Oct 28, 2015 · From left, John Kasich, Mike Huckabee, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Donald J. Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina at the Republicandebate Wednesday night at the ...
The Times reporter Michael D. Shear
analyzes key moments from the third Republican presidential debate in
Boulder, Colo., on Wednesday. It included sharp early exchanges,
including one between Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio.
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR on Publish Date October 28, 2015.
Photo by Jim Wilson/The New York Times.
Watch in Times Video »
Senator
Marco Rubio of Florida coolly rebuffed attacks from his onetime mentor,
Jeb Bush, and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas emerged as a champion of social
conservatives at Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate, as both
men found their voices after months of lower-key performances.
Testiness
and sharpened jabs infused the night as struggling candidates like Mr.
Bush, the former governor of Florida, and Gov. John R. Kasich of Ohio
ripped into their less experienced rivals and tried to portray them as
unqualified for the White House.
The
free-for-all of verbal assaults reflected the new volatility in a race
that Donald J. Trump dominated for months. It appears to be shifting in
favor of candidates like Mr. Rubio and Ben Carson as the first
nominating contests near and voters start paying closer attention to the
field.
Mr.
Rubio, a first-term senator, had the best night of his campaign,
showing the political talent that many insiders had long seen in him. He
and Mr. Carson, a retired neurosurgeon now leading in several polls,
faced the toughest questions but emerged largely unscathed, with Mr.
Rubio in particular winning strong applause from the audience at the
University of Colorado Boulder for his confident performance and deft
counterpunches.
Photo
Ted Cruz, left, Chris Christie and Rand Paul were among those seeking traction that has been elusive.Credit
Jim Wilson/The New York Times
Mr.
Bush, under great pressure to have a strong debate that would reassure
his supporters and change the trajectory of his struggling campaign, had
another lackluster night, raising the possibility that uncommitted
donors will write him off and embrace candidates like Mr. Rubio.
Frustration
permeated the Bush camp: Danny Diaz, Mr. Bush’s campaign manager, told
reporters that he had complained to CNBC, the cable network hosting the
debate, that Mr. Bush was receiving too few questions from the
moderators.
Mr.
Kasich made a strong impression by showing new aggressiveness from the
debate’s first moments, taking on Mr. Trump and Mr. Carson in hopes of
improving his dismal standing in voter surveys. Mr. Trump, bent on
recapturing his lead in the polls from Mr. Carson, was more restrained
in his mockery of his rivals than in the previous two debates, and even
faded into the background for long stretches.
It
was a night that saw a reversal of fortunes: Mr. Trump and Mr. Bush
have been in the campaign spotlight for months as they jousted with each
other and asserted their financial dominance in the race, but both were
overshadowed Wednesday by the commanding performances of Mr. Rubio and
Mr. Cruz.
Mr.
Rubio, an ally of Mr. Bush when he was governor of Florida and Mr.
Rubio was the State House speaker, found himself under sharp attack over
his reputation for chronic absenteeism in Washington. Mr. Rubio has
missed more votes than any other senator this year. Mr. Bush, who has
fared poorly with voters despite months of campaigning and heavy
spending, blasted Mr. Rubio over his work ethic — a striking moment in
the ongoing fraying of their friendship as they compete for support from
moderate Republicans in Florida.
“Marco,
when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term — you should be
showing up to work,” Mr. Bush said. “I mean, literally, the Senate, what
is it, like a French workweek? You get like three days where you have
to show up?”
Mr.
Rubio hit back forcefully, noting that Mr. Bush has said he is modeling
his campaign after Senator John McCain’s in 2008, and that Mr. McCain
missed many votes in the chamber during that run. And he attributed the
criticism to the fact that Mr. Bush is struggling in the polls.
“The
only reason you’re doing it now is because we’re running for the same
position and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to
help you,” Mr. Rubio said.
Mr.
Cruz also stood out far more than he had in the first two debates,
reminding viewers of his fights against Republican leaders and
blistering the news media in a fashion that delighted the crowd. He made
a strong case for why he could emerge as the candidate of choice for
evangelical voters, a vital Republican bloc.
“My
mom, who’s here today, was a single mom when my father left us when I
was 3 years old,” Mr. Cruz said. “Now, thank God, my father was invited
to a Bible study and became born again, and he came back to my mom and
me, and we were raised together. But I — the struggle of single moms is
extraordinary.”
Mr.
Bush, whose mild-mannered, pragmatic persona and family lineage have
turned off many voters, drew little applause as he dwelled mostly on
policy and did little to undercut his chief antagonist in the race, Mr.
Trump, who has repeatedly belittled him. He did not directly take on Mr.
Trump, saying obliquely and in somewhat rambling language, “It troubles
me that people are rewarded for tearing down our country.”
“It’s
never been that way in American politics before,” Mr. Bush continued.
“I just don’t believe that this country’s days are going to be deeply —
you know, going down. I think we’re on the verge of the greatest time,
and I want to fix the things to let people rise up.”
Mr.
