The fourth Republican presidential debate on Tuesday night was a less dramatic, more substantive affair than the previous three clashes of the 2016 cycle. Who shone and who wilted under the lights in Milwaukee? 
 
 WINNERS 
 
 Sens. Marco Rubio Marco Antonio RubioNauert faces questions about qualifications at UN The Memo: Trump puts isolationism at center stage Trump's military moves accelerate GOP search for next McCain MORE (Fla.) and Ted Cruz Rafael (Ted) Edward CruzWhat a year it’s been: A month-by-month look back at 2018's biggest stories O'Rourke rips Trump's border wall in video: 'A symbol of division' Bloomberg ready to spend at least 0M if he runs for White House in 2020 MORE (Texas) 
 
 On a night without a single standout moment, the polish and poise of the two senators were valuable assets. 
 
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 Rubio is probably the most charismatic figure in this year’s GOP field among those who hold public office. Some of his best moments Tuesday night were on very different topics, including college education and foreign policy. 
 
 In the debate’s closing stages, he displayed a light touch when moderator Maria Bartiromo delivered a lengthy and positive summary of Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonHillary Clinton says goodbye to 2018: 'A dark time for our country' 2019 forecast: Chaos with a chance of progress What a year it’s been: A month-by-month look back at 2018's biggest stories MORE’s resumé, to the consternation of the Republican crowd. Before going on to answer how someone with his relative lack of experience could compete with Clinton, Rubio merely laughed and said wryly that Bartiromo had asked a "great question." 
 
 Cruz had delivered an especially strong performance at the previous debate, in Boulder, Colo., on Oct 28, and he kept the momentum going here. His responses on entitlement reform and the need to avoid bailing out the financial system again were fluent and clear. 
 
 Cruz did have an uncharacteristic misstep when, having stated he would get rid of five government agencies, he in fact named only four. Cruz cited the Department of Commerce twice, but his stumble was immeasurably less damaging than then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s infamous “oops” moment, on the same subject, in 2012. 
 
 Sen. Rand Paul Randal (Rand) Howard PaulRand Paul's Festivus 'grievances' include comparing Lindsey Graham to Senator Palpatine Santorum: Trump base might not back Syria pullout Coons: Trump handing a ‘great big Christmas gift’ to Russia and Iran with Syria withdrawal MORE (Ky.) 
 
 Paul has seemed at best a marginal figure in previous debates, but he came alive in Milwaukee. He hit early on his distrust of the Federal Reserve, an article of faith for the libertarians who backed the presidential bids of his father, former Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas). 
 
 He also went after Rubio on the Floridian’s plans for an increased tax credit and then expanded that critique to attack his proposals to increase military spending as well. That clash had no clear winner, but Paul held his own. His strong performance will hardly transform him into a front-runner, but the improvement from his previous showings was notable nonetheless. 
 
 Fox Business Network 
 
 The debate hosts were always likely to avoid the fate of CNBC, which drew heavy criticism after the Colorado debate, with moderators accused of asking “gotcha” questions and adopting a generally querulous tone. By contrast, Tuesday’s debate was smoothly run and substantive, with the three moderators being neither spineless nor gratuitously rude. The ratings have yet to be revealed, but Fox Business will surely win critical praise for how it ran the show. 
 
 New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie 
 
 After Fox Business decided that only eight contenders would be present on the main stage Tuesday, Christie found himself confined to the undercard debate. If that hurt his pride, it didn’t show. The New Jersey governor was clearly the best performer of the four candidates in the earlier clash, the others being Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.). In particular, Christie turned Jindal’s attacks on his conservative credentials to his advantage, positioning himself as a would-be uniter of the party and Jindal as a petty divider. 
 
 MIXED 
 
 Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush 
 
 This was Bush’s best performance in any of the debates so far. Unfortunately for him, that’s a rather low bar. 
 
 He did get two effective lines in early, both of which alluded to Clinton. One mocked her sunny assessment of President Obama’s economic record. The other was his insistence that Clinton’s campaign would be “doing high-fives...right now” after listening to Donald Trump Donald John TrumpTrump: 'No choice' on continuing government shutdown Syrian troop withdraw will take four months: report Kim Jong Un: North Korea may 'seek a new path' if US doesn't negotiate MORE restate his hard line on illegal immigration. 
 
 But there were two big problems for Bush. His performance was marginal for much of the debate — 18 minutes passed at the start before he was asked a question, something he pointed out in a display of assertiveness not seen in the previous debates — and there was no outstanding moment that seemed likely to reinvigorate his ailing campaign. 
 
 Retired surgeon Ben Carson 
 
 Carson’s low-wattage style has both fans and detractors, but he is clearly sticking with it. His best moment in the debate came early on when he wryly deflected a question about the media coverage he has received in recent weeks. But Carson can also come across as meandering. Additionally, he ruled out raising the minimum wage despite having indicated in May that he supported such a move. That could spark yet another controversy in a campaign that, for all its strengths, doesn’t need any more of them. 
 
 Businesswoman Carly Fiorina 
 
 It was more of the same from the former Hewlett Packard CEO. She is a very effective communicator who wraps many of her policy positions in the same overarching theme: that vested interests control the political system and that she is the person to take them on. But the suspicion lingers that Fiorina had her moment in the sun after the second GOP debate in September. She has faded since then, and there’s no apparent reason to believe she can reverse that trend. 
 
 Businessman Donald Trump 
 
 This was the mogul’s weakest performance in any of the four debates. No single disaster befell him, but he had a couple of bad moments. One came when he complained about Fiorina interrupting other candidates, in the process reminding people of a previous uproar over his comments about her appearance. The other came when, asked about the threat from Russia, he delivered an answer that was conspicuously lacking in detail. Still, Trump remains far ahead in the polls, alongside Carson, despite endless predictions of his imminent demise. Don’t be surprised if his poll ratings prove durable one more time. 
 
