Republican presidential candidates sparred over experience, took jabs at their Democratic opponents and even shared a few laughs during CNBC's main debate in Boulder, Colo., on Oct. 28. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) 
 
 Republican presidential candidates sparred over experience, took jabs at their Democratic opponents and even shared a few laughs during CNBC's main debate in Boulder, Colo., on Oct. 28. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) 
 
 The third Republican presidential debate on Wednesday evening ended with a handful of winners – Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz – and one clear loser, former Florida governor Jeb Bush. 
 
 Bush, who was the well-financed front-runner at the beginning of the year, had one good moment in the beginning of the debate, when he attacked Rubio for his record of absences in the Senate. But that moment quickly became a devastating one for Bush, as Rubio responded with a faux-friendly cutdown: “Someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you,” he told Bush. “It’s not.” 
 
 After that, Bush was a minor presence – a night so bad for him that his campaign manager confronted CNBC producers off the stage, angry about Bush’s lack of airtime. 
 
 Rubio, by contrast, used the debate to cast himself as someone who understood middle-class concerns about student debt and income. By taking down Bush, he blunted an entire line of questioning about his withdrawal from the daily work of the Senate. 
 
 [Full coverage: Republican presidential debate] 
 
 During the third GOP debate, candidates got feisty with the CNBC moderators. They took aim at the questions asked, at the "mainstream media" and at the moderators interrupting their answers. (Victoria M. Walker/The Washington Post) 
 
 Cruz and Christie also had strong moments while criticizing the moderators: Cruz attacked their questions as too negative, and Christie criticized them for asking about whether government should regulate the lucrative ‘daily fantasy” sports business. Christie mocked the moderators for focusing on “fantasy football” with so many other problems in the country. 
 
 It was certainly not a good night for the moderators, who were booed on at least two occasions for questions the audience thought were unfair. 
 
 One of the strongest moments for Donald Trump, the billionaire front-runner, came at the very end of the debate, when he said he had teamed up with neurosurgeon Ben Carson to force CNBC to shorten the debate. There, Trump said, was proof of his basic campaign promise: nobody was better than him at getting a good deal. Moderator John Harwood denied Trump’s assertion. 
 
 Earlier, Trump denounced gun-free zones in public places as “target practice for the sickos,” underlining his pro-gun credentials during the third main GOP presidential debate. 
 
 “That’s target practice for the sickos, and the mentally ill. That’s targets. They look around for gun free zones,” Trump said, talking about recent shootings at schools and military installations. “I think gun-free zones are a catastrophe. They are feeding frenzy for sick people.” 
 
 Trump had been uncharacteristically quiet during the first hour and a half of the debate. But he used this moment to talk about his experience with guns, including his permits to carry weapons in New York City. “I like to be unpredictable,” about when he actually carries a gun, Trump said. “Unlike our country, by the way, which is totally predictable.” 
 
 The next question was to former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who was asked – as a minister – if Trump had the moral authority to be president. Some in the crowd booed. Huckabee rejected the question: “The last [thing] I need is to give him some more time,” Huckabee said. 
 
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 “Such a nasty question, but thank you governor,” Trump said. 
 
 Christie interjected himself into a discussion about whether the government should regulate the huge, high-earning “daily fantasy” sites that let people win huge amounts of money through the success of sports players. Bush, who got the question, seemed to indicate it should be treated as gambling, and regulated. 
 
 Christie jumped in, apparently incredulous that the question was even being asked: Why would the government, with all of its problems, bother with something like this? 
 
 “Enough on fantasy football! Let people play! Who cares?” he said. Later, Christie continued in his confrontational mood, stopping after Harwood had talked over him. 
 
 “Do you want me to answer, or do you want to answer? Even in New Jersey, what you’re doing is called rude,” Christie said. 
 
 Earlier, Rubio called Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton a liar, and said that the mainstream media had worked to cover up Clinton’s falsehoods about the attacks that killed four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012. 
 
 “You know, the Democrats have the ultimate Super PAC, it’s called the mainstream media,” Rubio said. He mentioned an 11-hour hearing about Benghazi on Capitol Hill last week, in which Republicans grilled Clinton about her conduct as secretary of state at the time of the attacks. “It was the week she got exposed as a liar. But she has her Super PAC helping her out, the American mainstream media.” 
 
 That comment came on a night when the media – and CNBC itself – became a punching bag for the GOP candidates. 
 
 An exchange between a CNBC moderator and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson – which began with questions about Carson’s ties to a nutritional-supplement company – ended with the crowd booing the moderator himself. 
 
 The boos seemed to indicate that the crowd believed Carson when he said he had no real relationship with the company, Mannatech, which news reports have said has a history of legal actions and accusations of false claims. When moderator Carl Quintanilla pressed Carson to say if he had made an error in judgment, the crowd itself booed. “See, they know,” Carson said. 
 
 Rubio used a sharp comeback to defuse Bush’s attack on his voting record in the Senate, and turned a question about his personal financial struggles into a chance to empathize with voters’ own money worries. 
 
 “I didn’t inherit any money. My dad was a bartender, my mother was a maid…I know what it’s like to owe that money,” Rubio said, after a moderator asked about his personal debts, including student loans. “I’m not worried about my finances. I’m worried about the finances of everyday Americans.” 
 
 Rubio defended his record of missed votes in the Senate in the third GOP presidential debate, saying he was rebelling against a GOP establishment that wanted to keep him out of the presidential race. 
 
 “That’s exactly what the Republican establishment says too, wait in line. Wait for what?,” he said when asked by a moderator why he was in such a rush to leave his work in the Senate. Rubio, making an argument he’s made several times in recent weeks, said his ambitions for American could not wait on the slow-moving Senate. “The time to act is now. The time to turn the page is now.” 
 
 That brought an attack from Bush – a onetime ally of Rubio’s, now a bitter rival as they battle for the establishment’s support in this race. Bush, a Florida resident, cast himself as a wronged constituent of Rubio’s. 
 
 “I expected that he would do constituent service, which means he shows up to work,” Bush said. “Marco, when you signed up for this, this is a six year term, and you should be showing up to work…Or just resign, and let somebody else take the job.” 
 
