[WideRight05]

Debates in this type of format do very little to impact a person's decision just because it's hard to have a debate with that many people on the stage, even though the crowd trimmed a I don't think anybody gained major ground. If anybody was hurt from it, I feel like Carson and Kasich were because it felt like they did not get the same amount of air time as some of the other candidates - although they did have some good lines. I laughed at Kasich's funny comments about the GOP beating Bernie Sanders should he win the Democratic primary.

Jeb didn't do bad, but I didn't see anything from him overly catchy and he sounded like a typical politician most of the time. I was hoping to see him and Trump go at it a few times (yeah, I admit it - I know it's bad, but I like the comedy!) but it disappointed me that they didn't have any big exchanges except for maybe once.

Christie's performances are at his best when he's aggressive and authoritative. He established himself a couple of times and really stood out. I'm not a Christie guy, but he did have a couple good lines in his message to Barack Obama.

This was the first time we were able to see Cruz and Trump go at it. I didn't agree with Trump about the issue relating to the birth certificate because Cruz has been a lot more open about it than Obama has, but I anticipate the media will make this an issue if he does win so it's good to be ready to defend it continually. Hillary Clinton made it a big issue in the 2008 Democratic primaries for Barack Obama and it continued to be an issue for him throughout his campaign both in the primaries and the general election. The difference with this one will be that should Cruz win the primaries, this will be brought up non-stop by the mainstream media unlike it was with Barack Obama. Cruz came out hammering when asked that and Trump responded well. I thought Cruz's response both to Trump and to the moderators were good. I anticipate Trump bringing it up several more times throughout the campaign.

The second major issue that came up between Cruz and Trump was the comment about New York values that Cruz made. I thought Cruz handled it well and from reading comments on articles from The Blaze and Breitbart, a good majority of conservatives believe he did too. Cruz pointed out the NY values of Manhattan in that is a big area for liberalism with strong support for social issues such as abortion or redefining marriage. In other words, Cruz was saying that since Trump comes from a liberal ground in NY where a lot of Republicans are more moderate, he could very well be that same kind of candidate and not the true conservative we need. Trump responded by talking about 9/11 and the work that people did volunteering and cleaning the area after that horrific disaster, using that against Cruz in his argument.

Where Trump comes from isn't a big deal to me even if it's a liberal area, although I do have suspicions about his views on abortion and his definition of marriage. Overall, I would call that one a draw as well. Cruz I thought illustrated and reminded about liberal NY values and that Trump could potentially be more moderate than some of the others, whereas Trump had a strong response with 9/11. The comment is a non-issue to me, but Cruz did have a point about the potential for him to lean moderate/liberal on a couple of the major issues.

Lastly, Rubio. He came out swinging. I think he brought up a lot of false statements though. I didn't fact check him, but he certainly made an effort to twist Cruz's position on immigration which I thought Cruz handled well. He also went after Christie on guns, but Christie had a strong response. Rubio did have a couple good points throughout the debate, but I don't think he helped himself.