Note, these are combined results after the question was asked in a couple of different ways, but in each instance, GOP voters just weren’t particularly concerned about electability.
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“What compelled you to run?”
The two-term New Jersey governor says, “This is a disease and the war on drugs has been a failure – well-intentioned, but a failure”.
Angelo said Republicans fully realize they have a gender gap problem – more women vote for Democrats – and Graham’s rhetoric didn’t help.
For the most part, the candidates largely avoided jabbing each other. But Heath declined to do so.
But perhaps the most important candidate on Monday night was the one who wasn’t there – Donald Trump.
In addition to Trump, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore won’t be participating, the Union Leader reports. Little of what the candidates said came even close to being newsworthy. Then, Bush was asked about sending ground and air troops to attack ISIS in Syria.
Ahead of the forum, Bush on Monday released a six-point plan to combat illegal immigration that includes offering 11 million undocumented workers “a rigorous path to earned legal status”.
Jeb Bush struggled to respond to questions about how he would differentiate himself from his father and brother – an issue that has daunted much of his campaign.
While Democratic President Barack Obama says great strides have been made in securing the border, former Texas Governor Rick Perry begged to differ. It was the question that led to Perry’s epic meltdown during a 2012 Republican presidential primary debate, when Perry could not name the three agencies he would cut. Perry went on to talk about cutting spending in general, but never answered the question.
Graham provided one of the few zingers of the night, when he said that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the leading Democratic candidate, was not truthful, and used her husband’s past as evidence.
“I am fluent in Clinton-speak”, Graham said, proceeding to bring up the Monica Lewinsky scandal that jeopardized Bill Clinton’s presidency in 1996 and Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while conducting official business as secretary of state. And when she tells us: “‘Trust me, you have all the emails you need, ‘ we haven’t even scratched the surface”, Graham said.
On Twitter, the event was described as “speed dating”.
Fergus Cullen, former Chairman of the NH Republican Party, said after the forum there wasn’t a clear victor.
They were unable to make the trip due to a vote in the Senate on a GOP effort to end federal funds for Planned Parenthood. These three, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida, appeared via remote camera against a black background, alongside each other on the screen.
“We shouldn’t have these gun free zones”. It’s still fairly early in the process, and it’s possible that for many GOP voters, Republican success in the 2016 race is such a sure thing, they may have convinced themselves that electability simply isn’t an important consideration.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, considered by many to be on the bubble to make the Fox debate in his own state, said his performance Monday was important because New Hampshire voters act as “screeners” for the rest of the country.
But former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina did show some frustration with the way that Fox has set up the first debate, which will heavily influence which candidates have a chance of moving to the front of the pack from the very crowded middle.
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BLOCK: NPR national political correspondent is at the forum in Manchester, and he joins us now.
