Dems' ads to focus on Carson and Fiorina after debate, signaling an unprecedented Donald Trump defeat

For someone whose campaign is grounded in "winning," Donald Trump was served a brutal loss at the second Republican debate on Wednesday night.

"The conversation has moved beyond Donald Trump," Politico trumpeted, adding that the GOP frontrunner faded into "just another face on a crowded stage." The BBC described Trump's defeat as a "pummeling" by his Republican rivals, and here at The Week, Peter Weber observed that Trump "betrayed an off-brand weakness that suggests maybe he's more a glad-handing businessman than the kick-ass-and-take-names outsider rebel he plays on TV."

Now even Democratic ad makers have their sights set elsewhere. Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina, who both came out swinging in Wednesday night's debate, are the latest targets for the Dems, who plan to tackle their comments on immigration and women's health, according to Politico. Likewise, a pro-Clinton super PAC has already put a positive spin on Lindsey Graham's comment Wednesday night that "Hillary Clinton has a list a mile long to help the middle class."

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The only mention ad makers had of Trump was in his fumbling antics with Jeb Bush.

"If I was a Democratic super PAC, I'd start playing the Trump/Jeb exchange in general election battleground states," Mo Elleithee, the former communications director for the Democratic National Committee, told Politico. Trump's ruckus-raising, then, is no longer an asset — it might just have become his downfall.