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The Third GOP Debate In 100 Words (And 3 Video Clips)

As if 401(k) plans were a few state-of-nature gift found in Eden (and not, for those of you who aren’t familiar with this, a government retirement plan named for the section of the tax code it appears in). Jeb Bush makes a point during the CNBC Republican presidential debate at the University of Colorado, Wednesday, October 28, 2015, in Boulder, Colo.

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“This is a six-year term, you should be showing up” for Senate votes, he told Rubio, who hails from the same state. “Is it a French work week?” I’m not going to stand on that stage and be a punching bag for moderators who are looking to, you know, get a toast made to them at their next liberal cocktail party in New York City. Bush’s effort to attack Rubio was nothing short of pathetic, and sitting there watching, it was hard not to feel embarrassed for him. John McCain, who has missed many votes as well.

Bush seems an opening and jumps though. And we’re talking about fantasy football?

Issues weren’t the only reason people were there.

A college freshman used similar logic to describe his support for another candidate: Donald Trump.

Trump ripped into Kasich for turning negative against his rivals. Asked by moderators to describe his worst characteristic, as he would in a job interview, he said with a smile: “I’m too agreeable, easy-going”. “And he got nasty”. So you know what? The first question to candidates – what’s your biggest weakness. Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, said his plan, which is based on religious tithing principles, would get rid of deductions and loopholes and constitute a flat rate of about 15 per cent that would be sufficient to fund a sharply reduced government.

Kasich was quick to dispute Carson.

“We basically feel pretty strongly about our democracy being sold to the highest bidder”, said Aaron Black with Progress Now.

Rubio seems to be “navigating” just fine. That was perhaps because this week Mr Carson has started threatening to overtake him in the polls. He responded by implicitly swiping at Bush and Trump who benefited from being the scions of wealthy fathers. I’ve watched to see people say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid. “You can’t keep adding to the debt and expect our economy to continue to do well”.

“The issue has presented an opportunity for student activism on campus that we haven’t seen here at CU Boulder for a long time”, Carnes said.

Cruz, a USA senator from Texas, scored by turning to a well-worn page in the Republican playbook: Attacking the news media.

“This is not a cage match”, he added.

Insurgent outsiders Donald Trump and Ben Carson defended the seriousness of their White House efforts, underscoring the two-track fight for the party’s presidential nomination. Dozens of supporters of Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson gathered outside the debate hall to hand out copies of his book.

John Kasich: “This stuff is fantasy”.

“This debate needs to be about the Americans struggling to provide for their families”, Marco Rubio had insisted. “Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?”

Ted Cruz said that the Democratic debate was between the “Bolsheviks and Mensheviks”.

“You don’t want to hear the answer, John”, said Cruz. “You’re not interested in an answer?”

Carson also gave an odd response when asked about his reported involvement with a company called Mannatech that made fantastical claims that its nutritional products could cure cancer, autism and other diseases.

Most observers would have said that there wasn’t much that could bring the Republican field together, but media bias did it. Candidate after candidate struck back at the moderators to thunderous applause from the audience.

When the faceoff was over, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus blasted CNBC for asking “gotcha” questions and said the network “should be ashamed”.

He said the idea that a person who believes marriage is between a man and a woman is a homophobe was “one of the myths the left perpetrates on our society”.

“As far as Mark is concerned, as far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, they have – it’s fine”.

Just five days earlier, the son and brother of former presidents announced deep campaign spending cuts created to salvage his floundering bid. And if the current front-runners should fade, leaving their voters up for grabs, the contest could become between Rubio and Cruz. Both young senators insist they are happy to be in contention without the heightened scrutiny that comes with leading in the polls. Here’s our earlier analysis of what each candidate needs to do.

Trump, the billionaire real estate magnate, was expected to be pressed on economic policy details – an area where he has proved vulnerable, given his tendency to talk in generalities and superlatives.

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Signaling he might be out of step with today’s Republicans, Senator Lindsey Graham repeated his openness to immigration reform as a weapon against the Democrats in 2016.

A sign advertising the CNBC Republican presidential debate at the University of Colorado Boulder is seen on campus Wednesday