 LOSERS 
 
 Ohio Gov. John Kasich 
 
 Kasich needed a big night and he got one — but in all the wrong ways. Kasich tried to mix it up with several candidates and almost always emerged the loser. Early on, Trump swatted his attacks aside. Much later, he tangled with Cruz on the wisdom of bailing out troubled banks. At one point during that exchange, Kasich appeared to suggest he could decide who should lose their deposits during a bank failure in a financial crisis. Such moments undercut Kasich’s central claim as a pragmatic executive. It was a very bad night for Kasich, and deeper questions are now likely to be asked about the viability of his candidacy. ||||| GOP presidential candidates clashed over immigration, government spending and how to handle Russia's Vladimir Putin during Tuesday night's debate. As the night got heated, the audience got involved: here are the must-watch moments. (Ashleigh Joplin and Rebecca Schatz/Fox Business Network) 
 
 The eight top Republican presidential candidates gathered for the fourth debate of the 2016 campaign Tuesday night in Milwaukee. It was a more understated affair than the last GOP debate sponsored by CNBC but still managed to yield some bests and worsts. 
 
 Here are my winners and losers from the night that was: 
 
 Winners 
 
 * Marco Rubio: Rubio's line about welders making more money than philosophy majors will be quoted all over the place in the post-debate analysis. (And, no, it wasn't totally accurate.) Rubio knocked it out of the park when debating military spending and the right role for America in the world with Rand Paul. He got a meatball of a question when asked by the moderators about Hillary Clinton's résumé as compared with his own; he, unsurprisingly, answered it well and easily. Time and time again, he oozed knowledge while appearing entirely relaxed. One nit to pick with Rubio: He can — and did at times Tuesday night — come across as slightly too rehearsed, the student reciting things back to the teacher from memory but without actually understanding what any of it means. 
 
 * Ted Cruz: For the second straight debate, the senator from Texas shone under the bright lights. His line about the tax code having more words than the Bible was a good and memorable one. His repeated denunciations of Washington's "crony" culture will leave a lot of Republican heads nodding in agreement. Cruz proved Tuesday night that of the "outsider" candidates, he is the one best equipped to carry their message going forward. 
 
 * Ben Carson: In the first three debates, I watched in wonder as Carson's numbers kept moving up after what I perceived to be nearly nonexistent performances. But Carson — from his first answer on Tuesday night — was more energetic (that's a pretty low bar given Carson's past performances) and more dialed in than I had seen him. He was helped by a moderator question on his past exaggerations/inaccuracies regarding his life story that would give the term "softball" a bad name. And by the fact that none of his rivals seemed interested in taking the fight to him on the issue of the inconsistencies of his recounting of the past. Carson was, as usual, very shaky on foreign policy and wasn't much better on regulatory reform. But he did more than enough to keep himself at or near the top of the GOP field. 
 
 * Carly Fiorina: Like Cruz and Rubio, Fiorina proved something Tuesday night that we already knew: She's an able debater. She inserted herself into a variety of discussions — foreign policy, taxes — where she left a positive mark. It also helped that the audience in the room in Milwaukee seemed very much on her side. I still think Fiorina, like Rubio, can come across as too rote at times. 
 
 * Rand Paul: The senator from Kentucky (finally) found ways to get his voice heard in a debate. The problem for him is that he's almost certainly too far down in polling — and in the money chase — for it to matter much. Still, Paul found a platform to voice his unique views on foreign and fiscal policy, and, at this stage of his candidacy, that amounts to a win. 
 
 Losers 
 
 * Donald Trump: Trump, as he has in each of the first four debates, stood center stage in Milwaukee on Tuesday night. But for the two-plus hours that the debate ran, Trump felt ancillary to the conversation. When he did get time to speak, he simply repeated his now-familiar lines — we don't win anymore, I have a great company, etc. — and little else. His answers on foreign policy were not good. His random attack on Fiorina — "why does she keep interrupting everybody?" — earned him boos from the crowd (and helped her). Trump just didn't seem all that interested in being there. It likely won't affect his poll numbers, since nothing seems to. But that doesn't change the fact he was off his game. 
 
 * John Kasich: The Ohio governor came out with a strategy to install himself right in the center of the debate. To do that, he interrupted, cajoled and pouted his way through it. His positions on immigration and on Wall Street banks won't win him any support from the GOP base (he got booed for his Wall Street answer). But it wasn't really about policy. Kasich seemed peevish, short-tempered and anything but presidential. 
 
 * Jeb Bush: Look, the former Florida governor wasn't bad in this debate. In fact, he was far better than the lifeless showing he put in last month. But he wasn't good enough. Jeb's first answer — pledging to repeal all of Obama's executive orders — was forceful and quite good. But as the debate wore on, Bush repeatedly missed chances to jump into conversations — a long back-and-forth involving multiple candidates over taxes jumps to mind — and when he did speak he was somewhat halting and awkward. The Bush people readily acknowledge that debating is not his strong suit. And I readily acknowledge that being a good debater doesn't guarantee victory. But Bush just isn't comfortable on the debate stage — and it shows. 
 
 * Anecdotes: Virtually every candidate took a question about broad fiscal policy and turned it into a heartwarming/heart-wrenching tale of "Jim and Aileen Jones from random city in random state." I know candidates and their staffs believe these anecdotes bolster the idea that they are out meeting regular people and not sitting in the halls of Washington — wherever those are — opining on stuff. But the anecdotes come across more often than not as trite and cliched rather than revealing and powerful. Let's just stop doing it! Okay? Good. It's a deal. 
 
 * Debate format: The Fox Business moderators went out of their way to make clear that they, unlike the unmentioned but ever-present CNBC moderators, would be sticking to substantive economic issues in the debate. Then they went out of their way to praise themselves for doing so. Fine. But the debate was largely lifeless throughout, and the lack of candidate exchanges — whether because of the rules of the debate or a simple unwillingness to engage — meant that many of the answers offered were straight from oft-repeated talking points. I don't think that serves the voters' interests — at all. ||||| GOP presidential candidates clashed over immigration, government spending and how to handle Russia's Vladimir Putin during Tuesday night's debate. As the night got heated, the audience got involved: here are the must-watch moments. (Ashleigh Joplin and Rebecca Schatz/Fox Business Network) 
 
 GOP presidential candidates clashed over immigration, government spending and how to handle Russia's Vladimir Putin during Tuesday night's debate. As the night got heated, the audience got involved: here are the must-watch moments. (Ashleigh Joplin and Rebecca Schatz/Fox Business Network) 
 
 The fourth GOP presidential debate revealed deep splits among the eight candidates on the stage, especially on the subject of foreign policy — in which Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) and billionaire Donald Trump made an unlikely tag team calling for skepticism about U.S. interventions overseas. 
 
