GOP debate entertaining, but not likely to change field, panel says

JOHNSTON - No one hit a home run in the first GOP presidential candidate debate of the 2016 campaign, but no one got sent down to the minor leagues for a bad performance, according to a trio of Iowa Republicans who analyzed the debate Friday.

'One of the most entertaining nights of debates I've ever seen,” former aide to Gov. Terry Branstad and 2002 GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Gross said.

'Outstanding,” added former U.S. Attorney Matt Whitaker, who like Gross rated the Thursday night Fox News debate among the top 10 polling candidates a 10.

But TheRepublican.com blogger Craig Robinson said it depended on the candidate.

Chris Christie, who was the ninth highest polling candidate on the stage 'had the opportunity to really go up against candidates at will it seemed, so for him it was a 10,” Robinson said, 'For everyone else it might be a 3.”

Without specifically identifying winners and losers, the panel thought that based on her performance in the so-called 'happy hour” forum before the main event, Carly Fiorina, 'who stole the show,” according to Robinson, probably deserves to be included in the next debate.

Overall, the panel thought Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and retired physician Ben Carson were successful in speaking to their respective bases, according to the panel, but probably didn't expand their support five months before the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses.

If there was a loser, Gross said, it was Donald Trump, who was at center stage based on his poll-leading status.

'Trump got trumped by Fox News. That's the only place he could get trumped by because they can't be accused of bias,” he said. He explained that Trump's answers and demeanor 'fully showed the kind of person he is (and) Republicans will not go for at the end of the day.”

On the other hand, Whitaker, said, Trump 'continued to excel at his brand.”

'Donald Trump was who he is,” he said. 'He's attracting people because of his bluntness and it doesn't seem right now that anything sticks to him, even being a misogynist.”

If Trump seemed damaged by the two-hour debate in Cleveland, Robinson said it was because every question he was asked was a negative.

'He wasn't asked about issues. He was asked about his past, his failings, all of these things,” Robinson said. 'If you're going to treat Donald Trump like that then you've got to ask Chris Christie about ‘Bridge-gate,' you need to ask Rand Paul about the three close associates who are under indictment.”

None of them saw the debate winnowing like the Iowa GOP Straw Poll, which was scheduled for Aug. 8, likely would.

'No, I think what it did is it allowed people to get back on the field,” Gross said about Christie, Rubio, Paul and Kasich who were lagging in the polls. 'So what it did is it actually, I think, expanded the effective field.

'I was not a big fan of the straw poll, but I thought this is the year we needed one,” he said.

Iowa Press can be seen at 7:30 p.m. tonight and noon Sunday on Iowa Public Television, at 8:30 a.m. Saturday on IPTV World and at www.iptv.org beginning this evening.