Lindsey Graham Wins Undercard Debate, Bobby Jindal Whiffs Chance to Move Up

Who won and who lost the undercard bout as four dark horses running for the Republican presidential nomination?

The winner was U.S. Lindsey Graham, R-SC. So far, the senior senator from South Carolina has been a non-factor in the race but he had a good night on Wednesday. Graham didn’t have the breakthrough performance that Carly Fiorina had in the first undercard debate but he was a clear winner even if conservatives might not have liked his stances on the legislative process and immigration. Funny and often pushing the other candidates on foreign policy, Graham had a solid outing even as he continued to return to international policy. Graham was also lucky to have former Gov. George Pataki, R-NY, to his left on social issues, including saying he would fire Kim Davis for refusing to comply with a federal ruling on same sex marriage. “That’s the first thing I'm going to do as president: we’re gonna drink more,” Graham said in what was easily the most memorable line of the night. While he is not moving up to the top tier any time soon, Graham had the best night in what has been an underwhelming campaign so far. 

The chief loser was Gov. Bobby Jindal, R-La. Being in the undercard debate was supposed to be the Louisiana governor’s moment. If anyone was going to have a breakthrough like Fiorina did in the first debate, it should have been Jindal. But it didn’t happen. Jindal scored points for his criticism of the Beltway GOP but got flanked by former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Penn., on social issues, including on religion in the public square and on Kim Davis. Graham also offered viewers a reminder that Jindal served in Congress and might not be the outsider he presents himself as. Too often, including when the debate focused on Iran, Jindal was on the sidelines. In recent days, Jindal has focused on going after Donald Trump but he didn’t do any real damage in the debate. Jindal didn’t shoot himself in the foot but this was his best chance to break into the upper tiers. It didn’t happen.