 The two come from different places, philosophically: Paul out of a libertarian tradition personified by his father, longtime Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.), while Trump’s philosophy seems to be constructed as he goes along, revolving around the twin ideas that Trump makes better deals than anyone, and literally every problem is essentially a deal at its heart. 
 
 But the two of them both opposed other candidates — notably former tech executive Carly Fiorina, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) — who called for more aggressive military policies. 
 
 “We can’t continue to be the policeman of the world,” Trump said. 
 
 “You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the world,” Paul said. 
 
 From left,Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina and Rand Paul take the stage. (Morry Gash/AP) 
 
 But their alliance was a short-lived one. 
 
 In Tuesday night’s debate, Trump faced harsh skepticism from others on the stage. Ohio Gov. John Kasich called Trump’s plans to deport illegal immigrants en masse “silly.” Fiorina jabbed him for saying he knew Putin because they had met in a TV green room. Even Paul, his ally on foreign policy, criticized Trump for not understanding the trans-Pacific trade deal, even as Trump attacked it. 
 
 The race’s other front-runner, Carson, had a relatively quiet debate again. But quiet debates have not hurt him so far. 
 
 “Thank you for not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that,” Carson said, after moderators made reference to questions raised about his telling of his life story. “I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about. And putting that out there as truth.” 
 
 Both Paul and former Florida governor Jeb Bush had strong debates, interjecting themselves into ongoing arguments in a way they hadn’t before. But for both, there is no guarantee that a good debate will revive fortunes that have been sagging for months. 
 
 The Republican field split sharply on the question of how to handle the Islamic State and Russia, with Trump calling for the United States to stay out of more confrontations – and other candidates blasting him for advocating showing weakness. 
 
 “If Putin wants to go and knock the hell out of ISIS, I am all for it,” Trump said, noting that he had met Russian President Vladimir Putin through a “60 Minutes” episode. Trump expressed weariness about the troubles U.S. interventions had run into in Iraq and Libya. He also said the United States should not get involved militarily against the Islamic State, and instead let other countries in the region take the lead. “They say, ‘Keep going. Keep going, you dummies,’ ” Trump said. “We can’t continue to be the policeman of the world.” 
 
 Bush responded that Trump was misunderstanding how both Putin and the Islamic State see the world. “That’s like a board game. That’s like playing monopoly, that’s not how the world works,” he said. 
 
 That set off one of the most substantive exchanges of any Republican debate so far, which demonstrated a broad disagreement within the Republican field. Fiorina was among those calling for a more aggressive foreign policy, using both troops and diplomatic rebukes. She stepped in to criticize Trump for being naïve about the danger Putin posed, and said she herself would not talk to Putin right away. Although she said she had met him before: “Not in a green room for a show, but for a private meeting.” 
 
 Later, Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) and Kasich sparred about what they would have done if faced with the possibility that an enormous bank would fail. Cruz said he would not bail out the banks, as the federal government did during the financial crisis that began in 2008. Kasich said Cruz was showing he wasn’t ready to be an executive. 
 
 “When a bank is ready to go under, and depositors are ready to lose their life savings, you just don’t say, ‘We believe in philosophical concerns,’ ” Kasich said. He continued: “I’ve got to tell you, on-the-job training for president of the United States doesn’t work” – a jab that Cruz was as unprepared for the job as President Obama had been in 2009. 
 
 Cruz saw an opening. “So you would bail them out?” he said. That was a hard question for Kasich, since the bailout is deeply unpopular among many fiscal conservatives. 
 
 Kasich responded with a relatively vague promise to work out a plan, rather than simply repeating the same bailout that occurred back then. “You’ve got to deal with it. You can’t turn a blind eye to it,” Kasich said. 
 
 In general, Tuesday’s debate was one of the most lively and substantive of the primary season so far, with candidates delving deeply into their plans for taxes and spending. Moderators seemed in command of the facts behind their questions, and allowed arguments to run on – at one point, a moderator ignored the network’s own go-to-commercial music so that a back-and-forth could continue. The night’s main debate also featured standout performances by two candidates who sorely needed them: Bush and Paul. Some of the more prominent candidates in the polls took a back seat: Trump and Carson played minor roles, Rubio found himself on the defensive, and Cruz stayed out of the major back-and-forths. 
 
 Cruz’s most memorable moment might have been a mistake, in which he veered close to the error that undid fellow Texan Rick Perry in 2011. Cruz said he planned to cut five major agencies: the Departments of Commerce and Energy, the IRS, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Commerce was in there twice, but nobody called him on it. 
 
 Earlier in the evening, Paul had attacked Rubio as a big spender who would put the country deeper into debt with new benefits and military spending, in one of the sharpest moments of the debate. 
 
 Paul, who had been largely invisible in the debates up to that point, suddenly took on Rubio, saying that when he added up Rubio’s tax plan and his military plans, “You get something that looks to me not very conservative.” 
 
 Rubio, whose best moment in these debates was a comeback, replied with an attack on Paul’s national security record. 
 
 “I know that Rand is a committed isolationist,” he said. “I’m not.” 
 
 Paul continued on the attack, casting himself in a role that he had seemed reluctant to play in the past. He was the one Republican who would argue that the U.S. could possibly spend too much on national defense. 
 
 “Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending?” he asked. 
 
 Kasich, one of the lower-polling candidates on the main stage in the fourth Republican debate, also attacked Trump for advancing a “silly argument” about deporting 11 million illegal immigrants. 
 
 “Come on, folks, we all know you can’t pick them up and ship them back across the border. It’s a silly argument. It’s not an adult argument,” Kasich said, in one of the most direct challenges to Trump in this debate so far. 
 
 Trump responded by citing deportations – done on a smaller scale – under Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s. “We have no choice,” Trump said. “We have no choice.” 
 
