Top 3 winners from Main Debate?

[Rockefeller GOP]

I stopped watching CNBC in 2009 or so. They were nothing but shills for wall street

And all Republicans.  Damn straight!

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Trump, Carson, and Cruz.

Trump and Carson won by not losing.  They both did what they've done to get to where they are at this point.

Rubio is being overrated by atlas.

Rubio is being over-rated, and not just by Atlas. But, he still did well tonight compared to his past performances and the rest of the field. Comparing himself to Obama and Kerry was  a blunder though.

[Vega]

This debate will serve the same for Trump as the last one did. He'll get a minor boost, but for some inane reason Carson will too, rendering the latter as irrelevant.

[Abraham Reagan]

I like Rubio a lot, but I really thought his performance was pretty bland. Cruz, Trump, and Christie all had  the best responses to their questions. Honorable mention for Mike Huckabee.

[IceSpear]

Trump, Carson, and Cruz.

Trump and Carson won by not losing.  They both did what they've done to get to where they are at this point.

Rubio is being overrated by atlas.

Rubio is being over-rated, and not just by Atlas. But, he still did well tonight compared to his past performances and the rest of the field. Comparing himself to Obama and Kerry was  a blunder though.

He was comparing himself to Kerry/Obama as evidence of media bias though, and it clearly went over well. Let's not act like anyone REALLY cares about stuff like this. Republicans touted experience and qualifications in 2008 whereas Democrats touted an inspiring fresh face. Now both have completely reversed positions without a hint of irony. Just like how both parties flip flop on the filibuster every single time they transition from minority to majority (or vice versa).

[defe07]

rubio, Cruz and CNBC! Geez, why isn't CNBC an option here??

[dudeabides]

Rubio, Kasich, Cruz. Trump was clearly the loser, he performed horribly as usual.

[weixiaobao]

-Rubio and Cruz....

I supposed Trump too because he didn't really tank.

[Eraserhead]

1. Trump
2. Cruz
3. Carson (he was terrible as usual but he basically comes out of it unscathed.)

[Intell]

1. Trump
2. Rubio
3. Cruz

[bagelman]

Cruz, Christie, Carson

The 3 C's

[eric82oslo]

Most appealing for me personally were Kasich, Christie and Rubio, though I agree that Cruz had his best debate performance by far tonight. Huge disappointments were Bush, Fiorina and Paul, though Carson was also extremely weak. Huckabee had one or two OK moments, so I won't include him. He's been weak in all three debates though. Trump did okey, middle of the road I'd say. Although one should expect him to really shine in a debate entirely focusing on economics, so he probably did worse than one could expect.

[eric82oslo]

Rubio, Kasich, Cruz. Trump was clearly the loser, he performed horribly as usual.

Not true. Trump was clearly the loser in the two first debates, but from this one he came across just fine, except for that one moment on the start where Kasich totally exposed him. Otherwise he did just fine, although he had no memorable moment other than perhaps his attack on Kasich.

[eric82oslo]

Trump, Carson, and Cruz.

Trump and Carson won by not losing.  They both did what they've done to get to where they are at this point.

Rubio is being overrated by atlas.

Rubio is being over-rated, and not just by Atlas. But, he still did well tonight compared to his past performances and the rest of the field. Comparing himself to Obama and Kerry was  a blunder though.

Rubio was actually less impressive in this debate than in the two previous ones, yet he was still quite impressive. Clearly one of the 3-4 big winners of the debate that otherwise was quite boring. I'm surprised by myself for not falling asleep, perhaps because I had just woken up lol.

[eric82oslo]

I stopped watching CNBC in 2009 or so. They were nothing but shills for wall street

Exactly. That's why I'm so surprised about the hostile reactions towards CNBC. Cause most days of the week they are a million times more tragic than this one debate showed.

By the way, I think this is the first time I've ever agreed with you on anything that you've ever written here on Atlas lol.

[eric82oslo]

Final Performance Order, best to worst: Cruz, Trump, Kasich, Rubio, Carson, Fiorina, Christie, Paul, Bush, Huckabee

Here is my personal ranking (I would never in a gazillion years even consider supporting a Republican for president though, so this might not mean much in the end lol, so take it with a grain of salt):

1. Kasich (the first adult in the room)
2. Christie (the second adult in the rom)
3. Rubio (the third adult in the room)
4. Cruz (red meat gone gallore & started feasting like royals)
5. Trump (he didn't look and sound as ridiculous as he normally does)
6. Huckabee (he had a couple of visual images that he threw out to the audience, which has always been his trademark strenght)
7. Carson (he defended himself really well, especially on the gay rights question (his only memorable moment of the night), though for once he was a bit boring to listen to, he clearly didn't prepare himself well enough, unlike before the 2 first debates)
8. Fiorina (she tried the same stick as in the first 2 debates, though this time her fake anger just fell flat)
9. Bush (he was invisible for most of the debate)
10. Rand Paul (zzzzzzz...except for his constant advertisement that he would do a fillibuster, he hadn't even one interesting thing to say the whole night, what a disappointment)

[eric82oslo]

Carson had an identical performance in the last two debates and surged, so he's probably won again tonight.

