Trump wasted little time beginning his barrage of insults.

As the debate began, Walker and Paul both did a pretty good job of putting Trump in his place.

Chrisit and Fiorina gave the best opening remarks, in that order.

Bush and Trump lost some political capital by a center stage debate, with Trump giving Bush “permission” to speak when he (Trump) was done.

The early questions seemed to afford Trump & Bush the best opportunities for air time.

When Rubio was given a chance to respond to a question, he did so well.  Fiorina nailed every issue with an intelligent and articulate response.  Cruz hit it out of the park with the first pitch.  Kasich demonstrated his commitment to “status quo” politics when talking about the Iran deal.  Huckabee used his first opportunity to repeat the anti-Iran mantra… nothing new there.

Back to Trump… he demonstrated his shallow comprehension of foreign policy when he said Cruz, Rubio and Paul were somehow responsible for a failed Obama policy.  Kasich crashed into the conversation but offered little original thought.

Huckabee got the religious liberty question, and fielded it pretty well.  Bush tried to straddle the fence.

Kacich says he agrees we should defund Planned Parenthood, but made it clear he would take the compromise trail rather than go for the principled higher ground.  Cruz reaffirmed his commitment to take it to the wall, rightly accusing other Republicans of surrendering before the battle.  Christie chose to skirt the question.  Fiorina won this argument with her usual candor.  It was the best statement of the evening to that point in the debate.

Bush did a good job of presenting his pro life credentials, even though Trump continued to suggest Bush is compromised on the life issue.  Not that Trump, who has spent a lot of time as a “pro choice” advocate, is somehow the authority on the subject.

On to the “look at that face” comment.  Fiorina took it squarely to Trump by saying, “I think women all over America knew exactly what Mr. Trump was saying”.

Immigration was a significant conversation with the candidates.  When Fiorina attempted to inject something of substance, the moderator cut her off to give the microphone to Bush.  Cruz said he is the only candidate on the stage that has never supported amnesty for illegal immigrants, and recited his efforts.  When finally given a chance, Fiorina placed the blame for the whole immigration problem at the feet of Democrats.

To the economy… Trump challenged Fiorina’s background, calling her tenure a failure as CEO of Hewlett Packard.  She fired back and effectively and won the exchange.  Christie tried to steal the attention, but ended up looking like the 2nd jerk on the stage.  Kasich recited his resume as a politician from memory.  Huckabee chimed in with a lecture on Ronald Reagan.

Carson seemed to be a near “no-show”.  He didn’t do much, if anything to advance his candidacy.  He affirmed his position on mandatory vaccination of children by saying that “certain” vaccines should be “discretionary”.

Foreign Policy brought out the best response from Rubio, who did a good job on the subject.  Bush may have slipped a few sips of an energy drink while the cameras were off him.  He was more energetic and animated on this subject than any other.  Several other candidates weighed in on this without saying anything memorable.  Paul was the possible exception by saying he would not allow American boots on the ground to fight ISIS.

Bush and Cruz faced off over Supreme Court nominees.  Cruz easily won the argument.  Bush, Paul and Christie argued about legalizing marijuana.  Fiorina, once again, took charge of the issue and presented the best argument.

The best closing statement came from Senator Ted Cruz.  He gave a specific list of things he would do as President rather than speaking in generalities or parables.

 On the whole, Cruz, Paul and Rubio had a pretty good night.  That said, Fiorina gained the most ground (despite the moderator’s repeated attempts to silence her), while Trump lost momentum.

Two things were certain in this debate.  Bush is the tallest candidate, and Trump is a jerk.

***Gordon Howie is an author and CEO of Life and Liberty Media***

“It’s not about right or left, it’s about Right or Wrong.”

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