 When Kasich continued to press Trump, the billionaire responded with disdain: Trump said he runs a huge company. “I don’t have to hear from this man. Believe me,” he said. The crowd in the audience booed – showing a kind of disapproval that past debate crowds had usually reserved for the moderators. 
 
 Bush also rejected Trump’s call for deportations, saying it hurt the party’s ability to reach out to mainstream audiences: “They’re doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this.” 
 
 Immigration was a dominant issue in the early going of the debate. Cruz jumped in to oppose Bush’s plan, calling it “amnesty.” He joked that party elites and the mainstream media were easy on Bush because they don’t feel the economic threat that immigrants pose to working-class Americans. If people were coming across the Rio Grande with journalism degrees, Cruz said, the American media would suddenly see immigration as a major problem. 
 
 The debate began shortly after 9 p.m. with three candidates saying they oppose efforts to raise the minimum wage because they believe it would hurt low-wage workers more than it would help them. 
 
 “There is nothing that we do now to win. We don’t win anymore. … Taxes too high. Wages too high,” said Trump, adding that making the wage too high would hurt America’s ability to compete with overseas manufacturers. “I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is.” 
 
 “Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases,” Carson said, saying the effect was particularly noticeable among African Americans. 
 
 “If you raise the minimum wage, you’re going to make people more expensive than a machine,” Rubio said. 
 
 In the early minutes of the debate, one voice missing was that of Bush, the former front-runner. At one point, he cut off Kasich, who seemed to be interrupting a question meant for Bush. 
 
 “You’ve already made two comments, John,” Bush said. “I got about four minutes last debate, I’m going to get my question this time.” 
 
 Bush then spoke about his desire to undo federal regulations, and blasted President Obama’s handling of the economy. “Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama’s policies get an A. Really?” Bush said, taking an aggressive tone, and focusing – unlike last time – on the leading Democrat in the race, not other Republicans. “It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do. But it’s not the best that America can do.” 
 
 Earlier in the evening, four lower-performing candidates met in the fourth “undercard” debate. 
 
 [Live updates: Republican presidential debate] 
 
 The earlier contest was dominated by a running argument between two low-performing candidates with vastly different plans to succeed. One was New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is aiming to attract moderate voters, and the other was Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal – who is trying to convince conservatives that moderates like Christie are untrustworthy sellouts. 
 
 Jindal, now consigned to the low-performers’ debate for the fourth time, was on the attack from the beginning of the debate. Christie, just relegated from the main stage, was an uncooperative target. Jindal repeatedly zinged Christie for being a “big-government Republican,” and at one point said he should get a “juice box” for participation in the conservative movement. 
 
 Christie, showing an uncharacteristic discipline in the face of annoyance, repeatedly said he was more interested in beating Hillary Clinton than in battling with Jindal. Christie – a former federal prosecutor – used the verb “prosecute” repeatedly when describing how he could debate Clinton in the general election. “You need someone who’s going to stand up on that stage and prosecute the case against her,” he said. Christie also made an appeal to law enforcement officers, saying he would support them more than President Obama had in the roiling debate over police shootings and police brutality. 
 
 “I will have your back,” Christie said. 
 
 Christie also ended on a note of bipartisan hopes: “I will go to Washington. ... To bring this entire country together for a better future for our children and grandchildren.” 
 
 The other two candidates on stage had less air time but still managed memorable moments. Former senator Rick Santorum (Pa.), describing his grudging admiration for hardball tactics employed by Democrats, shouted out the words “They fight!” It was the loudest moment of the night, though an odd message to leave people with. 
 
 Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who’s also been relegated from the main stage, once again defended federal “entitlement” programs like Medicare and Social Security, saying that Americans had paid into those programs and deserved to have them pay out. His most memorable moment, however, was a joke. When asked about Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, Huckabee responded like the folksy preacher he used to be: “Well, my wife’s name’s Janet. When you say Janet yellin’, I’m very familiar with what you mean.” 
 
 At various points, Jindal called out Cruz – though not by name – as all talk and no action. He called out Huckabee for being a big spender. And he zinged Christie, who had been the dominant figure in the debate’s first half, for doing too little to cut state spending. 
 
 “Let’s not be a second liberal party,” Jindal said, talking about Christie. “Let’s just not beat Hillary. Let’s elect a conservative to the White House, not just any Republican.” 
 
 Christie, for his part, did not rise to Jindal’s bait. Instead, he repeatedly cast himself as somebody who could appeal to moderates and win in blue states. 
 
 The most memorable moment for Santorum came when he tried to play off Jindal and Christie’s tension. He noted that one man claimed to be a true conservative, and the other said he could win in a blue state. Santorum raised his arms in a “Why not me?” gesture, a funny moment that indicated that he thought he combined both qualities. 
 
 Christie and Huckabee also spent time attacking the IRS and blaming the federal tax code for weakening manufacturing and America generally. 
 
 “First, make the tax code fairer, flatter and simpler,” said Christie. He described making the U.S. tax code so simple that individuals could file their taxes in 15 minutes. “I’ll be able to fire a whole bunch of IRS agents once we do that,” Christie said. 
 
 Huckabee went Christie one better and said that he’d eliminate the income tax entirely, and move to a “Fair tax,” essentially a national retail sales tax. 
 
 “We get rid of the IRS. We completely eliminate it. Because the government has no business knowing how much money we make, and how we make it ... that’s none of their business,” Huckabee said. 
 
 Huckabee and Christie were dismissed from the main debate stage after not reaching the 2.5 percent threshold in national polls. They joined Jindal and Santorum, who have been in the low-performers’ debate all along. 
 
 Two other candidates — former New York governor George Pataki and Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) — were bumped from the undercard entirely after failing to reach a lower threshold of 1 percent in national polls. (Former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore, who appeared in the first undercard but not the next two, will again be kept off the stage because of low numbers). Graham, with a folksy charm and an aggressive call for greater military intervention, had been the dominant candidate in both of the last two undercards. It was not enough to raise his poll standing. 
 
 [Ben Carson is still the most popular presidential candidate. And it’s not close.] 
 