Nope, you couldn't be more wrong. In the first two debates he used humour a lot, this time he hadn't even prepared one single joke.

[defe07]

I know Rand didn't shine last night but he and Carson were the only ones who waited their turn. But I don't think anybody sucked at all. Rand got very few questions in the debate. Some of you really have a bias problem with Rand it seems. You seem to be like Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. He's either too hot or too cold. I remember most of you whining when he came out too strong in the first debate (and yes, I even think he did more damage with going after Trump that time). Hell, I may be a Rand supporter but I'm not biased if, say, Trump or any other candidates said anything good that I think is reasonable, I'll give them credit.

[VPH]

Rubio: This time, he was well versed (again), but he stood out from the pack. He was tough when he needed to be and stuck by policy when that was needed.

Cruz: He was a firebrand, but a funny one. He incorporated authentic touches into his debating and stood strongly as a Conservative.

Carson: Did what he needed to do to not lose, which is all that matters. Also, online interest in him surged afterwards, and I believe he's cemented himself with evangelicals. The Trump decline in Iowa is nowhere near over.

[SillyAmerican]

My top three "winners" in last nights debate:

1. Rubio
2. Christie
3. Cruz

The biggest "loser", far and away: Mr. Bush

[SillyAmerican]

He [Rubio] was comparing himself to Kerry/Obama as evidence of media bias though, and it clearly went over well. Let's not act like anyone REALLY cares about stuff like this. Republicans touted experience and qualifications in 2008 whereas Democrats touted an inspiring fresh face. Now both have completely reversed positions without a hint of irony. Just like how both parties flip flop on the filibuster every single time they transition from minority to majority (or vice versa).

I think the media bias came through loud and clear last night, with many of the candidates actually highlighting the fact. Frankly, I don't understand how things have gotten so bad within the span of a single generation. (Anybody remember Walter Cronkite? Can you name a single news anchor today that reports the news the way Mr. Cronkite did? Me neither...).

[Coolface Sock #42069]

1. Chris Christie
2. Marco Rubio
3. Tie between Ben Carson and Ted Cruz

Christie had to have the line of the night with "We're 19 trillion dollars in debt, we have people out of work, we're under attack by ISIS and al-Qaeda, and we're talking about fantasy football?".

Also Cruz and Carson win points by bemoaning the structure of the debate (I think Carson said he wanted 2 hours of his life back).

But Rubio counterattacking Jeb!!!!!!!!!! Bush after what I perceived as a very patronizing attack on Rubio's Senate voting record (perhaps not in language, but definitely in tone) was priceless. That's the equivalent of every self-supporting 20-something American adult telling his parents to keep their noses out of his business. I think Jeb thought he could portray Rubio, his biggest perceived threat, as a child, immature, and not ready for the presidency (and Bush by contrast as the adult who is ready for the responsibility), and, boy, did that backfire.

With that being said, I'd also say Bush was the biggest loser of the debate. Paul and Kasich may not have asserted their presence much, but Bush's Rubio attack debacle and Christie turning that fantasy football question (which was directed at Bush, and for which Bush proudly stated that his fantasy football team was 7-0, further underscoring Christie's point) into his big moment combined to make Bush's overall night (in my prediction, anyway) a clear net-negative to his standing with Republicans, and particularly younger ones, at that.

Also, to the people talking about media bias, I believe the last truly unbiased news anchor was Tim Russert. Great man. NBC News really started to flounder after he died.

[Kingpoleon]

Final Performance Order, best to worst: Cruz, Trump, Kasich, Rubio, Carson, Fiorina, Christie, Paul, Bush, Huckabee

Put Christie before Carson and I agree.

"I ask the viewers to look themselves in the mirror in the eye and ask themselves..."

[Maxwell]

I can't fathom anyone putting Huckabee near the top tier. Every folksy saying he had, and he used just as many as he could, was so forced that i felt a kick in my stomach each time he tried it. It was a bad performance, like most of the candidates that night.

[Sasquatch]

Rudio, Trump, Cruz