Winners and Losers Of The New Hampshire Debate

07 Feb, 2016 by John Hawkins

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The night got off to a really weird start when Ben Carson did this.

Boy that was awkward #GOPDebate https://t.co/0I285QSiR2

— Independent Journal (@INJO) February 7, 2016

Was that stage fright? I have no idea. Then…

They forgot Kasich. #GOPDebate

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— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) February 7, 2016

It was really bizarre.

It was a very different debate than usual because Trump was actively trying to avoid fights and Cruz wasn’t the primary target tonight. So, it was comparatively a little subdued. Also, some of the normal front runners didn’t do very well.

7) Marco Rubio: This was Rubio’s worst debate by far because Chris Christie beat him up, took his lunch money and shoved him in a locker. He was just brutalized and on top of that, as always, he sounded terrible on illegal immigration.

Marco: When I am President, we're certainly not going to try to pass the sort of garbage I wanted to force through in the Senate. #GOPDebate

— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) February 7, 2016

Rubio is repeating himself…again….again #GOPDebate

— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) February 7, 2016

Marco Rubio calls for making women sign up for the draft. That sounds like a popular policy. #GOPDebate

— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) February 7, 2016

Rubio: "I'm not going to answer your question, but I will say this vague but popular slogan with vigor!"

— The Scandalous DJT (@AceofSpadesHQ) February 7, 2016

As Todd Akin found out, you very well may lose an election over taking an out of the mainstream abortion position https://t.co/nR6KJd08vy

— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) February 7, 2016

Wonder if Rubio's performance tonight vs Christie will give donors pause who might have been on verge of getting on board

— Rich Lowry (@RichLowry) February 7, 2016

6) John Kasich: His fundamental unlikability makes debating hard for him.

Kasich now owning the fact that the New York Times loves him. #awful #GOPDebate

— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) February 7, 2016

5) Donald Trump: Trump was solid, but he’s still very vague and he had a couple of questions where he really looked bad.

Keep up with the #GOPDebate here: https://t.co/RrLrXwXWD2 pic.twitter.com/V9aP543yc2

— POLITICO (@politico) February 7, 2016

Trump started great on that cop question and veered into "You're going to have problems, but you have to weed out the problems." #GOPDebate

— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) February 7, 2016

Trump: "We will win and win and win — not like Iowa, where I lost. That must have been cheating. We will win!" #GOPDebate

— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) February 7, 2016

Audience is booing Trump. This is going really badly for him. Now he’s complaining his people couldn’t get enough debate tickets.

— Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) February 7, 2016

4) Jeb Bush: Jeb’s not a great debater, but for the first time tonight, he sounded like he belonged on the stage. Arguably, he could be in the three spot depending on how much damage Carson did with his weird opening.

.@JebBush hits @realDonaldTrump on eminent domain at the #GOPDebate https://t.co/QxqBj6oMmx https://t.co/eX33NZiHBX

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) February 7, 2016

"I met him. He is voting for me. He is likely to be alive!" — Jeb Bush #GOPDebate

— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) February 7, 2016

3) Ben Carson: He was extremely likable once you got beyond the really weird opening where he just stood there and wouldn’t go on stage.

Carson: "I'm not here just to add beauty to the stage" #GOPdebate https://t.co/yGhYdRXXUK pic.twitter.com/lUxJsfVPyv

— The Hill (@thehill) February 7, 2016

2) Ted Cruz: He was strong, but not spectacular tonight.

.@tedcruz on heroin epidemic: "This is an epidemic. We need leadership to solve it." #GOPDebate https://t.co/fyk9TLOKnj

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) February 7, 2016

Cruz hasn't been dropping great lines tonight, but he has been solid, not getting hit at all & sounding great on foreign policy. #GOPDebate

— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) February 7, 2016

1) Chris Christie: Christie is always one of the best debaters, but tonight he just eviscerated Rubio.

Christie is dismantling Rubio and the memorized speech at the end part is Rubio to the tee. #GOPDebate

— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) February 7, 2016

Christie just perfectly pegged Rubio's whole style. Drop a bomb, then repeat a little speech given by your advisers. Devastating. #GOPDebate

— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) February 7, 2016

If Christie was a Mortal Combat character he'd be waving around other candidates' spines and spiking their skulls on the stage floor.

— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahNRO) February 7, 2016

Update: Apparently Carson didn’t go on stage initially because of sound problems.

Carson said the reason he didn't immediately go out on stage tonight was bc of problems w the sound system pic.twitter.com/GcInijTL5S

— Hunter Schwarz (@hunterschwarz) February 7, 2016