 These debates come just 13 days after the last Republican debates, which were widely perceived as a disaster for their hosts at CNBC. Both the crowd and the candidates attacked the moderators for asking argumentative questions, and the moderators let the candidates get away with blatant dodging of the truth. Trump, for instance, claimed he hadn’t said something that was included in his own immigration policy paper. The moderator, who had been right, apologized. 
 
 Tuesday night’s main event was moderated by Fox Business personalities Maria Bartiromo and Neil Cavuto. In an interview with The Washington Post, they said they aimed to do better — and that they wouldn’t put up with whining. 
 
 “I understand candidates getting annoyed, but they better be careful about looking like whiners and babies. I see this on the right and the left. I think you can ask very tough questions without coming off like an ass,” Cavuto said in an interview with Callum Borchers of The Fix. “I think it’s incumbent on us to know and appreciate the difference.” 
 
 Ahead of the debate, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus sent a letter to RNC members saying the committee has “worked tirelessly” with Fox to “fine-tune our debate process and ensure that our candidates have the best format and experience.” 
 
 “I am confident that we will finally have a debate focused on the economy and financial matters. The moderators tonight have also pledged to allow candidates 90 seconds to answer questions, rather than 60 seconds in past debates, as well as give each candidate a closing statement,” Priebus says in the letter, which was shared with The Washington Post by a Republican recipient. 
 
 Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton issued a prebuttal ahead of the debate in the form of an Internet video that accused Bush, Rubio and Trump of backing tax plans that disproportionately benefit the wealthy. 
 
 The last debate was a breakout moment for Rubio. He was attacked by Bush — an old ally of Rubio’s from their days in Florida politics — for missing many votes in the Senate. 
 
 Rubio responded with a deeply stinging cut-down: “The only reason why you’re doing [this] now is because we’re running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you.” 
 
 Sean Sullivan, Jenna Johnson in Springfield, Ill., Philip Rucker in St. Francis, Wis., and Robert Costa in Milwaukee contributed to this report. ||||| Washington (CNN) Republican presidential candidates sought to cement -- or improve -- their standings in a debate Tuesday night that comes less than two months before the first votes of the election season are cast. 
 
 The CNN debate in Las Vegas marked the first time the White House hopefuls shared a stage since terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California. They flashed their foreign policy credentials and targeted each others' weaknesses in the debate that lasted more than two hours and focused exclusively on foreign policy and national security. 
 
 The result of the showdown: Some winners, and some losers. 
 
 Winners 
 
 Jeb Bush 
 
 The former Florida governor walked onto the CNN debate stage on Tuesday facing a make-or-break moment for his struggling campaign. 
 
 Polling at about 3% nationally, pundits had low expectations for Bush. But he was able to make the most of the moment and his performance will likely reassure skittish donors and supporters who have doubted him. 
 
 Appearing confident, Bush repeatedly engaged front-runner Donald Trump and at times flustered the real estate mogul. Unlike previous debates where he has backed off, Bush didn't relent in the face of Trump's return fire. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Gov. Jeb Bush: Trump's rhetoric is 'dog whistle talk' Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Gov. Jeb Bush: Trump's rhetoric is 'dog whistle talk' 02:40 
 
 "If you think this is tough and you're not being treated fairly, imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi or dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists," Bush said over Trump's persistent interruptions. 
 
 CNN political commentator Michael Smerconish said after the debate that Bush "turned in a strong performance" with his ability to repeatedly needle Trump. 
 
 "Jeb had a good night," he said. 
 
 Ted Cruz 
 
 The tea party favorite avoided a cage match with front-runner Donald Trump in favor of a sparring match with Rubio. 
 
 Cruz and Trump have largely avoided skirmishes on the campaign trail but that ended in recent days as the Texas senator's standing improves in Iowa. 
 
 Former Mitt Romney aide and current CNN political commentator Kevin Madden said Cruz's strategy of avoiding confrontation on the debate stage was effective. 
 
 "I think the strategy Cruz has is working, bear hugging Donald Trump. I think Donald Trump does not feel antagonized," he said. 
 
 While Cruz didn't give viewers anything like the fiery and memorable soundbites his supporters savored in the last debate, the Texas senator gave a strong performance sure to please his base. And by taking aim at -- and holding his ground against -- Rubio, Cruz did nothing to stall his burgeoning momentum. 
 
 Marco Rubio 
 
 Sen. Marco Rubio delivered a front-runner's performance, as he parried blows from all sides in the crowded field. 
 
 Rubio worked to stay above the fray of candidates, focusing on showing off his in-depth understanding of foreign policy and deflecting the attacks his competitors hurled his way. The Florida senator, though engaged in heated exchanges with Cruz and Rand Paul at times, mostly sought to flex his hawkish national security positions rather than attack his competitors. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Marco Rubio attacks Ted Cruz's voting record Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Marco Rubio attacks Ted Cruz's voting record 02:38 
 
 When prompted to address Trump's proposal to bar foreign Muslims from entering the U.S. -- which Rubio opposes -- or to address his recent criticism of Cruz, Rubio didn't bite. Instead, the Florida senator used the opportunity to speak at length about foreign policy concerns and his own proposals -- or to attacking President Barack Obama's administration. 
 
 Donald Trump 
 
 As the real estate mogul has done in recent debates, Donald Trump offered a measured performance stylistically different from the fiery stump speeches he delivers at rallies to supporters. And the typically confrontational businessman largely avoided tangling with his fellow contenders. 
 
 It was a safe performance for Trump, but it's one that certainly won't deter his supporters and won't do anything to hurt his front-runner status. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Donald Trump commits to the Republican Party Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Donald Trump commits to the Republican Party 01:08 
 
 CNN political commentator David Axelrod, a former top Obama adviser, said that while Trump didn't meet the bar on facts and "linear thinking," he was "in character." 
 
 "I think he probably did what he needed to do," Axelrod said, adding that it didn't hurt that few of the candidates to Trump's right and left were "eager to tangle" with the front-runner. 
 
 Chris Christie 
 
 New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's goal on Tuesday was to try and further his recent rise in stock in the early primary state of New Hampshire, where talk of national security has boosted the former federal prosecutor. 
 
