Grading the Candidates, Round 2

The second GOP presidential debate of the 2016 cycle was a three-hour slugfest which, in the later minutes of hour three, seemed more of an endurance contest than a show of political acumen. Here’s how everyone did:

Carly Fiorina
Final Grade: A

Fiorina unquestionably rocked the night. The arguable winner of both the first August JV debate (in which she participated), and the second prime-time debate, took the fight to Trump with subtle, dismissive jabs. “I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said,” Fiorina deftly responded to a question on Trump’s recent remark about Fiorina, when he said, “Who would vote for that face?”

Fiorina talked fluently about the United States military, a forward posture in foreign policy, and had one of the most emotionally charged moments of the night speaking passionately about the horror of the undercover Planned Parenthood organ trafficking videos.

Sen. Ted Cruz
Final Grade: A –

Cruz had a solid on-message performance. “We need to stop surrendering, and start standing for our principles,” he said in a blistering critique of the GOP establishment in Washington for refusing to fight the president on issues ranging from Obamacare, to tax reform, to defunding Planned Parenthood.

“I spent five and a half years as the solicitor general of Texas … we won a historic victory saying the world court and U.N. has no power to bind the United States,” Cruz said, tying his deep well of experience before the Supreme Court to the issue of American sovereignty in the Iranian nuclear negotiations.

Cruz continues to campaign eloquently on the populist substance of Trump’s rhetoric, remaining well positioned to capitalize on any slip by the current frontrunner.

Donald Trump
Final Grade: B +

Trump attacked Sen. Rand Paul, former Gov. George Pataki, Gov. Scott Walker and former Gov. Jeb Bush — all within the first five minutes of the showdown.

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But Trump appeared more studied and practiced than in the first primetime GOP debate on Aug. 6.

He was well armed with facts he used to shut down Walker in a tense exchange over their respective records. And a low point for the otherwise stellar Fiorina was her similar clash with the current GOP front-runner, where he summoned details from her controversial tenure as CEO of Hewlett-Packard.

Trump succumbed more than most to the length of the debate, seeming less active by the end, but overall accomplished what he needed to do. He maintained his persona, stuck to his strong issues, and got solid digs in on nearly all of his opponents.

Gov. Chris Christie
Final Grade: B +

Christie had a very solid night but he strayed from his mantle as the candidate of law and order, barely hitting that front while giving otherwise strong responses. Christie also shut down both Trump and Fiorina during a spat between the two on their business records, saying both were successful but that the voters wanted to hear how the candidates would solve problems.

Dr. Ben Carson
Final Grade: B

Carson, sleepier than ever, said Americans don’t seem to want to work in the agricultural sector and illegal aliens should become guest workers in that sector.

The world renowned former pediatric surgeon didn’t blow the lid off the place, but he didn’t in the first debate, either and still saw his numbers steadily climb. “He’s an OK  doctor,” Carson quipped, using Trump’s own description of Carson against him in a jab that drew big laughs from the audience during an exchange on vaccines and whether there is any possibility they could increase the risk of autism.

Despite his usual logical musings, Carson stumbled over an explanation on whether he would have authorized the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Sen. Marco Rubio
Final Grade: B –

Note to Rubio: We get it, your father was a bartender. The junior senator from Florida — and second-choice pick of the Washington establishment behind Jeb Bush — spoke well on most of the issues thrown his way, but as usual failed to branch out beyond canned, cliched campaign-speak and lame reminders of his parents’ humble roots.

Rubio had several solid moments of hitting the more hawkish notes in the GOP scales, suggesting the U.S. military “was not built to conduct pinprick attacks,” but there wasn’t much creativity in Rubio’s debate performance.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush
Final Grade: C +

As with the first debate, Bush earns low marks that may not worry the former Florida governor, who is sitting pretty on over $120 million raised between his official campaign and his Super PAC.

Bush spent much of his time defending himself for speaking Spanish, for being supportive of open borders, and for having large sums of money from special interest donors.

He did make a point to show “more energy” than in his last performance, but he still offered no compelling reason to get behind his bid for GOP primary voters.

Gov. John Kasich
Final Grade: C

Kasich went for the high road throughout the debate. His first comments after his opening were to demand that the debate focus on issues. The Ohio governor called for party unity, national unity, and solidarity with our allies during an exchange on the Iranian nuclear agreement.

“When it comes to shutting down the government, we should be very careful about that,” Kasich said, continuing to hem and haw over the issues other candidates seized.

Moderator and conservative radio show host Hugh Hewitt even recognized Kasich is averse to criticizing Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton when Kasich goes on his show. After a strong performance in the first debate, Kasich appeared determined to be forgettable in the second.

Gov.  Scott Walker
Final Grade: C –

Evidently Walker’s debate-prep team has never heard the proverb “learn from the mistakes of those who’ve gone before you.”

The Wisconsin governor came out of the gate swinging wildly at Donald Trump, with lines that sounded rehearsed from the Rand Paul attacks on the real estate mogul that backfired badly in the first primetime debate.

“We don’t need an apprentice in the White House, we have one right now,” Walker said. He added, “We don’t know who you are, where you’re going.”

The exchange merely gave Trump the opportunity to point to job losses, deficits, and other woes in the state of Wisconsin. Walker, arguably needing a breakout moment more than any other candidate on the stage, largely faded for the remainder of the night.

Former Gov. Mike Huckabee
Final Grade: C –

Huckabee phoned in his usual lines laced with evangelical red meat, and he spoke passionately about the “criminalization of Christianity,” but he seemed mostly absent from all the memorable exchanges.

Senator Rand Paul
Final Grade: D

During an early exchange on the Iranian nuclear deal, Rand Paul sounded more like a general election candidate for U.S. senate than a candidate fighting for the GOP nomination. He appeared more concerned with seeming reasoned than joining in with a majority of conservatives who feel the deal is weak and gives Iran more leeway to increase the scope of their nuclear program. “Should we continue to talk with Iran? Yes. Should we cut up the agreement immediately? That’s absurd,” Paul suggested.

Except for defending his usual reluctance to deploy U.S. military force abroad, Paul seemed absent for much of the showdown. Paul, languishing in the low single digits in national polls, needed much better than that. Time to pack up the presidential campaign and get back to the trail in Kentucky for his 2016 reelection.

CNN
Final Grade: D –

There was critical pre-debate analysis on how many inches lay between the candidates’ podiums, and Wolf Blitzer apologized to viewers for incorrectly panning to a random older lady to announce Nancy Reagan had arrived. CNN can now confirm that CNN has made at least one boneheaded call that had to be reversed.

Then there was the fact that the debate dragged on for three hours. Donald Trump was incredulous about the length in post-debate interviews, claiming even he thought the affair was supposed to be two hours. The biggest winner of the night may have been Fox News. CNN deftly reminded Republicans why most of them prefer their rival network.