Republicans cash in on CNBC debate contretemps

“While I was proud of our candidates and the way they handled tonight’s debate, the performance by the CNBC moderators was extremely disappointing and did a disservice to their network, our candidates and voters”, said Priebus in a statement, adding that the network “should be ashamed of how this debate was handled”.

Trump engaged in just one confrontation, after Ohio Gov. John Kasich attacked both him and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who now leads in Iowa as well as in a national CBS News/New York Times poll. Rubio then went after Harwood for previously writing a story on his tax plan that he later had to correct. They were picking the lowest of low-hanging fruit, going for an easy way to endear themselves to a conservative audience. He’s running a 2000-style campaign, 16 years too late.

SIEGEL: The next GOP debate is less than two weeks.

He also said missing votes was a necessary sacrifice to prevent Democratic primary front-runner Hillary Clinton from winning the White House in 2016.

Cruz occupies a different space in the GOP race: the hard-line conservative who has worn as a badge of honor his battles with Republican leaders in Washington and regularly espousing his belief that what the party needs is a nominee who can genuinely articulate the conservative principles that much of the base embraces. Rubio quickly pointed out that Bush has compared his own trek to the nomination to that of Senator John McCain in 2008 and then asked, “Do you know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you’re now modeling after?” His strongest moment occurred when he was asked about his absenteeism in the Senate and his obvious disdain for a body he joined less than five years ago. The winners are those who showed us they know how to give the backs of their hands to the press, and do it with style. The goal of this, they argue, would be to get the candidates to focus on issues and questions that are of interest to the people who will actually be voting in Republican primaries rather than things that principally of interests to the reporters and pundits who cover the campaign. Cruz attacked the media hard and in particular the moderators – a sure-fire winning strategy in any GOP gathering, where contempt for the mainstream media is matched only by contempt for President Obama. Cruz’s reply? “The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don’t trust the media”. He’s recently laid off staff, he’s slashed salaries, and of course, you heard him in this awkward position now about insisting that his campaign is not on life support.

“As far as the wall is concerned, we’re going to build a wall”.

“Folks, we’ve got to wake up”, Kasich said.

Trump wasn’t pleased, countering, “It’s not a very nicely asked question the way you say that”. This is not a cage match. “Cruz’s was a grand slam home run”, Viguerie said.

There was genuine substance over the two hours, but when in doubt the candidates defaulted to complaining about the referee. In fact, Wednesday’s debate is CNBC’s most-watched program ever. All could point to moments when they made their points effectively.

Aides say Bush will spend longer stretches of time there, including a bus tour next week. But he got the worst end of the exchange with Rubio, no doubt to his detriment.

Wednesday’s debate was at times unmanageable. CNBC has been going around today telling everyone that their moderators asked the candidates “tough questions”. Candidates spoke over one another repeatedly, especially in the early stages.

As part of that message, Bush’s campaign tested a new slogan at the event in New Hampshire Thursday: “Jeb Can Fix It”. But it also came at a time of volatility and greater uncertainty than a month ago, as a few national and state polls began to shift away from Trump and toward Carson. For a number of the candidates lagging in the polls or performing below expectations, the sense of urgency was apparent on the stage Wednesday night in Boulder.