Bush receded after his unsuccessful skirmish with Mr. Rubio, failing to
turn in the sort of bravura performance his supporters had hoped for.
Even
when Mr. Bush boasted lightheartedly about his undefeated fantasy
football record this year, the line was hurled back in his face. “We
have $19 trillion in debt, we have people out of work, we have ISIS and
Al Qaeda attacking us, and we’re talking about fantasy football?” Gov.
Chris Christie of New Jersey demanded, turning his fire on Mr. Bush and
the moderators, who had asked about regulation of the fantasy sports
industry.
While
the debate was ostensibly dedicated to the economy, the fluid dynamics
of the Republican race — with new polls showing Mr. Carson in the lead
in Iowa and nationally, and Mr. Trump and especially Mr. Bush in decline
— drove the candidates to seek moments that would emphasize their
credibility and electability and resonate with conservative voters who
are dissatisfied with Washington and politics as usual.
Mr.
Kasich was more impassioned than Mr. Bush in his attacks, which began
when Mr. Kasich ignored the debate’s first question, about each
candidate’s weaknesses. Instead, he made implicit criticisms of Mr.
Trump and other Republicans as unprepared for the presidency or
wrongheaded on issues, referring, for example, to Mr. Trump’s strong
support for deporting unauthorized immigrants.
“My
great concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone
who cannot do this job,” Mr. Kasich said. “We need somebody who can
lead.”
Mr.
Trump ripped into Mr. Kasich for turning negative against his rivals.
“He was such a nice guy, and he said, ‘Oh, I’m never going to attack,’ ”
Mr. Trump said.
“But
then his poll numbers tanked. He has got — that is why he is on the
end,” he added, referring to Mr. Kasich’s placement on the debate stage.
“And he got nasty. And he got nasty. So you know what? You can have
him.”
Several
candidates faced tough questioning about their financial policies. Mr.
Carson defended his plan to radically overhaul the tax system: He has
said he would take inspiration from God and push for a “proportional tax
system” based on tithing, in which people would pay the same percentage
— close to 15 percent — of income in taxes, while deductions and
loopholes would be eliminated.
When a moderator insisted that his plan would leave the government with a trillion-dollar revenue hole, Mr. Carson pushed back.
“That’s not true,” he said. “It works out very well.”
Mr.
Kasich was quick to dispute Mr. Carson. “This is the fantasy that I
talked about in the beginning,” he said of Mr. Carson’s tax ideas.
“These plans would put us trillions and trillions of dollars in debt.”
Mr.
Rubio seemed to get the better of Mr. Bush again when they discussed
their own economic plans in close succession. While Mr. Bush spoke
wonkishly of “the code” and “regulatory cost,” Mr. Rubio cast the issue
in personal terms, talking about how a tax overhaul would affect “the
guy that does my dry cleaning.”
Mr.
Rubio also faced questions about money — in his case, about his
management of his personal finances: He has acknowledged mistakes such
as using personal credit cards to pay for his campaigns, and using a
Florida Republican Party credit card to pay for a paving project at his
home and for travel to a family reunion. He responded by implicitly
swiping at Mr. Bush and Mr. Trump, who benefited from being the scions
of wealthy fathers.
“I
didn’t inherit any money — my dad was a bartender and my mother was a
maid,” Mr. Rubio said. “I’m not worried about my finances; I’m worried
about the finances of everyday Americans who today are struggling in an
economy that is not producing good-paying jobs.”
Again
and again, Mr. Rubio repelled attacks from his opponents and difficult
questions from the moderators with ready responses that turned issues
back on his interlocutors and prompted loud applause from the crowd.
He
defended himself by attacking a Florida newspaper that had called for
his resignation on Wednesday — and, more broadly, by castigating the
news media, a favorite target of Republicans.
Mr.
Cruz picked up where Mr. Rubio left off and won his own round of
booming applause for attacking the CNBC moderators, saying they were
focused on provoking fights rather than examining policy issues.
“This
is not a cage match. And you look at the questions — Donald Trump, are
you a comic book villain? Ben Carson, can you do math? John Kasich, will
you insult two people over here? Marco Rubio, why don’t you resign? Jeb
Bush, why have your numbers fallen?” Mr. Cruz said. “How about talking
about the substantive issues people care about?”
Mr.
Rubio appealed to the audience not only with his attacks on the news
media, but also by taking aim at Hillary Rodham Clinton, the leading
Democratic presidential candidate.
“It
was the week she got exposed as a liar,” he said, referring to Mrs.
Clinton’s testimony last Thursday before a congressional panel
investigating the 2012 attacks on the American Mission in Benghazi,
Libya.
Another candidate, Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard chief, who benefited from her debate showing last debate showing last month, did not make the same impact on Wednesday. She
echoed Mr. Rubio’s comments about Mrs. Clinton in her concluding
statement, looking into the camera and telling viewers: “In your heart
of hearts, you cannot wait to see a debate between Carly Fiorina and
Hillary Clinton.”
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