Supporters among the more than 100 who came out to see him generally agreed Bush rebounded Tuesday in Milwaukee from a poor debate performance last month in Colorado.
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Both Mr Bush and Mr Kasich attempted to burnish their credentials as seasoned and serious leaders with harsh attacks on Mr Trump for promising to deport 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally, branding his plan impractical and contrary to the country’s values.
“And that @CNBC is how you run a debate”, the Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus tweeted after it wrapped up. I grant you questions can be asked from a particular ideological perspective, but I’m wondering whether readers think his examples prove the point that liberal language is tainting the forum.
There was none of on Tuesday night.
Rand Paul wasn’t around much until he jumped in on a question about Marco Rubio’s child tax credit plan. I believe that the best way to tackle illegal immigration reform is to make life very miserable for the employers who hire them. “What I do have a problem with is being lied about”, Carson said.
Fox Business Network also streamed the debate on its website FoxBusiness.com, where usage peaked at 1.4 million concurrent streams at 10:15 p.m., according to Akami, a measurement company. “Not patty cake, but good questions, tough questions”.
After Priebus offered his endorsement of the moderators, several candidates agreed that they had done a good job.
The roughly two-hour debate at the Milwaukee Theatre highlighted a few key policy fault lines in the GOP field. Having everyone feeling better after Tuesday’s event will make the party chairman sleep easier during the remainder of his visit to his home state of Wisconsin.
And the Wall Street Journal editorial page last week knocked Rubio, saying he “has many talents, but one trait the presidential campaign has exposed is a tendency to hedge on his principles when he thinks it’s politically beneficial”.
“Marco, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the government that you’re not paying for?” he asked the determinedly hawkish Rubio at one point.
Candidates Trump, Carson and Rubio all dismissed the idea as something they feel wouldn’t benefit the economy or American workers. He didn’t back off any of his insane positions, but aside from a shot at Kasich, he treated the other candidates with kid gloves. And Governor Chris Christie made his mark in the undercard debate. “Why would I be here (otherwise)?” Ted Cruz. “If Republicans join Democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose”.
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CBS News, along with its Des Moines affiliate KCCI and the Des Moines Register, will host the second Democratic debate Saturday evening at 9pm.