 Rubio clearly had been expecting this attack, and responded with a sharp attack on Bush – followed by a pledge that he would not attack people, as Bush just had. 
 
 “Someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you….It’s not,” Rubio said. “I’m not running against Gov. Bush. I’m not running against anyone else on the stage. I’m running for president.” 
 
 Cruz attacked the moderators, for asking too-hard questions of the other candidates. “The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than any participant in the Democratic debate,” Cruz said. 
 
 In that attack, Cruz used up the time he’d been allotted to answer a question about the debt ceiling, and why Cruz opposed a bill to raise it. 
 
 When that was pointed out, Cruz offered to answer the question. When moderators didn’t let him, he seemed outraged. “You’re not interested in an answer? You’re not interested in an answer?” 
 
 Earlier, Carson, a new front-runner in the Republican race, faced strong criticism of his tithing-based tax plan, when Kasich called Carson’s plan “fantasy.” 
 
 “You can’t do it with empty promises. You know, these plans would put us trillions of dollars in debt,” Kasich said. “We cannot elect somebody that doesn’t know how to do the job.” 
 
 Even at the moment when Kasich was attacking his rival, Carson, Trump – unable to let a chance to insult pass by -- intervened to attack Kasich for his low poll numbers. “That’s why he’s on the end,” Trump said. 
 
 A few minutes earlier, the third Republican presidential debate had begun like an awkward job interview, with a moderator asking candidates to name their biggest weakness. The result, as in most job interviews, was a group of people who didn’t actually answer the question. 
 
 “Good question,” said Kasich, who then ignored the question to insult his colleagues. “We’re on the verge of picking somebody who could perhaps not do this job.” 
 
 “If I have a weakness, it’s that I try to play by the rules,” said Huckabee. 
 
 “I share an optimism” about the country’s future,” said Rubio. 
 
 “I’m a fighter,” said Cruz. 
 
 The closest thing to a weakness that anyone admitted came from an unlikely source: Trump. “I’m too trusting,” Trump said. “And if they let me down, when they let me down, I never forgive.” 
 
 Earlier on Wednesday, four low-performing Republican candidates faced off in another dinnertime “undercard” debate. The dominant figures in that debate were Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), the jokester; Lousiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, the hard-right conservative; and a large and growing cast of CNBC moderators, who at times seemed loathe to let the actual candidates speak. 
 
 Graham – showing his trademark combination of humor and deadly seriousness – closed out the earlier debate by mocking Donald Trump, and then swinging to an emotional plea that American make him commander in chief. 
 
 Graham (S.C.) joked that he’d heard – or maybe read it on a hat – that somebody wanted to “Make America Great Again.” That was a jab at Trump, who had made the slogan -- and the hats that bear it -- famous this year. Then Graham turned to his own message. 
 
 “America is great. I intend to make America strong again,” he said, pledging to help the middle class, and to back American troops, even as he sent them into a new land war in Syria. 
 
 “They have had our back. God knows, they have had our back. And I intend to have their back…Make me commander in chief.” 
 
 [Transcript: CNBC undercard GOP debate] 
 
 Jindal, formerly known as a wonk-Republican, made an appeal to pugnacious hard-core conservatives and Christian right. In the course of the debate, Jindal derided Democrats as socialists, and Republicans in Washington as weak and too quick to surrender. 
 
 Jindal ended the first debate with an appeal for Americans to think of their country in Christian terms: with faith that a frightening situation could be saved. 
 
 “The idea of America is slipping away. As Christians, we believe that the tomb is empty. As Americans we believe that our best days are ahead of us,” Jindal said, meaning the tomb of Jesus Christ, which Christians believe was found empty because Christ had been resurrected after death. “We can save the idea of America,” Jindal said. “Before it’s too late.” 
 
 Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum sought to play the role of a business-focused realist: asked about the Export-Import Bank, a conservative bogeyman, Santorum defended the institution as a crucial aid to U.S. manufacturing. Without it, he said, other countries would use similar state-sponsored institutions to give their own industries a leg up over American firms. “In order to have a level playing field which is what conservatives talk about all the time, then we have to have export financing,” Santorum said. 
 
 At one point, Graham launched into a diatribe about the state of the Republican Party, complaining that other candidates were making unrealistic promises – and that the GOP nominee might lose to a weak Democrat in 2016. 
 
 “At the end of the day folks, I am trying to solve a problem and win an election. I am tired of losing!” Graham shouted, as moderators tried to quiet him. He complained that the Democratic front-runner, Hillary Rodham Clinton, had made misleading claims that she’d been flat broke” after leaving the White House, and about Sen. Bernie Sanders’s long ties to socialism. “The number two guy [in the Democratic race] went to the Soviet Union and I don’t think he came back. If we can’t beat these people, then who in the hell are we going to beat!” 
 
 Graham’s speech may have been the emotional high point of a rather sleepy undercard, in which four long shots debated soberly about their tax plans. Jindal had touted his plan to make poor people a 2 percent federal income tax, a change from the present system where 45 percent of Americans pay no federal income tax. Former New York governor George Pataki said his plan was better than Jindal’s tax plan because he had the political skills to get it passed. 
 
 At one point, Pataki talked over another candidate in order to condemn Washington politicians for…interrupting. 
 
 “In Washington, they talk over each other!” he said, while talking over Graham. “I’m not used to that. I listen when people talk.” 
 
 Jenna Johnson, in Sioux City, Iowa, and David Weigel, in Boulder, Colo., contributed to this report. ||||| Image copyright Reuters 
 
 So this is what a Republican debate would have looked like in an alternate universe, where Donald Trump was still a reality show celebrity and a failed steak salesman. 
 
 With a few notable exceptions, all the candidates kept their balance and stayed on their talking points. It's as if the unconventional Trump's absence from the hall made everyone a bit more restrained and, well, political. 
 
 But this was still a debate, and every debate has winners and loser, so here they are. 
 
