I didn’t make the rules. What part of “he wasn’t there and they still voted for him” don’t you understand?
It wasn’t like they wrote him in - it was one of the options. All of them are in the same race - who had the best night? The ones who subjected themselves to gotcha questions all night or the one who made headlines staying away?
He made points with me by staying away, but then the less I hear him the more I like him. (I’m not a fan, but I think his judgment in skipping the debate appears to have been sound.)