:*)) It was a good debate, in spite of the blunder in the beginning. True character was shown on stage tonight. Both good and bad.
And watching closely at their faces as they marched on stage... all absorbed in themselves. And worse, when Jeb walks past there is a look he gave which spoke of utter cluelessness of why Trump hadn't gone on.
I felt bad for Carson, nice, nice guy but totally not Presidential material. Maybe a nice quiet Surgeon General.
Rubio seemed like a conservative Obama whose teleprompter played a joke and kept putting the same words up for chuckles. I think he should go back to the state level legislature for awhile.
I felt, however, that the "debate" seemed more like an attempt to get the candidates to simply go after each other at times - for entertainment value at the least - and to see who would be most graceful under pressure at best. A lot of dodges and Cruz never answered the question of why he or staff didn't simply call the Carson Campaign to verify.
I was very disappointed with Cruz' answer and have been to Caucus where these types of stunts are pulled both at local level and state convention. But usually it is to persuade other candidates delegates to jump sides, not trick them into doing it as was the case here. Blaming CNN didn't cut it for me either. It is the campaigns responsibility to verify information. What conservative of any stripe relies on CNN for campaign info anyway? Absurd.
In a way, this debate was unneccesary, and in another way, it was the icing on the cake for my Trump leaning decision. Christie did well too, but he seems more of an AG candidate. And like you pointed out, there's that 2nd Amendment issue.