 Winners 
 
 Jeb Bush 
 
 Image copyright AFP 
 
 Hello there, stranger, where have you been for the last 12 months? The former Florida governor is still not the most skilful debater, but without Trump around to constantly kick proverbial dirt in his eyes, he gave his best performance of the campaign. He practically admitted as much when he sarcastically noted that Trump was "a little teddy bear to me" and they "had such a loving relationship". 
 
 Best moment: When asked about a "culture of hatred" directed toward Muslims, he said: "We're never going to win elections unless we have a broader, unifying message". This was big-tent Bush, the kind of campaign he said he wanted to run but hasn't been able to. 
 
 Biggest stumble: It's perhaps telling that his worst moment was still pretty good. During the debate's biggest conflict, over immigration reform, he stood by his position on giving undocumented migrants a pathway to permanent residency. That probably won't help him with rank-and-file Republicans, but disavowing his previous stance wouldn't have either. 
 
 Chris Christie 
 
 Image copyright AFP 
 
 Since being temporarily relegated to the undercard debate, the New Jersey governor has managed to string together several strong debate performances. He's a winner because, like Bush, he was best able to shine in Trump's absence. His forcefulness, whether talking about Hillary Clinton or national security, comes across in much sharper contrast when the New York billionaire isn't there to steal his thunder. 
 
 Best moment: The immigration portion of the debate was pivotal for many of the candidates, and it was tailor-made for Christie to contrast his executive experience as governor. After Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz struggled to explain their sometimes contradictory records on the issue in the Senate, Christie pounced: "I feel like I need a Washington to English converter" to understand Rubio and Cruz. He added that governors can't hide behind "parliamentary tricks". 
 
 Biggest stumble: Christie was asked about the Bridgegate scandal and, despite it hanging over his head all campaign, he simply doesn't have a convincing answer. His offering, "I knew nothing", is not what you want to hear from a man who brags about being a take-charge leader. 
 
 Donald Trump 
 
 Image copyright Getty Images 
 
 If Trump loses the Iowa caucuses, his decision to skip this debate will likely be labelled a mistake. At least for now, however, it looks like he made it through the evening unscathed. Save for a few gentle jabs, he largely avoided attacks from the debaters and dodged the sharp questions from moderators that bedevilled other candidates. 
 
 Cruz and Rubio faced video clips of their past conflicting statements on immigration reform - and surely Fox had one ready to roll for Trump, as well. Instead, the New Yorker got to hold court at his own rally, carried live by other news networks, and was even joined on stage by fellow candidates Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum. 
 
 Treading water 
 
 Marco Rubio 
 
 Image copyright Getty Images 
 
 The Florida senator is never going to have a bad debate - he's just too polished for that. This was Rubio's weakest performance, however. He got bogged down with the immigration question, and his back-and-forth with Cruz on national defence was awkwardly sidetracked when he mentioned he had once accidentally mispronounced Dabiq (the propaganda magazine of the so-called Islamic State group) in Syria as Dubuque, a town in Iowa. 
 
 Best moment: Rubio scored his best line when, after a Cruz joke about leaving the debate if he kept being attacked fell flat, he quipped: "I'm not leaving this stage, no matter what you ask me." 
 
 Biggest stumble: Rubio was damaged the most by, of all people, Bush - the man who so feebly attacked him in an earlier debate. After Rubio tried to explain his past support for immigration reform, Bush went for the kill: "He cut and run because it wasn't popular amongst conservatives, I guess." Bush then contrasted Rubio's dissembling with his own willingness to stick with his principles. If Bush is going down based on his immigration position, he seems eager to pull Rubio into the abyss with him. 
 
 John Kasich 
 
 Image copyright Getty Images 
 
 Kasich didn't have a bad debate, but he was once again largely absent from the evening's biggest moments. As a current governor and former leader in Congress, he has a firm grasp of policy details, and it shows. If he's going to make a move in the next few weeks, however, there are a lot of bodies he'll have to climb over. He seems to have made the decision over the course of the past few debates that, win or lose, he's just not going to do that. 
 
 Best moment: Kasich was once again asked about his support for expanding federal Medicaid coverage for the poor in his state, an issue that is anathema to much of the conservative base. He turned it into a defence of his state's treatment of drug addicts and the mentally ill. "When I study scripture," he said, "I know that people who live in the shadows need to have a chance." 
 
 Biggest stumble: The one time Kasich was really forceful was when he got into a spat with moderators Chris Wallace and Megyn Kelly. After several unsuccessful attempts to keep talking through their efforts to change the topic, he finally relented. "I've always listened to you, Megyn. Go ahead." 
 
 Rand Paul 
 
 Image copyright Getty Images 
 
 The Kentucky senator nearly merits being put in the winning column just because, after missing out on the prime-time debate earlier this month, his poll numbers got him back on the main stage. But, like Kasich, he simply lacked a breakthrough moment for a campaign that desperately needs one. He mixed it up with both Cruz and Rubio at times, but he failed to make any of his attacks stick - and it's unclear who he most needs to take down in order to succeed at this point. 
 
 Best moment: Paul finally had the opportunity to talk about criminal justice reform, an issue near to his heart. "The war on drugs has disproportionately affected our African-American community, and what we need to do is make sure that the war on drugs is equal protection under the law and that we don't unfairly incarcerate another generation of young African-American males," he said. It was a glimpse of the Rand Paul that many thought would flourish this campaign but has largely been absent. 
 
 Biggest stumble: Paul was asked about President Bill Clinton's past infidelities. He said that if a head of corporation had behaved similarly, he would have been fired, never again hired and "shunned in their community". A fact check would likely render that view false. 
 
 Losers 
 
 Ted Cruz 
 
 Image copyright AFP 
 
 The Texas senator is touted as a championship-calibre debater, but he seemed off-balance almost the entire evening. He spent too much time complaining to the moderators about the tenor of their questioning and many of his planned one-liners were clunkers. Expectations were high for Cruz to dominate the proceedings without Trump on the stage, but it almost seemed as though he were lost without the man he's sparred with for the past few weeks. 
 
