This was subjective, and it’s kind of unfair, because it’s taking face time into account. Eleven candidates means some people get less face time. And not everybody’s good at making you get that time. Also note that this has nothing to do with who is winning; just how I reacted to the debaters themselves.
- Bush: C Uneven performance.
- Carson: C- Kind of restrained.
- Christie: C+ When he got a chance to talk, he was actually pretty good. But he didn’t get many chances.
- Cruz: C+ More chances to talk, not always as immediately on point.
- Fiorina: A+ She’s going to get most of the clips tomorrow.
- Huckabee: C+ Given on pure charm.
- Kasich: D I don’t know why he’s on that stage.
- Paul: B- I don’t like his foreign policy, but his federalism stuff was good.
- Rubio: A He and Carly won the debate. He was on.
- Trump: C+ He behaved himself a bit more than I expected. But he didn’t say anything that was all that memorable. He needed a B+ or better.
- Walker: C+ Says all the right stuff, and he has the right record, but he needed more oomph in this debate.