Posted on 12/16/2015 7:07:34 AM PST by Isara
Ted Cruz won the fifth Republican debate in Las Vegas on Tuesday, but Donald Trump held his own and Chris Christie "helped himself," political strategist Dick Morris told Newsmax TV.
"Cruz was the big winner tonight," Morris said on the "Newsmax TV Post-Debate Special," hosted by Steve Malzberg. "He was terrific in his speeches. He was aggressive, forceful and really hit it out of the park three or four times.
...
"Trump did very well, not as well as Cruz — but he clearly held his own and showed people why he is so popular," he added.
On the other side, Marco Rubio "was the big loser," Morris said. "He got clobbered in the debate with Cruz and in the debate with Rand Paul."
As for Ben Carson, he "did better in showing himself to be more knowledgeable about foreign affairs and somewhat tougher — but he can't make the grade with the ISIS issue."
The issue of destroying the Islamic State "is killing Carson, because people just don't see the strength in him that they want," Morris said.
But that is helping Christie, especially since Jeb Bush did not fare well.
"Christie helped himself tonight," Morris told Malzberg. "And it is possible, given how pathetic Bush's performance was and how Rubio got lost in those debates that Christie could emerge as the establishment alternative to Trump and Cruz."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
I haven’t seen the other polls out today, so thank you for the update.
I don’t see things changing a whole lot until the field is narrowed and the voting gets closer.
I'd say the field is down to Trump, Cruz, then maybe Rubio and Carson.
The rest are making fools of themselves by staying in. The media along with the GOP seem to be happy to watch them making fools of themselves as long as they can score the occasional point against Trump. As long as they can do that, the GOP donors seem happy to support them and allow the charade to go on.
Everything Morris says is wrong, but I do agree with him that Rubio got clobbered last night.
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