 Best moment: Cruz is against corn ethanol subsidies, which is a very unpopular position to have when you're vying for a win in the Iowa caucuses. Not surprisingly, he was asked about his stance, and he turned it into a defence of his tax plan. "I don't believe that Washington should be picking winners and losers," he said. "And, I think there should be no mandates, and no subsidies whatsoever." It may lose him votes in Iowa, but after being criticised by Paul earlier in the debate for his preference for political expediency, it was a principled stand. 
 
 Biggest stumble: Cruz complained when he wasn't given a chance to respond after being mentioned in one of Wallace's questions. "You don't get 30 seconds to respond to me," Wallace snapped. "Sir, I know you like to argue about the rules, but we're going to conduct a debate." And so it was that the sharpest burn of the night didn't come from a candidate. 
 
 Ben Carson 
 
 Image copyright AFP 
 
 It's hard to label Ben Carson a loser. At this point, he's a category unto himself. He referred to Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "one-horse country" and seemed surprised when he was asked about immigration. "Oh, great," he said to audience laughter. He ended the debate by reciting the preamble to the US Constitution, but messed up a word. He disappeared for vast stretches, and while in the past he's seemed to rise in the polls despite performances like this, he's now settled toward the bottom of the pack. 
 
 Best moment: "You're not going to hear a lot of polished political speech from me," he said in his opening remarks. Truer words have never been spoken. 
 
 Biggest stumble: Everything after that. ||||| Republican presidential candidates argued over lack of experience, waterboarding and even the Super Bowl at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., three days before the New Hampshire primary. Here are the key moments in less than three minutes. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) 
 
 Republican presidential candidates argued over lack of experience, waterboarding and even the Super Bowl at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., three days before the New Hampshire primary. Here are the key moments in less than three minutes. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) 
 
 It was a tough night for front-runners in New Hampshire and a good night for governors. 
 
 Marco Rubio hit a wall named Chris Christie. Donald Trump couldn’t put down an aggressive Jeb Bush. And Ted Cruz had to issue a public apology to Ben Carson. 
 
 Christie was the relentless prosecutor. Bush was knowledgeable and, in contrast to some earlier performances, tough and direct. Ohio Gov. John Kasich carved out space as a candidate ready and willing to work across party lines. 
 
 Given the timing and the state of the Republican nomination contest, few debates have had the potential to shape the order of finish in a primary campaign more than Saturday night’s forum at Saint Anselm College. Trump holds a big lead. But the competition underneath him is fierce, and the outcome Tuesday likely to be consequential. Those with the most to lose were the ones who tried to make the most out of their time on stage. 
 
 No one had a rockier night than Rubio, the senator from Florida whose strong third-place finish in Iowa made him the candidate on the rise in the Republican presidential race. But under a blistering attack from Christie, who characterized him as a politician with no notable accomplishments who had run away from the immigration reform bill he had co-sponsored, Rubio faltered. 
 
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 Rubio knew the attacks were coming, but instead of answering them directly, he sought to change the subject. Once, twice, three times he offered a quick counterpunch and then slid off the criticisms to turn to an attack on President Obama, repeating his language almost word for word and drawing boos from the audience. 
 
 When he accused Christie of having to be shamed into going back to New Jersey to deal with the recent snowstorm, Christie came roaring back. “That’s what Washington, D.C., does,” Christie said. “The drive-by shot at the beginning with incorrect and incomplete information and then the memorized 25-second speech that is exactly what his advisers gave him.” 
 
 What was most striking was the fact that Rubio played directly into the criticism that, while he is a gifted and natural communicator, he is overly scripted and returns to his standard stump speech as quickly as he can. 
 
 The strategy has worked for him in past debates, but repetition got the better of him on Saturday. Rubio wanted to debate Obama and Hillary Clinton, warning time and again that the president has deliberately led the country in the wrong direction and that Clinton would extend those policies. Those kinds of attacks bring cheers at his campaign rallies but were far less effective during Saturday’s debate. 
 
 In the later stages of the debate, Rubio seemed to regain his footing both on foreign policy and on a question about abortion in which he talked about the balance between a woman’s right to make her own decisions and the right of an unborn child to live. 
 
 Even when Bush drew a distinction with Rubio over whether there should be exceptions for rape, incest and life of the woman, which Bush favors, Rubio said he would sign a bill as president that included those exceptions but that he still stood by his personal convictions. Rubio said he would rather lose an election than be wrong on the issue. 
 
 Trump struggled when the subject of eminent domain, a hot-button issue for many conservatives who dislike government, was introduced. The billionaire builder initially offered a ringing defense of the practice of government taking private property for such projects as roads and bridges. 
 
 The candidate introductions at the ABC News GOP debate in New Hampshire did not go smoothly. (Phoebe Connelly,Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post) 
 
 Bush countered, initially agreeing that eminent domain is necessary for the public good but then attacking Trump for attempting to use the practice to take property from an elderly woman in Atlantic City, N.J., for the purpose of a parking lot for one of his casinos. 
 
 Trump reverted to attacks he has long leveled at Bush — that he lacks strength or energy. “He wants to be a tough guy,” Trump said dismissively. 
 
 But Bush came right back at him: “How tough is it to take away a property from an elderly woman?” he said sarcastically. 
 
 When Trump told Bush to keep quiet, the audience let out another round of boos, to which Trump said, “That’s all his donors and special interests.” 
 
 Cruz, who won the Iowa caucuses, had two difficult moments at the start of the evening. The first came over criticism Cruz leveled at Trump earlier in the week, saying, “I don’t know anyone who would be comfortable with someone who behaves this way having his finger on the button.” 
 
 Trump was given the first word and defended himself. He reminded everyone that he had opposed the war in Iraq, adding, “I’m not the one with the trigger.” 
 
 “Other people up here, believe me, would be a lot faster,” he said. 
 
 When Cruz was asked to explain why he thought Trump lacked the temperament to be president, he ducked. “The assessment the voters are making here in New Hampshire and across the country is they are evaluating each and every one of us,” he said. 
 
 Reminded by ABC News anchor David Muir that he had not explained why he had made the earlier comment, Cruz ducked again. 
 
 Trump responded: “He didn’t answer your question. And that’s what’s going to happen with our enemies and the people we compete against. . . . People back down with Trump. And that’s what I like, and that’s what the country is going to like.” 
 
