What you need to know about the GOP debate

All the candidates in a still wide-open Republican field left Wisconsin claiming victory over their rivals, perhaps no one more urgently than Mr Bush, the former Governor of Florida, whose unexpectedly limp interventions at the earlier debates had set off a slow leak of air from his campaign.

This debate was not as feisty nor as controversial as past Republican debates.

This percentage places him in third place among the Republican hopefuls, behind Rubio and Donald Trump, and ahead of Ben Carson. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush mocked Trump for believing his plan would work.

“We love having the debate here, and a few people are critical about the number of candidates, I’d be happy if there were five dozen candidates”, Mayor Barrett said. There were a few fireworks in this debate, such as a clash on immmigration.

“You’ve already made two comments, John”, Bush said to Kasich, who is challenging Bush in New Hampshire.

But immigration sparked the biggest confrontation, when Mr Trump said a wall should be built at the US-Mexico border and all migrants living illegally in the USA must be deported. Clinton has called for a $12/hour wage, saying it’s more realistic to get it through Congress. No doubt they’ll be dying to compare their plans to Trump’s argument that high wages are killing USA competitiveness. He needed a breakout moment, and it didn’t happen.

Trump at one point asked if anyone in the crowd had a copy of his newest book.

An intense argument over tax code and military spending by Rubio, Paul and Cruz in the second hour of the debate was also one of the most shared moments, according to data by Twitter.

“Instead, he is trying to win over Trump supporters while turning his back on families that have a similar story to his own”, she said.

He’s tried attacking Trump; he’s tried attacking Rubio; and last night he attacked Hillary Clinton. When you look at the top 10, four are Democrats and six are Republicans. It’s also good news for a surging Rubio, who entered the night with a target on his back and avoided any stumbles.

Cruz called the Tuesday debate “productive” because it allowed voters to begin seeing clear and meaningful policy distinctions between the candidates.

Asked if the GOP presidential race feels any more settled after Tuesday’s debate, Johnson said: “It’s still pretty wide open from what I can tell”.

“And I don’t even mind that so much, if they do it about – with everybody, like people on the other side. I mean, nobody has ever done what I have done”. “We haven’t gone Republican since 1984 but there’s been a few recent elections that were very close and as a Midwestern state who has gone Republican recently with Governor Walker, this is a state that the candidates are looking to win as you put together to get to your electoral majority, so this is important stuff”.

For his part, political strategist Dick Morris told NewsmaxTV that Carson’s dismal performance in Tuesday’s debate proved that the retired paediatric neurosurgeon is in “no way” a presidential candidate. “It appears that neither Trump nor Carson are being impacted by the debates, but Rubio and Cruz are benefiting”.