 Christie managed to poke at the three senators in the race by lamenting the tit-for-tat debates Cruz, Rubio and Paul engaged in. The governor continued to play to his executive experience and his prosecutions of terrorism cases as a U.S. attorney. 
 
 In one of his strongest moments, Christie slammed the senators on stage as "people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position" and proclaimed that voters were looking for "a president who actually knows what they're doing." 
 
 CNN political commentator Jeffrey Lord, a Trump supporter, noted that like Trump, Christie "was delivering a message" on stage rather than getting too "in the weeds" on policy. 
 
 Losers 
 
 Ben Carson 
 
 Ben Carson said it himself on Tuesday heading into the last debate of the year: He needed to prove his national security credentials to reassure voters fleeing his campaign amid rising concerns over terrorism. 
 
 But the retired neurosurgeon faltered on that front -- offering little in the way of assuaging those concerns, which are believed to have contributed to Carson's fall from his position near the top of the polls in Iowa and nationally. 
 
 Instead, Carson offered vague and meandering responses to specific foreign policy questions, complained about the time allotted to him and declined when asked whether he sided with Cruz or Rubio in the debate over National Security Agency data collection. 
 
 Carly Fiorina 
 
 Carly Fiorina still looked and sounded like a top debater on stage Tuesday night, but a closer look shows that the former Hewlett-Packard CEO is offering little to voters that they haven't already heard. 
 
 In short, Fiorina's shtick is getting old. 
 
 And several of Fiorina's attempts to elbow her way into the debate as other candidates were speaking -- a tactic that has worked for her in the past -- didn't help her during this performance. 
 
 Her strongest moments, though, came when she touted her experience as a tech executive as a way to highlight the need for the private sector to boost the federal government's counter-terrorism efforts. 
 
 John Kasich 
 
 Kasich faced a similar problem as Fiorina -- he didn't offer anything new that would jumpstart his candidacy. 
 
 Kasich tried his best once again to play the role of the adult in the room, calling out Trump for unserious proposals and questioning other candidates' assessment of the situation in Syria, for example. 
 
 But Kasich failed to snag himself a moment. 
 
 Rand Paul 
 
 The libertarian senator from Kentucky showed he was in a fighting mood from the outset: jabbing at Trump and Rubio in his opening statement 
 
 Unfortunately for Paul, nobody wanted to tangle with him. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Rand Paul questions Donald Trump's candidacy Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Rand Paul questions Donald Trump's candidacy 01:31 
 
 Even Trump -- who rarely resists an opportunity to needle his competitors -- didn't take the bait when Paul hit him at several points in the debate. 
 
 "Marco can't have it both ways," Paul said, attacking Rubio on immigration. "He wants to be this I'm great and strong on national defense, but he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration." 
 
 But Rubio didn't hit back, simply thanking Paul for giving him another 30 seconds of talking time -- afforded to any candidate called out by one of his opponents -- and using it to lay out his position. 
 
 While Paul made his case against the neoconservative ideology coursing through the arteries of the Republican Party, he was effectively shut out by the overwhelming opposition to his foreign policy views present on stage. 
 
 GOP prime-time verbal attacks: ||||| 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. ||||| MILWAUKEE — Nearly two weeks after a climactic battle in Boulder, Republican candidates take the stage tonight for a high-stakes clash that will shape the contours of the winter primary season. 
 
 Jeb Bush, who limped out of the last debate, is perhaps under the greatest pressure of all. With his poll numbers plummeting to the mid-single digits, the former Florida governor must prove he can handle his rival and one-time friend, Marco Rubio. Ben Carson, who has been under intense scrutiny in recent weeks over his personal narrative, will need to fend off an almost-certain offensive from Donald Trump. Chris Christie, a once-towering figure who rose to prominence through his larger-than-life persona, aims to demonstrate he can make a splash in the less-watched and lower-profile undercard debate. 
 
 Story Continued Below 
 
 And host Fox Business wants to prove it can put on a better show than competitor CNBC, which fumbled badly with its Republican debate last month. 
 
 Here is what POLITICO is watching in Tuesday’s Republican debate. 
 
 A Bush-Cruz tag-team? 
 
 Bush and Ted Cruz are starkly different candidates — one an establishment favorite with a patrician pedigree, the other a tea party bomb-thrower who’s made a career out of antagonizing leaders of his own party. 
 
 Yet, on Tuesday night, they may end up being debate partners. 
 
 Campaign insiders are abuzz about the possibility that the two candidates, who are running in opposite lanes of the primary, could team up to take down Rubio. The thinking? Rubio is a competitor to both, making a play for the establishment vote Bush is seeking and the conservative support that Cruz is trying to lock up. Both have gone after Rubio in recent days. Bush has hammered the Florida lawmaker for missing Senate votes, while Cruz, during an interview on CNN last week, chose the ever-loaded term “moderate” to label him. 
 
 Aides to Bush and Cruz declined to discuss the possibility of a debate alliance — and in the end, it may not pan out. Cruz, after all, has so far been reluctant to go after his rivals during debates. 
 
 Bush, though, has given no indication he plans to let up. Even after his boss’ botched attack on the senator during the Colorado debate, Bush campaign manager Danny Diaz, an operative steeped in the art of oppo research, has privately expressed a desire to continue jabbing. Rubio’s team says he’ll be ready: The senator has been holding debate practice sessions led by longtime adviser Todd Harris. 
 
 The former Florida governor is under pressure to perform, no matter how he decides to approach Rubio — something his advisers are well aware of. On Wednesday, Diaz, along with Bush fundraiser Heather Larrison, held a conference call with New York donors to discuss the path forward. At one point, according to one person on the call, Diaz brought up Bush’s less-than-impressive performance in the last debate. 
 
 Bush, Diaz said, was preparing for this round differently: He said the former governor was now getting help from veteran Republican image guru and Roger Ailes adviser Jon Kraushar — and said supporters should expect a better performance. 
 
 Trump vs. Carson 
 
 Those who’ve followed Trump’s debate style closely have noticed a distinct pattern. Near the start of each debate, the real estate developer and television celebrity will open with a “big blast” against one of his rivals. In the first showdown, it was directed at Rand Paul. In the second, at Bush. And in the third go-round, at John Kasich. 
 