 That didn’t end the early hazing for Cruz. He was asked why his advisers had called Iowa volunteers on the night of the caucuses to say that Carson might be quitting the race and to encourage voters to back the senator from Texas. 
 
 Cruz blamed the problem on what he said was a misleading news report on CNN that he said was not corrected for several hours. But he also apologized to Carson and said he had done so the day after the caucuses. 
 
 Carson, in his typically quiet way, accepted the apology but not the explanation. “In fact, the timeline indicates that initial tweet from CNN was followed by another one within one minute that clarified that I was not dropping out,” he said. 
 
 More than in other previous debates, this one turned into governors against the others. The three share common experiences, and when they talk about one another, it’s clear there is mutual respect, though they are in a battle in which they cannot all survive. And whether by design or accident, the three seemed to reinforce one another in taking down the candidates who finished first, second and third in Iowa. 
 
 Christie delivered one of the strongest performances of the campaign, clearly determined to knock down Rubio, whom he described this past week as “a boy in the bubble.” Fighting for his political life, he was merciless in attacking Rubio for lacking the courage to fight for the immigration reform legislation that passed the Senate but faltered in the House. 
 
 Rubio countered by attacking Christie’s record in New Jersey, noting that the state has gone through repeated credit downgrades during his two terms. The audience seemed to side with Christie. Whether voters will do the same is the test for the next three days. 
 
 Kasich was the happy warrior, a governor who stressed jobs, the economy and dealing realistically with issues, not on the basis of pure ideology. Bush has tried for many months to make his record in Florida the centerpiece of his candidacy. Only now in these closing days has he appeared more comfortable as a candidate. 
 
 Saturday’s debate here offered a last opportunity for candidates to make a persuasive argument before a primary election likely to winnow the field of realistic hopefuls to four at most. 
 
 The New Hampshire electorate is famously fickle for upending front-runners and defying conventional wisdom and turning its back on winners in Iowa. A more charitable description is that this is a state where voters keep their options open as long as possible. 
 
 While it’s true that many voters have been locked in for weeks or months, a sizable number are spending these last few days shopping and pondering. They are at every rally on this final weekend, looking for that connection that tips them firmly in one direction or another. 
 
 That makes pollsters nervous and campaigns hopeful. The candidates know lightning can strike, and they grasp for every sign that it is happening to them. In the days after Iowa, there has been some movement in the polls but nothing definitive yet. 
 
 What makes this year’s GOP primary distinctive from past campaigns is the number of candidates on this final weekend who still think they have a chance to move on to succeeding rounds of primaries and caucuses. Saturday’s debate underscored both the sense of possibility and the sense of urgency that surrounds the last days of campaigning here. ||||| The second Republican debate on Wednesday night was a marathon, running for three hours at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif. Who crossed the line strong and who stumbled along the way? 
 
 WINNERS 
 
 Carly Fiorina 
 
 Fiorina seized her big moment, having moved up from the “B-team” forum to which she was confined at the first debate in Cleveland last month. If expectations were high for Fiorina, she surpassed them with an engaged, passionate performance. A forceful denunciation of Planned Parenthood might have been her standout moment in terms of connecting with the Republican electorate at an emotional level. But she also scored highly throughout, in moments as diverse as discussing foreign policy on one hand and mixing it up with Donald Trump on the other. 
 
 Marco Rubio 
 
 Rubio had a strong night, especially on foreign policy, where he showed real depth. He also more than once laid out positions that were somewhat similar to those of his mentor, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, but were delivered with much greater crispness. For example, after Bush meandered through a defense of speaking Spanish on the campaign trail, Rubio argued that it was important for Spanish-speaking voters to hear conservative arguments “directly from me, not from a translator at Univision.” Rubio’s performance at the first debate was also well-received yet made little difference to his polling numbers. Could he get a bump this time? 
 
 Chris Christie 
 
 For all the negative attention Christie has received recently, he has considerable political skills, not least that he is a formidable debater. His best moment came during an exchange between Fiorina and Trump about their respective business careers. The New Jersey governor, forceful as ever, insisted that “for the 55-year-old construction worker out in that audience tonight who doesn't have a job, who can't fund his child's education, I've got to tell you the truth: They could care less about your careers.” No-one knows whether Christie’s performance will change his fortunes with GOP voters who have proven impervious to his charms so far. But he had a good night by any measure. 
 
 Ben Carson 
 
 Carson went into the debate as the closest challenger to Trump in the polls, with the GOP electorate warming up to his low-key, affable style. Carson did not deviate from that path on Wednesday. He didn’t have any single great moment, but it was a proficient performance. And Carson did show that, despite his laid-back style, he can be quick on his feet. After Trump expressed skepticism about vaccines, a smiling Carson shot back, “He’s an OK doctor” — a phrase Trump had used only days before about Carson, an acclaimed former neurosurgeon. 
 
 Ted Cruz 
 
 Cruz appealed to the party faithful on Wednesday with a robust defense of the right to bear arms and a vigorous condemnation of the Iran nuclear deal, among other matters. Cruz also showed that he has as strong a command of TV debating technique as anyone in the field — including looking directly into the camera rather than at audience members. It remains unclear if he can expand his support beyond the most conservative reaches of the GOP, but he had a good night. 
 
 Donald Trump 
 
 Trump was nowhere near as dominant a presence as he was at the first debate, in part because he came under much more sustained attack from his rivals. Trump had some unsteady moments, including one instance when he appeared to suggest he would get himself better informed about threats facing the United States between now and potentially assuming the presidency. He also slid away from his recent personal criticisms of Fiorina by insisting that “she has a beautiful face” — hardly a remark that would win over his own detractors. But he was, on balance, a winner for two reasons. Firstly, for all the punches thrown at him, none put him on the canvas. Secondly, he again got under the skin of Jeb Bush, likely deepening the troubles for the favorite candidate of the GOP establishment. 
 
 MIXED 
 
 John Kasich 
 
 The Ohio governor has been trying to overtake Bush as the establishment choice, and he seemed to be trying to present himself as an electable grown-up. He had his moments but, as one of the lesser-known candidates nationwide, he needs to make a significant impact every time he is in front of a big national audience. He didn’t appear to do so on Wednesday evening. 
 
