The GOP debate: 6 takeaways

Carly Fiorina -- the lone woman among 10 male GOP candidates onstage -- was very nearly excluded from the second debate of 2016 at the Reagan Library. Donald Trump probably wishes she had been.
The former Hewlett-Packard CEO – whose face was the subject of a patented Trump diss in Rolling Stone – emerged as the single most effective counter-puncher against the glib reality-TV star with a penchant for picking public fights with strong women. She stopped the seemingly unstoppable Trump cold in his tracks, pointedly challenging the developer on his repeated claims that he was a “terrific” businessman who had earned the right to wear the Republican outsider crown.

Whether Fiorina is able to seriously challenge Trump or second-place Ben Carson is an open question. As the poll-crazy Trump points out, he’s pushing 30 percent nationally and all the professional politicians on the stage are in single digits.
But one thing was clear Wednesday: The Trump joy ride is over, and the race looks to get a lot more competitive as he tries to transform his castle made of bombast into a truly functional campaign.
1. Trump was, well, low-energy.
Trump has gleefully defied predictions that his campaign would collapse in the fall. That hasn’t happened. Yet one of the major questions when Trump jumped into the campaign in June – articulated by longtime buddies like Sirius XM host Howard Stern – was how much does he really want it? Would the jet-setting billionaire actually sacrifice his putting-green-and-penthouse lifestyle to endure the soul-sapping grind of a presidential campaign?
On Wednesday, for the first time in his fairytale rise to Republican dominance, Trump looked fed up and exhausted, leaning on his podium as his opponents ganged up, one after the other, to batter him. The quips were there – he began by claiming he wasn’t “braggadocious” (If that’s a word) and continued torturing favorite punching bags Jeb Bush and Rand Paul – but it seemed that some of the fun has gone out of the enterprise.
It was inevitable: During the first debate, five weeks ago in Cleveland, all of his opponents treated him like an uncaged tiger (Ohio Gov. John Kasich described him as the living embodiment of the nation’s rage). But the hands-off-Trump rule was suspended – and he had to defend himself against body blows from Bush, Paul, Marco Rubio, Fiorina and Scott Walker.
As usual, he didn’t let a single attack go undefended. But as opponents like Bush and Rubio gained confidence and energy as the marathon debate dragged on, Trump slumped – his voice hoarsened and the pace of his outbursts slowed to a trickle.
2. Carly Fiorina crashes the boys club.
The former CEO – who was only a so-so debater during her unsuccessful 2010 challenge to California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer – was stiletto sharp during her confrontations with Trump. When the CNN moderators asked her about Trump’s quip (“Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?!"), she coolly responded: “Women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said," as the audience hooted and the developer squirmed on the split-screen. A shaken Trump responded by saying, "she’s got a beautiful face and she's a beautiful woman.”

