The Republican debate went on Thursday evening in Iowa without the party’s front runner, Donald Trump, despite last-minute negotiations with Fox News to get the billionaire real estate mogul to make an appearance.
His absence, after a dust-up with the network over Megyn Kelly’s participation as moderator of the debate, was noted at the outset, but then the candidates moved on with sharp exchanges on topics such as the best way to fight ISIS and what to do about immigration.
Those participating in the “primetime” debate Thursday were Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Marco Rubio, Dr. Ben Carson, Gov. Chris Christie, former Gov. Jeb Bush, Gov. John Kasich and Sen. Rand Paul.
Trump hosted an event that was billed as a benefit for veterans. It was held at Drake University in Des Moines, not far from where the Republican debate was held.
Here are some of the best exchanges of the night:
- In the earlier debate on Fox, Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, gave her opinion of Hillary Clinton:
- In the "primetime" debate, it didn't take long for Donald Trump's name to come up. In fact, it was in the first few words of the first question. Here's Sen. Ted Cruz doing his best Donald Trump impersonation to answer Megyn Kelly's question:
- The candidates let him know that when he wasn't there, at least he was missed:
- Cruz accused the moderators of piling on then threatened tongue-in-cheek to "leave the stage" if he got another mean question:
Rubio was asked the next question and began his answer by saying, “First of all, don't worry, I'm not leaving the stage no matter what you ask me.”
- Cruz and Rubio had several exchanges during the two-hour debate. Here's one:
- Paul joined Rubio in calling Cruz out on immigration:
- Christie on "Washingtonspeak"
Meanwhile, across town…
Trump may have stunned some in the audience when he open his event by saying he wished he was somewhere else.
Whether viewers watched the veterans benefit or the Republican debate, it was Trump who won the war of social media. According to Google, who was a host of the Republican debate, searches for the word "Trump" dominated the search engine in the runup to the debate and veterans benefit.
Trump told his audience that he had spent a good part of the day talking with Fox about the posibility of taking part in the debate. According to the network, Trump offered to appear at the debate if the network gave $5 million to his charities. Fox said they declined the offer.
Two of the Republican candidates who participated in the earlier debate on Fox, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Sen. Rick Santorum, joined Trump onstage at his event after their debate.
Those participating in the "primetime" debate were Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Marco Rubio, Dr. Ben Carson, Gov. Chris Christie, former Gov. Jeb Bush, Gov. John Kasich and Sen. Rand Paul.
In the earlier debate on Fox, Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, gave her opinion of Hillary Clinton.
In the “primetime” debate, it didn’t take long for Donald Trump’s name to come up. In fact, it was in the first few words of the first question. Here’s Sen. Ted Cruz doing his best Donald Trump impersonation to answer Megyn Kelly’s question:
When he wasn’t there, at least he was missed:
Cruz accused the moderators of piling on then threatened to “leave the stage” if he got another mean question:
Rubio was asked the next question and began his answer saying, "First of all, don't worry, I'm not leaving the stage no matter what you ask me."
Cruz and Rubio had several exchanges during the 2-hour debate. Here’s one:
@marcorubio: "Radical Muslims & radical Islam is not just hate-talk, it's hate-action. They blow people up.
.@ChrisChristie: "Barack Obama has made law enforcement the enemy." #GOPDebate
Christie: "I feel like I need a Washington-English dictionary converter" http://hill.cm/4HJsS9B #GOPdebate
About the Author