 Mike Huckabee 
 
 Huckabee has a very different ideological appeal to Kasich, but there are some stylistic similarities: They are both somewhat folksy politicians who can be very effective communicators. But Huckabee suffered from a similar problem to Kasich: Although he had some strong moments — the Kim Davis controversy is almost tailor-made for him — it seems unlikely that he attained any real breakthrough. 
 
 LOSERS 
 
 Scott Walker 
 
 The Wisconsin governor has been falling precipitously in the polls, in part because his performance at the first debate was widely seen as lacking fire and charisma. Walker came out of the gate impressively on Wednesday night with a jab at Trump — “We don’t need an apprentice in the White House” — but he mostly faded after that. His showing wasn’t as bad as it was in Cleveland, but he did nothing that looked likely to turn around his ailing fortunes. 
 
 Rand Paul 
 
 Paul was put on his heels at the start of the night when Trump mocked him for, allegedly, not deserving to be on the stage at all. To be fair to Paul, his performance was not objectively bad. It just did nothing to change the minds of a Republican electorate that seems strongly disinclined to back him. 
 
 Jeb Bush 
 
 The consensus going into Wednesday night’s debate was that Bush needed an animated, commanding performance to erase memories of his hesitant showing in Cleveland. Instead, he delivered more of the same. His remarks on Supreme Court Justice John Roberts, in particular, seemed confused and contradictory. A defensiveness also crept into responses over his brother’s record. And while Bush tried to challenge Trump more assertively than in the first debate, the businessman got the better of most of their exchanges. Bush’s performance, taken in isolation, was not the worst on the stage. But it was far below what might be expected from a man who was the clear GOP front-runner not so long ago. ||||| Republican presidential candidates gathered Feb. 6 at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. for their final debate before the New Hampshire primary. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) accused Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) of lacking experience. (ABC News) 
 
 Republican presidential candidates gathered Feb. 6 at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. for their final debate before the New Hampshire primary. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) accused Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) of lacking experience. (ABC News) 
 
 Repeated attacks by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie left Sen. Marco Rubio rattled and repeating himself on Saturday night, in the last GOP debate before the crucial New Hampshire primary. 
 
 Christie, who has been running far behind Rubio in the New Hampshire polls, criticized Rubio (Fla.) for a lack of accomplishments in the Senate, and then for using canned replies. Rubio replied with...a canned reply, and another. Rubio, who had seemed confidently on the rise here, had his worst moment of any debate. 
 
 Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas), the winner of the Iowa caucuses on Monday, cast himself as a conservative stalwart. But he was dogged by criticism by retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who said Cruz had spread false rumors to steal some of Carson’s voters in Iowa. 
 
 “I campaigned in Iowa foursquare against the ethanol mandate,” Cruz said in his closing statement, describing a stand unpopular with Iowa’s political establishment. “I will always stand with the American people against the bipartisan corruption of Washington.” 
 
 “That’s because he got Ben Carson’s votes, by the way,” said billionaire candidate Donald Trump. 
 
 The candidate introductions at the ABC News GOP debate in New Hampshire did not go smoothly. (Phoebe Connelly,Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post) 
 
 The debate also gave another low-polling candidate -- former Florida governor Jeb Bush -- a chance to take on his nemesis, Trump. Bush criticized Trump for his use of eminent domain in Atlantic City, where Trump sought to seize a woman’s house to build a casino parking lot. Trump responded by shushing Bush, which led to boos from the debate audience, which in turn led to Trump denouncing the audience itself. 
 
 [The Fix: Winners and losers from tonight’s Republican debate] 
 
 The question now is whether the debate was enough to knock Rubio out of his commmanding position among the “establishment” candidates in this race --- or to lift Christie or Bush out of the lower tier. Only three days remain before the primary, where a bad loss could be fatal to Christie’s candidacy. 
 
 Along the way, a number of candidates endorsed a return to a policy of the George W. Bush administration -- the use of “waterboarding,” or simulated drowning, on terrorism suspects. Later, there was another moment of real change: several candidates endorsed requiring women to sign up for the Selective Service, to be eligible for the military draft. 
 
 “I would bring back waterboarding, and I’d bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding,” said Trump, speaking of the “enhanced interrogation technique” that simulates drowning. 
 
 President Obama banned waterboarding, which had been used by the CIA under the Bush administration. 
 
 In the same exchange, Cruz also said he would be open to waterboarding in emergency situations, such as to stop an imminent terrorist attack. Rubio also approved of it, saying that “anti-terrorism” situations should be handled differently than “law enforcement,” and could follow different rules. 
 
 1 of 21 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × What it looks like on the ground in New Hampshire leading up to the primary View Photos Following the Iowa caucuses, the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates flocked to New Hampshire in the run-up to the first-in-the-nation primary on Tuesday. Caption Following the Iowa caucuses, the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates flocked to New Hampshire in the run-up to the first-in-the-nation primary on Tuesday. Feb. 6, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks at a campaign rally in Rindge. Charles Ommanney/The Washington Post Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. 
 
 Rubio embraced another Bush administration idea: opening the detention center used to house suspected foreign fighters at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Obama has said he wants to close the center. “We should be putting people into Guantanamo, not emptying it out,” Rubio said. 
 
 The main voice against waterboarding was George W. Bush’s brother Jeb, the former Florida governor. Jeb Bush said that waterboarding had been banned. “I think where we stand is the appropriate place,” Jeb Bush said. 
 
 Cruz also defended his plan to use “carpet bombing” on the Islamic State -- but seemed to offer an unconventional definition of what “carpet bombing” means. 
 
 “When I say saturation, carpet bombing, that is not indiscriminate,” Cruz said. He described the kinds of strikes his carpet bombs would strike: Islamic State buildings, supply lines, and other relatively small targets. Typically, “carpet bombing” is a term for an intense bombardment of a large area, covering every piece of it like a carpet covers a floor. Strikes against individual buildings and convoys are not typically referred to in this way. 
 
