Fiorina Stands Tall

A “matinee” debate low on actual debating kicked off the first skirmish of the 2016 Republican presidential primary season on Thursday, with former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina standing tall above the six other candidates.

Fielding a wide variety of domestic and foreign policy questions, the candidates mostly kept their gloves on when it came to other Republicans, save for an occasional reference to Trump and scarcely mentioning each other. But they savaged Hillary Clinton and had a few barbs for President Barack Obama and even Clinton challenger Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The debate’s location in an empty basketball stadium – Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena – flattened the event’s impact and dulled candidates’ intended punch lines due to the lack of audience response. Open only to the seven lowest-polling GOP candidates, the debate was also notable for the elephant in the room – businessman and TV personality Donald Trump, who debates with nine other higher-polling candidates in the prime-time slot this evening.

Current and former governors Rick Perry of Texas, Jim Gilmore of Virginia, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and George Pataki of New York all made notable inroads with strong and well-stated answers. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina repeatedly turned to defense and U.S. foreign policy in the Mideast.

“(Trump has) tapped into an anger that people feel,” Fiorina said. “Whatever the issue, whatever the cause, whatever festering problem you hoped would be resolved, the political class has failed you… But what are the principles by which he would govern?”

But the moment was Fiorina’s. The businesswoman is polling in the single digits, but she turned that to her advantage by noting that at this early stage in the contest, former presidents Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton were all trailing in the polls.

Fiorina was also one of the only candidates to take a shot at Trump, noting that he had donated to Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton’s senatorial campaigns in the 2000s and took a personal phone call from Bill Clinton just before Trump announced his candidacy in June.

“He’s tapped into an anger that people feel,” Fiorina said. “Whatever the issue, whatever the cause, whatever festering problem you hoped would be resolved, the political class has failed you… But what are the principles by which he would govern?”

Related: Christie: Bush is the Target

Given only a single minute to answer questions, with 30-second rebuttals, candidates mostly stuck to their own resumes, burnishing their backgrounds as much as possible. In that respect, Perry, Gilmore, Jindal and Pataki stood out on the stage.

Pataki reminded viewers that he governed New York at the time of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and that he won multiple elections in a “deep blue” state that taught him how to govern in a bipartisan manner.

Like Pataki, Jindal touted his multiple “landslide” elections and experience at cutting government employment and entitlement programs in the Bayou State. He initially passed up a chance to criticize Ohio Gov. John Kasich – also a presidential contender – for expanding Medicaid in Ohio, but finally relented and said Medicaid should not be expanded anywhere.

Perry focused his fire on the issue of immigration, noting that his state’s 1,900-mile-long border with Mexico gave him unique and effective experience in how to curb the flow of migrants.

Related: Top Goals for the 10 Debaters

Perry took the only other notable jab at Trump, contrasting the businessman’s lack of experience with his own, particularly on immigration. Trump, said Perry, is basing his appeal “on his celebrity rather than his conservatism.”

Graham – a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee – was the most forceful candidate on military and defense issues, going so far as to propose sending U.S. troops back into Iraq, expanding the fight into Syria, and going after ISIS training camps.

On the subject of Planned Parenthood and the effort to defund it in light of controversial videos in which officials from the organization were shown discussed the harvesting of organs from aborted babies, Graham set aside Democratic charges that Republicans’ worry about the group is part of a “war on women.” Pataki, the only contender who supports abortion rights, said that even he would defund the group.

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