Wednesday evening marked the second Republican debate in this election cycle which took place at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. The debate was hosted by CNN and moderated by Jake Tapper with additional questions from Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash.
Originally aired September 16, 2015, on CNN at 8pm ET
“Second Round Primetime Debate”
Trump, Bush, Walker, Cruz, Paul, Rubio, Carson, Huckabee, Christie, Kasich, Fiorina
Here is the entire debate video from the second round primetime debate featuring the top ten candidates:
Report from CNN:
Carly Fiorina fought her way onto CNN’s prime-time Republican debate stage. And once she was there, she didn’t let up.
The former Hewlett-Packard chief executive brazenly confronted Donald Trump on the debate stage Wednesday night, putting the front-runner in the rare position of being on defense.
She was stern when asked about Trump’s recent assessment of her appearance, when he told Rolling Stone: “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that?”
Fiorina shot back during the debate: “I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said.”
The exchange left Trump in an unusual position: struggling to find the right words to respond.
“I think she’s got a beautiful face and I think she’s a beautiful woman,” he said, declining to take the opportunity to hit back.
Trump also faced withering attacks from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Rand Paul. The jabs marked a shift in tone for Republican candidates since the last debate in August, when many of Trump’s competitors were hesitant to directly take him on. By Wednesday, those reservations were gone, a sign of how seriously his rivals are taking Trump’s candidacy.
There certainly was a focus on Carly Fiorina and much of the early minutes of the debate relied on sparks between Trump and Bush. Overall, I think the content was much better than the first Republican debate which was dominated by the moderators instead of the candidates. There was a lot of substance discussed and, at times, I forgot the moderators were even there.
Sound off below, who won, who lost, and what will the polls show in a week?