 Cruz said that his philosophy for the Islamic State was simple: “Kill the enemy, and then get the heck out. Don’t engage in nation-building.” 
 
 After Cruz spoke, Trump discussed his own strategy for the Islamic State, which was to bomb the group’s oilfields -- which experts say is possible -- and then to “steal” the group’s oil, which they say is effectively impossible. 
 
 Asked about rising concern about heroin addiction in New Hampshire and elsewhere, Cruz told the story of his half-sister Miriam’s descent into drug addiction, describing how he had tried -- but failed -- to help her recover before she died of an overdose. 
 
 “This is an absolute epidemic. We need leadership to solve it,” Cruz said. 
 
 Cruz said that he and his father Rafael had rescued his sister from a crack house, and that Cruz himself had taken out a loan to send her sixth-grade son to military school. Eventually, however, his sister was found dead by her son. 
 
 “I still remember my father and me driving up to get Miriam out of that crack house to try to convince her she needed to be a mom to -- to my nephew Joey,” Cruz said. “She wasn’t willing to listen. She was not willing to change the path she was on.” 
 
 Cruz has told the story on the campaign trail in New Hampshire, where drugs -- particularly heroin -- have ravaged the state. The entire GOP seems to be shifting on the subject: earlier in the same exchange, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had explained how his state had begun sending first-time drug offenders to treatment instead of jail. 
 
 Cruz’s story ended with a segue to a more conventional Republican subject: the need to secure the U.S. border with Mexico. 
 
 Earlier, Trump was booed repeatedly by the crowd at the debate, after Trump tried to shush former Bush during an exchange about Trump’s attempted use of eminent domain to seize a woman’s house in Atlantic City. 
 
 “To turn this into a limousine parking lot for his casinos, is not a public use,” said Bush, who has clashed repeatedly with the bombastic Trump in past debates. 
 
 “He wants to be a tough guy,” Trump said, returning to the line of attack he’d used in the past, casting Bush as a “low-energy” pushover. 
 
 “How tough is it to take property from an elderly woman?” Bush said, as the two tried to talk over each other. 
 
 “Lemme talk. Quiet,” Trump said. 
 
 The crowd booed. 
 
 Trump responded by telling the television audience that the crowd in the arena, at St. Anselm’s College, was full of donors who were unhappy that Trump wouldn’t take their donations. 
 
 The crowd -- now personally insulted -- booed again. 
 
 “We have all donors in the audience!” Trump said. “And the reason they're booing me…I don’t want their money!” 
 
 The boos went on. It was Trump’s roughest moment in a debate so far, on a night when lower tier candidates like Bush and Christie -- who both need a good showing in New Hampshire to rescue their candidacies -- aggressively took on the front-runners. 
 
 Christie attacked Rubio repeatedly in the debate, the last before the New Hampshire primary, accusing Rubio of dodging questions from moderators and running away from his own immigration legislation. 
 
 Christie, who had earlier savaged Rubio over Rubio’s experience in Congress, pounced after Rubio said he would no longer support the bill he had worked to pass. 
 
 “The question was, did he fight for his legislation? It’s abundantly clear that he didn’t. It’s abundantly clear that he didn’t fight for his legislation,” Christie said. “That’s not what leadership is. That’s what Congress is.” 
 
 Christie and Rubio are fighting for the support of establishment voters and donors -- in essence, vying to be the establishment’s champions against Trump and conservative firebrand Cruz. Going into the debate, Rubio was far ahead of Christie -- and running on a message of above-the-fray optimism. Christie seemed determined to bring the fray to him. 
 
 [Watch: Christie and Rubio’s fiery fight at New Hampshire debate] 
 
 Earlier in the same section of questions, Cruz was asked about his plans to reduce illegal immigration. 
 
 “We’re gonna build a wall,” Cruz said. Next to him, Trump -- who famously called for a wall on the southern border -- smirked and gestured, leading the audience to laugh. Cruz continued: “I’ve got somebody in mind to build it,” meaning Trump. 
 
 Earlier, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson criticized Cruz for showing “Washington ethics,” after the Cruz campaign spread false reports that Carson was dropping out on the night of the Iowa caucuses. 
 
 “What does that tell you? Unfortunately, that did happen. It gives you a very good example of certain types of Washington ethics,” Carson said. “Washington ethics basically says, if it’s legal, you do what you need to do to win.” 
 
 Cruz responded by apologizing to Carson: “Ben, I’m sorry.” 
 
 That was followed by the first sharp exchange between Christie and Rubio, in which Christie raised questions about Rubio’s experience, as a first-term senator. “You have not been involved in a consequential decision, where you had to be held accountable. You just simply haven’t,” Christie began, comparing Rubio unfavorably to President Obama, who was a first-term senator when he was elected. 
 
 Rubio responded by turning to a criticism of Obama, and away from his own experience in the Senate. 
 
 Christie mocked him for turning to a memorized speech. “When you’re governor of the speech, the memorized 30-second speech where you tall about how great America is, doesn’t help one person,” Christie said. 
 
 Rubio responded by saying that Christie had been unwilling to return to New Jersey during a recent snowstorm. “They had to shame you into going back,” 
 
 After another back-and-forth, Rubio launched into a repeat of his speech from before, about Obama’s failings. 
 
 “There it is,” Christie said. “The speech again.” 
 
 The debate turned strange even before it began, with candidates and moderators somehow managing to botch the process of walking in. 
 
 The problems began with Carson, who was introduced by the moderators, but then did not walk in as other candidates had. Carson waited, even as other candidates passed him and a stagehand waved at him to go on. Then billionaire candidate Donald Trump emerged out of turn, and stood stone-faced near Carson. 
 
 That left Bush to walk around them, tapping Trump -- his debate archenemy-- lightly on the arm. 
 
 The debate’s moderators were then flummoxed enough to forget the last candidate on the stage. “Forgot Kasich!” a voice was heard to say. Only then did moderator David Muir introduce the Ohio governor, John Kasich, who walked out last. 
 
 Once the debate began, Cruz declined to repeat an allegation that Trump lacked the temperament to be president. “I think that is an assessment the voters are going to make,” Cruz said. 
 
