Winners and Losers of the Fox Business Debate Fox Business

Fox Business generally did a good job of moderating the debate. The moderators had substantive questions and didn’t spend an inordinate amount of time trying to bait the candidates into fighting each other. Also, not everyone will agree, but Fox was right to cut Carly Fiorina and Rand Paul out of the debate. Both of them have terrible numbers nationally, very little money and no chance of finishing in the top 3 in Iowa or New Hampshire. In other words, both of them are out of the race and it’s better for the voters to have more time to listen to the candidates who have some reasonable chance of winning, even if it’s small.

Trump-n-Cruz

The thing that really jumps out at you while watching the debate is that the whole GOP field has upped its game (with one possible exception). Nobody was bad. Even Jeb and Kasich, who were HORRIBLE in the early debates, sounded presentable. Not great, but presentable. The only guy who doesn’t seem to have improved significantly in the last few debates is Rubio. Although he hasn’t gotten worse, his performance really didn’t stand out that much compared to everyone else.

Here’s a quick breakdown of how everyone did.

7) John Kasich: He was more likable tonight and had a few good lines.

6) Marco Rubio: He had a good exchange with Cruz, but his game seemed a little tired otherwise.

5) Jeb Bush: He’s still a little awkward, but he showed more strength and life tonight.

4) Ben Carson: He’s always likable and funny, but showed more excitement and energy tonight.

3) Chris Christie: He’s a consistently strong debater.

2) Donald Trump: He’s still a little too fuzzy and generalized in his proposals, but he did well tonight

1) Ted Cruz: If you judged who was in first by where the attacks were going, you’d think Cruz was the guy. He was strong, funny and well prepared.

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