Republican Debate

I listened to Thursday's Republican debate online (we don't have TV). It was a good deal more exciting and interesting than I expected. It was well-moderated, too, with tough questions all around. Oddly enough, my perceptions of winners and losers did not match up with those I've seen from many analysts. For example, I wasn't overly impressed with Marco Rubio. He spoke well, cogently, clearly, etc.—indeed, he was probably the best speaker there—yet he failed to really stand out. He reinforced the image I have of him as competent and polished, he simply wasn't exceptional. So, the winners:

Rand Paul. I have seen widely varying assessments of his performance, but one thing is clear: he stood out. He was quite combative, attacking both Trump and Christie. (And I was glad indeed to see him attack Trump.) It's arguable whether he got the better of the exchanges—I saw one article about how he had hammered Christie, and another about how Christie had hammered him—but he definitely stood up for his positions. But even beyond that, he was always clear and rational, and often seemed to have more detailed policy positions than other candidates.

Ben Carson. Carson came off as the oppposite of Paul: quiet, friendly, noncombative. But the impression he made was equally good. His answers were reasonable, intelligent, sometimes funny—his closing speech in particular. His answer when the moderators pressed him on things he hadn't known in the past—"you didn't know Alan Greenspan was secretary of the treasury"—his answer was particularly convincing. I don't think he's the president we need, but he may be one of the last standing in the race.

The loser (apart from Trump):

John Kasich. I do not understand why so many people are praising him for his performance. He managed to avoid the question almost every time, always coming back to his record as governor. (Once the moderator couldn't get an answer, turned to the next candidate and said something like, "Well, maybe I can do better with you.") He missed a great chance to score points with evangelicals on the "message from God" question. He has quite a compelling story of how he fell away from Christianity and then returned due to an auto accident that killled his parents. That was a major missed opportunity. I think he will be in the race a long time due to his relatively moderate, broadly attractive positions, but he came off on Monday, to me at least, as the most uninspiring of the bunch.

Here's a good summary of the debate.