GOP Debate showed candidates’ personas

The GOP debate last Thursday clearly demonstrated the Republicans have a divided field of 16 strong personalities.

The big loser was Fox for excluding so many GOP contenders from the evening event on their early standing in the polls. Carly Fiorina won the afternoon contest but was not on stage for the 'big” event. As the only woman in the GOP field, that was a problem since Republicans have a serious gender gap.

Donald Trump was, as expected, the 800-pound gorilla in the room. In the opening question he was the only one who would not take a pledge to support the GOP nominee. He didn't gain any supporters from this; the crowd booed. He was the disruptive force - of the evening. He was the Morton Downey Jr. The king of shock politics. He went after Fox reporter Megyn Kelly. That sucked a lot of air out of the evening.

He never yielded to a single question or criticism. He seemed buffoonish - my contacts said he should have never agreed to debate.

An ominous fog descended on the stage as we all were reminded that Bill Clinton had called Trump before he jumped in the race. Was he a ringer for Hillary Clinton?

The Chris Christie and Rand Paul crossfire on surveillance and privacy was the most interesting exchange of the evening. Paul's 'big hug” comment about Christie and Barack Obama was snarky and informative. Paul was the most aggressive debater, interrupting others several times during the evening.

Ted Cruz was effective and may have gained some of the hard-line hawks in the GOP base. Mike Huckabee seemed extreme and old. His position that life begins at conception and no abortions should be legal was the strongest position on abortion and women's reproductive rights.

Most of my focus-group team agreed Jeb Bush was the statesman of the evening. He was strong on education and came across as the guy who might win the general election. He defended his conservative credentials as governor of Florida, and showed some emotion and passion.

John Kasich was the 'compassionate conservative,” talking about income inequality and poverty. His position on same-sex marriage was powerful. He defended his expansion of mental health and drug treatment for prisoners and others in Ohio. His experience in Congress and as Ohio governor was compelling for that wing of the Republican base.

Dr. Ben Carson was the most brainy, soft-spoken, and intellectual of the candidates. He was well-informed even on military and foreign policy issues. His closing statement that he was a surgeon and had many 'firsts” in medicine got positive buzz, but presidents don't have the opportunity to do much surgery.

Marco Rubio did a great job playing the 'the candidate of the future.” He is young, attacked Hillary Clinton effectively, and no doubt maintained his position in the polls.

Scott Walker had little luster. He did not stand out in any way as he tried to compete with the other governors on the one hand and with the pro life, religious conservatives on the other hand. That said, his comment about Clinton's emails and how Russia and China know more than Congress was very clever.

The debaters' frequent criticisms of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama generated a lot of juice with the audience. However, with Republican voters drifting in small numbers to each of the contestants, it won't be easy for even for the best to 'break out” from the pack. The purpose of debates and the Iowa caucuses is to narrow the field. So far it has only been growing, which is the wrong direction.

Most significantly, my focus group felt that the debate did nothing to help candidates gain crucial support of women, Latino/Hispanic, of African American voters.

For your information: in an unscientific Time online poll taken after the debate 46 percent of voters said Donald Trump won the debate!

' Steffen Schmidt is professor of political science at Iowa State University. Comments: Steffenschmidt2005@gmail.com