 This time, his target seems certain: Ben Carson. 
 
 In recent days, Trump has been torching Carson — who has passed the billionaire in some early state polls — over his personal narrative. Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, Trump raised questions about details of a childhood story Carson told about once stabbing a friend. He also expressed concern about the retired neurosurgeon's mentality, saying he had “pathological” anger problems in his younger years. 
 
 But taking on Carson isn’t without risk. Fox Business is allowing candidates 60 seconds to rebut attacks — double the amount of time given during the last debate. That means Carson would have a substantial amount of time to push back against any criticism directed his way — and to reiterate, as he did over the weekend, his contention that questions about his past are generated by a press corps with a vendetta against him. 
 
 Carson’s camp says it’s not sure what Trump will do. 
 
 "You never know which Donald is going to show up,” said Carson campaign manager Barry Bennett. “The man on Twitter or the guy who tells you privately how much he likes you." 
 
 If Carson does come under assault, another candidate making a play for his conservative supporters — perhaps Cruz — could come to his defense. 
 
 Fox Business’ time to shine 
 
 Nearly two weeks after CNBC stumbled, Fox Business, a newer and less established business network with a smaller viewership, has an opportunity to prove itself as a debate host. 
 
 Those who have been briefed on the network’s plans say it wants its debate to be what CNBC’s wasn’t: policy-focused and chaos-free. One senior Fox Business official said the network was spending the final hours in the run-up to the program carefully scrubbing questions to ensure they “squeezed out nonsense and bias.” 
 
 The network’s planning team — which has been led by Fox News political director Cherie Grzech — has earned high marks from senior campaign aides. On Wednesday, Grzech helped lead a conference call for senior campaign aides that had none of the backbiting and drama that defined the planning calls leading up to CNBC’s debate. On Monday, she led the campaigns on a walk-through of the stage — and elicited none of the complaints that arose during the tour of the CNBC site, when aides griped about uncomfortable greenroom conditions. 
 
 Grzech has won plaudits for making herself accessible, handing out her email address and cellphone number and making it clear that she’s the point person in the event that aides have concerns about how much speaking time their candidates are receiving during the program. During the CNBC debate, some aides groused they didn’t know who to turn to when problems arose — leading some to reach out mistakenly to NBC officials, who had nothing to do with the broadcast. At one point, Bush’s manager Diaz got into a mid-debate confrontation with a CNBC producer over his candidate’s allotted time. 
 
 Fox Business is formatting the program to ensure that moderators have greater control. The network will be using a buzzer when the debaters reach the end of their answer time, forgoing the flashing light that CNBC utilized — which candidates blew right through. 
 
 No matter what transpires, don’t expect the campaigns to target Fox Business as they did with CNBC. The parent network, after all, is a favorite of the Republican primary voters to whom the candidates are trying to appeal. 
 
 Christie’s opportunity 
 
 Christie’s failure to get on the prime-time debate stage is a serious blow to his candidacy, which had been picking up steam as of late. Tuesday’s undercard program, in which he will appear on the same stage as back-of-the-pack candidates Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and Bobby Jindal, will draw far fewer eyeballs than the later one. 
 
 Yet those close to Christie — who was described as surprised by Fox Business’ decision to keep him out of the main event — insist it could give him the chance to stand out. With fewer people on stage, they say, he’ll have a bigger platform and more time to talk. 
 
 For Christie, who entered the primary as an underdog and has been trying to rehabilitate his battered political image, debates have been a strength. He’s been practicing with a tight-knit group of advisers that includes Maria Comella and Russ Schriefer. 
 
 Perhaps the biggest question, though, is whether being relegated to the undercard will dry up Christie’s fundraising, which had already been lagging. The governor has maintained a small but loyal base of financial support, thanks in large part to his past tenure as chairman of the Republican Governors Association. He is slated to hold about a dozen fundraisers through the end of the year, including one in Northern California next week hosted by Hewlett Packard executive Meg Whitman. 
 
 Bobbie Kilberg, a Christie fundraiser, insisted the demotion wouldn’t hurt the governor with the money crowd. The announcement, she contended, had sparked the interest of donors who viewed the decision as unfair — some of whom had previously said they were reluctant to support Christie. 
 
 “The Fox decision on the debate is outrageous and unfair, but it is turning out to be an opportunity for Chris,” Kilberg said. “It has sparked additional focus on Chris, including by donors.” 
 
 Fireworks from the underdogs? 
 
 The spotlight will also be on those candidates who are trailing — and who need to make something happen, fast. 
 
 The three lowest polling candidates in the prime-time debate — Carly Fiorina, Kasich and Paul — were near-afterthoughts in the CNBC debate. With the clock ticking down to the start of the primary season, none can afford to have a repeat performance. There is also the additional pressure of being granted entry to the next debate, which will be held next month and broadcast on CNN. The network has yet to announce its polling cutoff for determining who qualifies for the prime-time program. 
 
 With fewer candidates onstage — there will be just eight, down from 10 in the previous debate — each will have a larger spotlight and more of an opportunity to distinguish themselves. 
 
 If recent campaign activities are any indication, it’s Paul who might make the biggest wave on Tuesday. On Friday, he drew headlines for crashing a Democratic presidential forum in South Carolina. Over the weekend, he went after Rubio by contending that he embraced the same neoconservative strain of foreign policy as Hillary Clinton. ||||| BOULDER, Colo. — The third Republican presidential debate was expected to be a battle between Donald Trump and Ben Carson, or Trump and the rest of the field. 
 
 Instead, much of the debate was a fight between the 10 GOP candidates on stage and CNBC, the business network hosting the contest. 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 Several candidates bashed the media in general and CNBC moderators John Harwood, Becky Quick and Carl Quintanilla in particular over the questions asked during the two-hour debate. 
 
 Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) accused the hosts of pitting the candidates against each other in order to promote a “cage match.” 
 
 Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) ripped Quick after a question about his bookkeeping skills and whether he had the “maturity” to be president due to his finances. 
 
 “You just listed a litany of discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents, and I’m not going to waste 60 seconds detailing them all,” Rubio shot back. 
 
