Who won Thursday’s GOP presidential debate?

Donald Trump wasted no time on Sunday in going after Sen. He didn’t show up and instead hosted his own event. Even though the Republican front-runner didn’t participate, he still dominated part of the discussion. And Ben, you are a awful surgeon.

Republican Donald Trump is continuing his unconventional campaign by traveling to New Hampshire as his rivals scramble to make closing arguments in the days before the Iowa caucuses.

Trump then turned his crosshairs to Cruz.

Marco Rubio won’t use the word, but his closing pitch to Iowa voters can be summed up in six syllables: electability.

“Jeb Bush and Rand Paul probably benefited the most”, said Husser.

“Donald did not want his record challenged”, Cruz said, explaining why Trump skipped Thursday’s Republican debate.

“Look at all the cameras”.

Trump wasn’t the only presidential candidate not in attendance to get a boost from the debate. But Cruz, who once led in several Iowa polls, would need to pull off an underdog victory: a Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics survey released Saturday night found him trailing Donald Trump, 23% to 28%.

Trump has not directly responded to the new attack but boasted at his veterans’ rally, which he organized as a counter to the debate, that Fox News had apologized to him and tried to get him to attend the event.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz generated the most buzz of candidates actually at the debate, according to an analysis by social-media marketer Spredfast.

“I don’t think you have to give up your liberty for a false sense of security”, said Sen. Rubio was next with 18 percent, followed by Paul at 15 percent, Carson at 10 percent, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at eight percent, Bush at five percent and Ohio Gov. John Kasich at three percent.

“If you guys ask one more mean question”, Cruz said, “I’m going to have to leave the stage”. “If we take a chance and we lose, I’ve already described to you the circumstances”. But this election is not about our pedigree. “I am open to allowing people into America as long as we know they are here to be American and not to harm us”. The debate was held in preparation for the Iowa caucus of Feb 1, where the Republican hopefuls will slug it out among themselves to get the first victory in the party’s primary.