The candidates noticed this apparent bias and began attacking the moderators, as well as the media at large.
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Experts tipped the two Hispanic candidates for president – Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Texas Senator Ted Cruz – as winners in a confrontation rich with personal barbs but short on substantial policy discussion, particularly on the economy.
CNBC’s debate was also up against very stiff television competition: Game two of the World Series.
Minutes after the debate ended, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus tweeted that “CNBC should be ashamed of how this debate was handled”.
Lee says he thinks the next debate will benefit from the intimate setting of the Milwaukee Theatre.
The next debate will be televised by the Fox Business Network on November 10. But the biggest questions people had about Rubio weren’t exactly the deepest ones.
But just when you thought the latest gotcha was a bridge too far, there came blundering Republicans like Jeb Bush, showing just why the GOP is an unreliable advocate for limited government.
The debate was moderated by CNBC’s Becky Quick, John Harwood and Carl Quintanilla.
“Last night, all of the polls – every single one of ’em – said I won”, Trump bragged, referring to online questionnaires taken during and after the debate. But based on a snapshot of the reaction of Republican debate-watchers, there’s a good chance it might.
Bush pointed out that Rubio was endorsed by the Sun Sentinel, and he scolded Rubio for his Senate absences – to which Rubio responded by saying Bush was complaining only because “someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you”. Does your opposition to it show you’re not the kind of problem-solver that American voters want?
Questions at Republican primary debates have always been a point of contention within the party.
The surge, said Tyler, was due to one thing: “Viewers last night rewarded Cruz for his debate win”. The answer: Ben Carson.
His drubbing at the hands of his one-time protégé, Marco Rubio, in Wednesday night’s debate in Colorado was seen as the final straw by a few observers, especially amid reports he had been forced to cut back on his election spending. “Jeb Bush: Why have your numbers fallen?'” Cruz said.
“It was a disaster”, said Mike Huckabee.
“We have ISIS and Al Qaeda attacking us and we’re talking about fantasy football?! Even in New Jersey what you are doing is called rude” said Governor Chris Christie confronting the media moderators. “A lot of people can’t take time off unless they get a deduction in their pay”.
I know for a fact how hard it is to raise children, how expensive it’s become for working families. Both set records for the cable news networks.
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Debates are, by their nature, created to draw out differences between candidates.
