donald Trump looked to build on his lead while Ted Cruz hoped to make it a one-on-one contest against the frontrunner.
The debate featured a host of topics including trade, skilled immigrant labor, education, Social Security reform, foreign aid, Islam, the Middle East, veterans issues, relations with Cuba, climate change, foreign policy, an incident at a Trump rally where a protester was punched, the possibility of a contested convention and campaign finance.
After last week’s contentious debate, Thursday saw a far more subdued crowd of candidates with no talk of hand size or spray tans.
There simply weren’t as many fireworks. The exchanges between the candidates proved far less memorable than last week's debate.
Indeed, the candidates didn’t even acknowledge each other for the first quarter of the debate. Even Trump said he “couldn’t believe how civil” the start of the debate was.
But it wasn't long before things heated up in the middle of the debate as Trump drew fire for his comments on Islam. Cruz and Rubio pounced on his take on Middle East policy and normalization with Cuba. But, generally, this was a far less memorable debate than previous ones.
Here’s a look at some of the winners and losers from the debate.
Winners
Ted Cruz. The Texas senator wants to make this a two-man race. Based on how the debate went, Cruz has a gameplan in place if that happens. Cruz took on Trump and scored points as he tried to ensure he would be the conservative alternative if Marco Rubio and John Kasich get knocked out of the race. Unlike some of his rivals, Cruz showed no hesitation in going after Trump and did so without getting into the gutter the way Rubio had done in the previous debate. Cruz also was shrewd enough not to tangle with Rubio and Kasich, keeping his focus on Trump. A good night for Cruz as he looks to emerge as the only Republican alternative to Trump, hitting him on every thing from foreign policy to his past support of Democtats. It’s pretty clear that Cruz’s comfortable being the only candidate blocking Trump’s path to the nomination. Even Trump seemed to acknowledge Cruz was the only other contender to win the Republican nod at the end of the debate--and the Texas senator won’t argue with that assessment.
Marco Rubio. After a bad debate last week, Rubio rebounded to some extent on Thursday night. Rubio had the crowd behind him, no surprise considering it was composed of many supporters from his South Florida base. Rubio threw a few jabs Trump’s way and did well when he waded into foreign policy, one of his favorite topics, especially when the focus turned to Cuba. With Rubio fighting for his political life in Florida, where Trump leads the polls, he made a few pitches to voters in the Sunshine State, trying to make a last minute plea to keep it in his column. The question remains did this debate help Rubio bounce back to win Florida or was it the last hurrah of his presidential bid. Despite his attempts to nail down Florida, Rubio did not give a shout out to his old ally Jeb Bush who remains on the sidelines in the final days before the primary.
Losers
John Kasich. The Ohio governor needs to win the Buckeye State on Tuesday if he wants to continue his bid. But Kasich was sidelined for much of the debate. When he had the spotlight, Kasich generally did well on various topics ranging from relations with China to the possibility of a brokered convention. But those moments were few and far between. Kasich is pinning all his hopes on keeping Ohio in his column and polls show he and Donald Trump are battling for the lead. Even if he wins Ohio, Kasich will have an uphill path to the nomination. All of that being the case, Kasich needed more of the limelight than he claimed on Thursday night.
Reince Priebus. Yikes. The RNC chairman took to the stage before the debate and had to address Republican unity. Priebus’ insistence that the Republicans would rally behind whoever the GOP’s nominee fell flat with his audience not particularly responsive. It’s a sign that Priebus and the RNC feel compelled to take on the“Never Trump” crowd which includes Mel Martinez, who used to lead the RNC. Priebus can’t be happy with the lackluster reception his plea for unity garnered on Thursday night.
Donald Trump. This was a far more subdued performance from Trump than what voters have come to expect. Given that Trump is now trying to unite the GOP behind him, he held back his fire after Ted Cruz and, to a lesser extent, Marco Rubio attacked him. This isn’t exactly Trump’s style and it will take some getting used to. Simply put, on Thursday night, Trump was dull and nowhere near as entertaining as he usually is on the debate stage. The hostile crowd didn’t help matters and, strangely, he didn’t go after them the way he did when he was booed in South Carolina. Trump also got no help from Jake Tapper and the moderators. When Trump was asked about one of his supporters hitting a protester, Tapper even recited quotes when the candidate seemed to urge violence against other protesters. There is some silver lining for Trump even if this wasn’t one of his more memorable performances. With Ben Carson endorsing Trump at a media event in South Florida on Friday morning, the news cycle won’t focus on the debate for too long and, honestly, not much happened on Thursday night that will be talked about around the watercoolers in the days to come.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