 Saturday’s debate, which began about 8:15 p.m. Eastern time on ABC, follows Trump’s surprise loss on Monday in the Iowa caucuses. Trump, who skipped the last debate before the Iowa caucuses because of a feud with Fox News, is still ahead in New Hampshire polls. 
 
 “So many things to say, so much at stake,” Trump tweeted Friday. He didn’t make it to New Hampshire to campaign on Friday, as planned, because of a snowstorm. “It will be an incredible evening!” ||||| Republican presidential candidate, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie thanks supporters during a primary night rally in Nashua, N.H., Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) (Associated Press) 
 
 Republican presidential candidate, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie thanks supporters during a primary night rally in Nashua, N.H., Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) (Associated Press) 
 
 COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Here's the latest on the 2016 presidential race as Republican and Democratic candidates head from New Hampshire to South Carolina and beyond. All times local: 
 
 10:47 a.m. 
 
 Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has finished third in the New Hampshire primary behind winner Donald Trump and runner-up John Kasich. 
 
 Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush finished in fourth place, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio finished behind him in fifth. 
 
 Trump led the field, beating Kasich, the sitting Ohio governor, by nearly 20 points. 
 
 Cruz came in third, leading Bush by less than a percentage point. Rubio trailed Bush by less than a percentage point. 
 
 ___ 
 
 10:00 a.m. 
 
 Jeb Bush's campaign is unveiling a radio ad Wednesday in South Carolina featuring Jeb Bush's famous presidential brother, George W. Bush. 
 
 The former president says "There's no doubt in my mind that Jeb Bush will be a great commander-in-chief for our military." 
 
 George W. Bush has been enlisted to campaign for his brother in South Carolina, where Jeb Bush is making eight campaign stops in the state over the next three days following a fourth-place finish in New Hampshire. 
 
 The 60-second ad, "Steady Hand, will air throughout the state. 
 
 ___ 
 
 8:55 a.m. 
 
 Score one for optimism. 
 
 Florida Sen. Marco Rubio says his underwhelming debate performance and low finish in the New Hampshire primary won't stop him from winning the Republican presidential nomination. 
 
 He says on NBC's "Today" that he is "going to be the nominee. It is just going to take a little longer, but we are going to get there." 
 
 Rubio was hammered by his rivals, especially New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, in last week's debate for being repetitive and scripted. Rubio went from a third place showing in Iowa to fifth place in New Hampshire with 10.5 percent. 
 
 ___ 
 
 8:28 a.m. 
 
 Donald Trump says he will release his tax returns "over the next few months," attributing the delay to the size and complex nature of his taxes. 
 
 The billionaire businessman, who is coming off of a major win in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, tells NBC'S "Today" that he thinks people will be surprised "at how little I pay." 
 
 He says, "I hate the way the government spends my money." 
 
 Trump says he is hoping to become more of a statesman, but notes that he sees nothing wrong with using foul language at his campaign rallies. 
 
 "Political correctness is killing us," he says. "It wasn't the worst thing in the world." 
 
 ___ 
 
 8:20 a.m. 
 
 Ohio Gov. John Kasich says he will not sit back and "be a marshmallow" and allow his Republican presidential rivals to attack him. 
 
 But speaking to NBC's "Today" Wednesday, Kasich said he will not allow the negative nature of the campaign to overshadow his positive message. Instead, he says he'll let his record speak for itself. 
 
 Kasich won second place in Tuesday's New Hampshire's primary, breaking out from a pack of traditional, establishment candidates. Kasich has refrained from engaging in many of the sharp attacks that have dominated much of the discourse between his competitors. 
 
 ___ 
 
 8:08 a.m. 
 
 Donald Trump says he talked with Chris Christie a "little bit" about the New Jersey governor dropping out of the race for the GOP presidential nomination. 
 
 Trump says on "CBS This Morning" that he and Christie spoke after the New Hampshire primary Tuesday, in which Trump won a big victory and Christie fared poorly. Seeking endorsements from any rivals that quit the race, Trump said of Christie, "He's a friend of mine. I'm surprised he didn't do better." 
 
 He adds: "I'd like to see a lot of people drop out." 
 
 Christie has cancelled an event Wednesday in South Carolina, an organizer says. 
 
 ___ 
 
 7:56 a.m. 
 
 New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has cancelled an event in South Carolina on the heels of his disappointing finish in the New Hampshire GOP primary. 
 
 Brielle Applebaum of the Conservative Leadership Project says a Wednesday forum on legal and constitutional issues set for Charleston has been cancelled. South Carolina is next up on the GOP primary calendar and votes Feb. 20. 
 
 Christie told a crowd of supporters in New Hampshire on Tuesday night that he was headed home to New Jersey to "take a deep breath" and assess what comes next. On MSNBC Wednesday morning, first-place New Hampshire finisher Donald Trump said he had a "long talk" with Christie Tuesday night but did not go into detail about what was said.
– The Republicans wrapped up their last debate before New Hampshire votes on Tuesday, a particularly feisty affair in which Marco Rubio took the biggest hits. One theme emerging is that it was a good night for governors but not for frontrunners: Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "Marco Rubio hit a wall named Chris Christie. Donald Trump couldn’t put down an aggressive Jeb Bush. And Ted Cruz had to issue a public apology to Ben Carson." On the flip side, "Christie was the relentless prosecutor. Bush was knowledgeable and, in contrast to some earlier performances, tough and direct. Ohio Gov. John Kasich carved out space as a candidate ready and willing to work across party lines." David Graham at the Atlantic has a similar take: "Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump all hit rough patches, while three often-overshadowed governors—Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, and John Kasich—delivered some of their strongest moments of the campaign so far." Christie hit Rubio the hardest, but Bush and Trump also took their shots at him. The New York Times focuses on the Rubio onslaught. The AP takes note of Cruz's "very human moment" in talking about his sister's fatal drug overdose. The New Hampshire audience didn't like Trump, and the feeling was mutual. The Hill recounts the booing. A CNN media writer says Cruz lied about the network's reporting. Politico rounds up the "most explosive moments." ABC News offers up the "best lines" of the night. Don't miss the disastrous introductions.