The biggest applause line of the night – by far – came earlier in the debate when Fiorina spoke passionately about the controversy surrounding Planned Parenthood’s treatment of fetal tissue when she spoke about an unborn child’s “beating heart” being stopped by an abortion doctor. Later, Fiorina – who had been criticized for a steely, severe demeanor in her 2010 race – spoke movingly about the death of her 35-year-old stepdaughter who died in 2009 after a long battle with drugs.
The two most tweeted moments of the debate weren’t Trump zingers, according to Twitter; they were “@CarlyFiorina responds to @realDonaldTrump on her looks” and “@CarlyFiorina on Planned Parenthood.”
3. Jeb Bush smacked Trump -- literally.
The former Florida governor needed to prove to voters (and his own donors) that he was willing to fight after a lackluster first debate – and he accomplished that, barely. His first stab at an attack on Trump ended badly: A few minutes into the debate, he launched a prepared attack against Trump’s long-ago attempt to sell him on allowing casinos in Florida. It backfired. Trump parried him easily with, “More energy tonight. I like that.” Worse still, Trump interrupted Bush – and Bush only began speaking again when Trump told him to “go ahead.”
Undeterred, Bush went on the attack again, the next time hitting Trump for insulting his wife Columba in a tweet a few weeks ago. Bush, polite to a fault, demanded that his opponent apologize directly to her; Trump refused the offer, but his face reddened. Bush was more passionate in defending his brother’s legacy in Iraq – pointedly telling Trump, who opposed the war, that Bush 43 had kept him “safe.”
But the signature moment of Bush’s night – and a rare public expression of the candidate’s oft-hidden competitiveness – came when CNN moderator Jake Tapper asked a seemingly innocuous question: If elected what nickname should the Secret Service give him?
“Ever Ready!” Bush declared, in a nod to the battery brand, “very high energy!”
When Trump smiled and extended a hand, Bush – who has been deeply frustrated by his failure to break out of the single digits – bit down on his lower lip, and slammed a semi-balled fist down hard on the developer’s outstretched paw.
4. Ben Carson floated like a butterfly – and didn’t get stung by the bees.
Carson, the soft-spoken conservative neurosurgeon, is playing by a different set of rules than the other candidates. The Republican base wants fight from its warriors, but Carson – who breathes right-wing fire on the lecture circuit – has proven to be as stubbornly civil as any top-tier contender in either party. To some, his low-key approach reads somnambulant (During the debate, former Obama White House aide Tommy Vietor tweeted “Ben Carson is like verbal Xanax.”).
But it’s working for him. He’s gaining fast on Trump, in part, because he’s got the same outsider bona fides -- but without the bombast. He passed on nearly every opportunity to go on the attack against anyone – other than the president, Hillary Clinton and the Washington establishment. For their part, the other candidates seemed content to leave him in peace           
His one mildly contentious exchange came after Trump and Bush clashed over the corrupting influence of campaign contributions: Carson who has raised millions from small donors told his opponents he wouldn’t “lick the boots of billionaires” – a barb aimed at big-money Republicans like Bush, whose fundraising operation has raised more than $100 million so far.
If Carson continues his rise – and surpasses Trump -- he will face a much tougher time at the next debate, on October 28 in Boulder, Colorado.
5. Lindsey Graham stole the first debate.
Every reporter who has covered the South Carolina senator on Capitol Hill knows how smart and funny he can be – which is why his stuttering, nervous performance in the first debate came as such a surprise. But he was a man transformed under the wing of Ronald Reagan’s Air Force One in California, enlivening what might have been a forgettable four-person undercard debate.
In explaining his support for immigration reform, Graham spoke of the need to import younger immigrants to offset the rapid aging of the native population in the U.S. – unless, he said, Americans followed the example of the late former South Carolina senator, Strom Thurmond. "Strom Thurmond had four kids after age 67. If you're not willing to do that, we need to come up with a new immigration system," he quipped.
But Graham’s slow-drawl, fast-draw style also led to one big mistake. When lecturing his fellow candidates on the need to address working-class pocketbook issues, he committed a cardinal conservative sin. “"Hillary Clinton has a list a mile long to help the middle class,” he said – and the quote was dutifully emailed around by Democratic groups.
6. Marco Rubio’s alive. Scott Walker’s on life support.
Marco Rubio and Scott Walker are both lingering in the middle-single digits but they are clearly moving in opposite directions – and the debate starkly illuminated their divergent paths. Rubio, who is probably the most gifted natural orator on the GOP side, has kept a fairly low profile over the first few months of the campaign, hoping to turn on the jets in December when (he believes) Trump will swoon. The boyish-looking Florida senator lashed Trump on foreign policy – and offered a comeback to the reality star’s demand that presidential candidates speak English on the trail. Rubio spoke about his grandfather, a Cuban immigrant, who spoke Spanish – but taught him to love Ronald Reagan.
Walker, the Wisconsin governor, has fallen hard and fast – from solid double-digits and third place before the first debate to barely above the margin of error now. He did little to differentiate himself from the pack on Wednesday night, and his stab at Trump bashing was less effective than attacks launched by Fiorina, Rubio and Bush. He began with a canned line (“Mr. Trump, we don't need an apprentice in the White House”) – but soon found himself on the defensive when Trump roasted him for running up a big deficit.