 Rubio later won applause for likening the mainstream media to a super-PAC for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner. 
 
 After the debate, Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus criticized CNBC, saying it “should be ashamed of how this debate was handled.” 
 
 In a statement, he said the moderators were “extremely disappointing and did a disservice to their network, our candidates, and voters.” 
 
 Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who got less screen time than many of the other candidates, also went after the network. 
 
 “They didn’t control the debate, plain and simple. It was not a fair debate in that regard,” he said in an interview on CNN afterward. 
 
 Bush campaign manager Danny Diaz said he spoke with CNBC during the debate and expressed dissatisfaction with the amount of time Bush got. 
 
 "We know we can't do debates with MSNBC. Now we can't do anything with CNBC. So I think NBC News has a problem on their hands," said Mike Shields, a former top aide at the RNC. 
 
 "The crowd turned on them, the candidates kind of stuck together. It's a real problem going forward [for the network]," Shield said, adding that he hadn't heard of campaigns expressing worry about the network ahead of the debate. 
 
 "Why would anybody think that CNBC, of all places, would be something where you would have a 'gotcha' debate?" Shields asked, noting the next debate will be held by a competing network, Fox Business. 
 
 "CNBC did a terrible job, they didn't include Sen. Paul in the promotional material, they put him in the bathroom, and they gave him very few questions. And, frankly, they did a bad job for all the candidates," Chip Englander, the campaign manager for Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), told The Hill. 
 
 The "bathroom" remark alluded to the greenroom provided to Paul, which was smaller and less luxurious than those given to other candidates. 
 
 Englander also expressed dissatisfaction that CNBC didn't bring up the issue of marijuana, a topic on which Paul drew headlines in the last debate by going hard after rivals including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. 
 
 "It seems so goofy that CNBC didn't have any time," Englander said. "I mean, the debate is in Colorado. ... That would have made a lot of sense, but CNBC didn't do really anything that made sense tonight." 
 
 While the focus seemed to be squarely on CNBC after the debate, the candidates also turned their fire on each other while on stage. 
 
 Ohio Gov. John Kasich opened with a blistering attack focused on Trump and Carson, suggesting neither of the leading candidates is fit for the Oval Office. 
 
 “My great concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job,” Kasich said. 
 
 Kasich also had a fiery exchange with Trump later in the debate, when the real estate tycoon went after the former congressman for being a managing partner at Lehman Brothers, the investment bank that went bankrupt in 2008. 
 
 “I was a banker,” Kasich said of his role in the Wall Street firm, saying he traveled the country and “learned how people created jobs.” 
 
 Bush tangled with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who has surpassed his former mentor in polls, by criticizing his fellow Floridian for missing Senate votes to run for the White House. 
 
 “You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job,” he said. 
 
 “Someone's convinced you that attacking me is going to help you,” Rubio shot back, dismissing the criticism and insisting he wasn't running against Bush or anyone else. 
 
 Rubio's aides were beaming following his performance, with a top aide saying there was "no question" Rubio got the better of the high-profile exchange with Bush. 
 
 "We had a very good night," said Rubio spokesman Alex Conant. "I think we expected there would be more questions about the economy than there were, since it was an economic debate." 
 
 Bush perhaps had the most at risk in the debate. After announcing he was cutting staff and expenses, the onetime front-runner needed a strong performance to offer assurances to his supporters, but he did not appear to achieve it. 
 
 Carson went into the debate on par for the first time with Trump, who has led the race alone for more than three months. 
 
 The retired neurosurgeon is ahead of Trump in Iowa, and also beat the real estate mogul in a national poll from CBS and The New York Times this week. 
 
 He faced intense pressure heading into the debate to show he understands details about major economic issues and told reporters hours before the debate that he hoped those watching would be able to "find out that doctors actually do know something about economics.” 
 
 It seems unlikely the debate will knock Carson from his perch, even if he did not particularly stand out with his answers. 
 
 - Updated at 12:10 a.m. on Thursday
– Compared to last month's CNBC debate, Tuesday night's GOP debate in Milwaukee was long on policy and short on "gotcha" questions and clashes between candidates and moderators, though analysts say the scorecard isn't that different from last time around, with front-runners Donald Trump and Ben Carson both failing to shine. A look around at the chatter: Winners. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio were widely seen as the night's standouts, with Politico describing them as "the two strongest candidates" after "showcasing their mastery of the facts and ease under the bright lights." Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post deems Cruz, after his attacks on DC's "crony culture, to now be the "outsider" candidate most likely to succeed. Honorable mentions. Carly Fiorina and Rand Paul both had praiseworthy moments, with Fiorina once again demonstrating a strong command of the issues and impressive debating skills. Paul managed to get his message on fiscal policy across, and, "at this stage of his candidacy, that amounts to a win," per the Post. Carson's performance was seen as middling, with policy answers lacking in substance, though he did ably deflect a question about the recent controversies over his life story. Jeb Bush. He needed a good night after a dismal performance last month, and opinions are split on whether he delivered. It "was Bush's best performance in any of the debates so far," according to the Hill—but "unfortunately for him, that's a rather low bar." He was more assertive than in previous debates, though it's "uncertain" whether that will be enough to give his campaign much of a boost, notes a New York Times assessment. Still, it adds that "he no longer seemed as desperate to be somewhere else," while a Politico analysis has a "Bush stops the bleeding" headline and theme. Losers. John Kasich was more of a presence in this debate, but it was not a presence many people liked, with the National Review calling him "angry, condescending, and unprincipled" and likening him to "the drunk, obnoxious uncle everyone wishes hadn't accepted the invitation to Thanksgiving dinner." Trump's performance was seen as his weakest yet, and Politico says he "committed perhaps the biggest gaffe of the night" by suggesting wages in America are too high. Fox Business Network. Unlike CNBC's widely criticized debate, Fox's debate was seen as "fair and balanced," with candidates receiving a roughly equal amount of speaking time, ranging from 13 minutes 35 seconds for Cruz to 9 minutes 22 seconds for Carson, according to Politico. "And that @CNBC is how you run a debate," tweeted RNC chairman Reince Priebus. Click for some of the biggest moments and best lines from the debate.