Kaitlin Lange is a junior journalism and political science major and writes "Kaitlin's Langeuage" for the Daily News. Her views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Kaitlin at kllange@bsu.edu.
I always learn something new during the presidential debates. Sure, I learn about the candidates’ political policies, but I also know an odd amount about their parents’ jobs. Mark Rubio’s father was a bartender and his mother was a maid. John Kasich’s father “carried mail on his back.”
Of course, Ben Carson also pulled the family card as he mentioned his granddaughter was in the crowd. And we can’t forget about Ted Cruz’s mother, whom he almost always brings up when social security is brought up.
Looking past the candidates’ attempts to play the family card and appeal to voters’ emotions, here are five takeaways from the Fox Business Network and Wall Street Journal GOP Debate.
1. As usual, Bernie Sanders received little to no attention during the Republican debate. Everyone on the stage seemed to assume they would be facing Clinton next November.
Gerard Baker, one of the moderators, at one point said, “You’ll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton.” Another question the moderators asked referred to how the Republican candidates would compete against all of Clinton’s experience.
While Clinton is still polling the best out of all the Democratic candidates, Sanders has steadily increased in popularity, yet remains unacknowledged.
2. Kasich is getting aggressive. During the first Republican debate, he mainly faded in the background, except for his brief moment of fame when he tolerated gay marriage. Tuesday’s debate was vastly different for the Ohio governor.
He was quick to interrupt people and ask for his time to talk. At one point, even Donald Trump told Kasich to let Jeb Bush speak. However, the attention wasn’t necessarily positive.
3. Essentially every candidate in the primaries, Republican and Democrat, has mentioned big banks. They use it as a talking point, but tonight’s debate emphasized how some of them simply don’t have a strong solution.
Cruz mentioned he wouldn’t bail out the big banks, but avoided the question of if he would just let them fail. Kasich too said he wouldn’t bail them out, but also wouldn’t let them fail. His wishy-washy response elicited some of the only “boos” of the night.
4. Overall, the Republican candidates agreed on most topics. Most want small government, flat taxes and a stagnant national minimum wage. The one topic they couldn’t seem to agree on was the military.
Rand Paul’s views on the topic especially stood out. While all of the other candidates supported a no-fly zone over Syria, Paul didn’t. All of the other candidates also called for a strong military presence, while Paul wanted to reduce spending on all fronts, including military spending.
The moderators essentially lost control of the debate as Rubio and Paul went back and forth discussing military expenditures. Other candidates also capitalized on the discussion and jumped in before moderators could regain control.
5. Paul was the clear winner Tuesday. The crowd resonated with him as he questioned how conservative Rubio was. Paul criticized his plans for a tax credit for those with children. And
seconds later asked, “How is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures?”
Despite his strong performance, Paul may be too far down in the polls for a recovery, easily behind Trump, Carson, Rubio, Cruz and Bush.
And the most important take away from the night? Trump was on “60 Minutes” with Vladimir Putin once.
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