The same ten men also fought over three policy positions: the same nebulous "true Reagan conservative" that Republicans have been ardently pursuing for the past thirty years, Rand Paul's libertarian-ish alternative (which shone especially bright on privacy, civil liberties, and foreign policy), and the absolute insanity of Donald Trump.
Considering most of the people on stage were pushing the same message, the talking times for the debate were unfairly distributed. Rand Paul, the most unique voice on stage, got the least speaking time. He arguably had the best exchange of the night with Chris Christie over metadata collection, privacy, and national security. While Christie trotted out the party line (citing 9/11 to justify ignoring the Bill of Rights fourteen years after the fact), Paul presented a fiery and passionate defense of the Fourth Amendment, which Christie called "a ridiculous answer".
Rand Paul performed admirably given the time constraints he faced. I imagine he will get a slight bump in the polls.
Ted Cruz remains the most polished rhetorician on stage, and had more charisma than half of the field put together. He continually tried to bridge the gap between his perceived "rebel" image and his actual campaign platform (a whole lotta war), and will probably get a slight bump in the polls.
My feelings on Ted Cruz in a nutshell.
John Kasich was bland, at best. I imagine the stadium was packed with whatever local supporters his campaign could trot out, explaining his few and minor cheeers (largely for talking about how cool Ohio is). He will probably fall in the polls.
Marco Rubio occupied a unique point in the debate, which worked to his advantage. Unlike fellow Senators Cruz and Paul, he's not trying to portray himself as a rebel. He's more of a moderate, bland but somewhat engaging to the point that people will at least pay attention. He also avoided the over-use of numbers and statistics (unlike the governors), which played to his advantage. He will probably get a slight bump.
I honestly forgot that Mike Huckabee was running until tonight, but the crowd seemed to like him well enough. He'll play the role of Santorum in 2012 (ultimately doomed evangelical). Based on the debate, I think he ran solely to blather on about the Fair Tax for the next five months. He'll probably slightly drop and hold fairly steady.
Scott Walker held himself decently, but didn't really differentiate himself on policy. He reminds me a lot of Tim Pawlenty in 2011, the "aw-shucks" Midwestern governor who is crushingly normal, which Walker kept insisting he was. He'll probably hold steady.
Jeb Bush was surprisingly solid. Granted, he was lying through his teeth about his record and his stance on issues such as Common Core, but his remarks were clearly well-rehearsed. He'll probably get a slight bump.
Chris Christie's campaign imploded on stage. He insisted on clinging to citing innumerable facts and figures about his record in New Jersey, to his own detriment. His heated exchange with Rand Paul made him come off as a reactionary fool, still using 9/11 as political fuel to advance whatever he thinks will "protect" America. I expect him to drop out of the top ten within a few weeks.
Ben Carson has the most roundabout way of speaking of anybody I've ever seen on a debate stage. He seems to have a tenuous (at best) grasp on most issues, and toes the party line. However, he toes the line in the most rambling way possible, so I couldn't really tell where he was going with anything he was saying. He also insists on introducing his "proportional" tax plan with a lengthy justification as it being "God's tax plan", which I still don't fully understand. Somehow, the crowd liked him. He'll probably hold steady.
Donald Trump, the current frontrunner, was like a drunken conductor driving a train off of a bridge. I couldn't look away. This is the first time I've ever really seen him talk for an extended period of time, and he was either insane or moderately drunk while on stage. He starts off by already threatening a third-party run (and is called out immediately by Paul), and then cites word of mouth from a border agent as proof for his outrageous claim that the Mexican government is deliberately sending criminals to America.
Everything Trump said was incomprehensible, at best, and crazy at worst. The crowd was fairly divided between constantly appluading and constantly booing him every time he spoke. I'd be shocked if he didn't fall in the next round of polling.
And we have to sit through ten more of these things.
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