First, I have to say I kept getting interrupted during the debate. Between my wife and my two dogs wanting attention, it was a struggle to maintain my attention to the debate at all moments. All that said, this is how I felt the debate went.
All in all, this was the best debate to date. With a smaller number of players there was more time for each player to state his or her case on the questions asked. Fox Business Network made CNBC look absolutely dreadful in comparison. Okay, that wasn't much of a challenge for FBN going in. A high school debate team could have done better than the moderators from CNBC, in their shameful performance. Back to the present debate starting with the least impressive.
John Kasich looked liked he was desperately seeking a fight with someone, anyone, to get some attention and traction. He got my attention. Unfortunately, I thought he was more of a pain in the butt than anything else. Desperation, mixed with not so subtle anger, did not wear well with John Kasich.
Jeb Bush looked and sounded like the political wonk he is. Bush didn't seem to hurt himself in the debate, but he needed to rise much farther to make an impact with American voters. Unfortunately that train of thought left the station without Jeb on board. If Jeb didn't have the huge campaign war chest he is reputed to have, he would be out of the campaign shortly. His money and supporters will keep him in the game through the first month or so of the primaries, longer if he does well in any of the primaries.
I thought several of the candidates started out slowly, but picked up their individual tempo as the debate went on. Two in this category were Dr. Carson and Carly Fiorina. Both of them helped their individual campaigns with their performances in this debate. Marco Rubio could be added to this group, although I thought he especially shone in the second half of the debate and really helped his campaign, quite possibly his best debate yet.
I thought Rand Paul finally helped himself in this debate. In Paul's case it may be too little, too late, plus he came across as weak on national defense. It was almost as if he put a discount sign on the price of national security and defense. But then again I am a proponent of peace through superior firepower no matter the cost. Without the most powerful military in the world and the best leadership in the world, everything else is in jeopardy of being lost, as Barack Obama has so amply proven. Moving on.
I thought Ted Cruz quite possibly had his best performance to date. It was strong out of the gate all the way to the conclusion of the debate. Cruz seems to have shown us that he has been timing or measuring each and every debate and demonstrating a higher performance level with each succeeding debate. In other words, Cruz has been pacing himself for the long haul and he alluded to that strategy in the post debate interview. I think Cruz has more in the tank and has yet to reach his full playing performance potential, to use a sports metaphor.
Finally, we come to Donald Trump's performance. I thought Trump came on slow and stiff, but did become more personable in the second half of the debate. The problem is Trump didn't show me anything new that I could say built upon his previous performances. I think I've seen Trump's best efforts in past debates, although it could be argued he held his own in this FBN debate. The point is this. Trump the entertainer didn't bring anything new to this debate in the form of explicit policies he would specifically drive if elected. He didn't "up" his game to "make the sale" with American voters and that's why I think we have seen the best that Trump can do and offer America. Will that be enough to win the Republican nomination? I don't think so, but I am open to leaving it play out and see what happens.
In the end I think that Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz helped themselves the most with voters going forward with this debate. Their performances were polished, on point and hit the notes that are at least important to me, which I would like to think represent what most voters are looking for.
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