Why can't pundits decide who won Thursday night's debate?
With seven qualifiers in Thursday night's Fox News primetime debate — and a noticeably absent Donald Trump — analysts are divided on who the real "winner" of the night was. Generally, most agree that Sen. Ted Cruz had an awkward night after he grew snappy with the moderators for tough questions while Jeb Bush showed some badly overdue liveliness. Here is a look at what some experts had to say:
In our coverage of the debate, Peter Weber wrote that, "Donald Trump probably won Thursday night's Republican debate in Des Moines, Iowa, by simply not showing up.That's partly a testament to Fox News, which brought in a new trick — confronting candidates with video of them contradicting their current positions — to the debate, putting Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Ted Cruz (Texas) in a tough spot. Trump would almost certainly have been subject to the same treatment, and it probably wouldn't have been pretty."
Read all of The Week's debate coverage here.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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