Game changer? We'll see. I doubt it will be for Cruz. While it's red meat to us conservatives, it wouldn't be likely to influence undecideds. The Carson "play nice" voters wouldn't like it cause it's too aggressive. Fiorina's supporters (the ones I known) would go Rubio or Yeb before Ted.
In the end, what Cruz did accomplish was to further enable everyone to freely bash the media and to re-state the questions their own way in future encounters. It remains to be seen whether they will do this. So far, only Trump and Cruz have really done this, and, to a lesser extent, Carson.
My guess is that Cruz gained a point or two in the polls, but I doubt it came from either Carson or Trump. Maybe "undecideds." Kasich and Yeb are now pretty much finished. Huck and Christie are hanging on by a thread. Fiorina will survive for a while. Rubio emerges as the clear #3.
As you say, "we'll see." I'm still going with "Game changer". This will be capitalized upon by Cruz. He has the funds to launch an advertising campaign.
LS, thanks for reading, but I believe you missed the point. The game it changed was NOT CRUZ’ electoral prospects. That’s not what this article was about, his or anyone elses per se. This article was narrowly focused on the debate process. Not every article or comment has to be about who is going to win the nomination.
The game changer is that there was one debate PRE Cruz’ outburst, and an entirely different debate afterwards. Totally different. So it, at a minimum, changed last night’s game.
The dynamic was that Cruz was not defending himself from an attack. That’s totally fine, and Trump does this, which is good. But when you defend the entire field against the entire media, there’s a rallying effect that simply transcends just a personal defense. It was palpable. It happened. There’s no denying it. Newt did the same at several points four years ago too.
Moreover, my initial reaction was that this might change the next debate as well. I outlined why in the piece. This was Hannity’s initial take as well, and that’s interesting, because he and I do not always see things the same way.