The biggest winner was Fox News. The questions were tough but fair, no one can accuse Fox of pulling their punches. Donald Trump came into the debate with a big lead in the polls so they reserved their toughest punches for him, but every candidate in the primetime debate was worked over. Fox was also vindicated in their decision to bifurcate the debates. There is no way the prime time debate would have been as interesting and had the fireworks it did with seven other candidates in it, six of who would have seemed out of place in the 9:00 p.m. hour. If this had been a general election debate, I think it would have been a tie between Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie tied for third place, but not an especially close third. But this was a Republican Primary debate, we'll see whether Kasich and Rubio's broad appeals will serve them well with a primary electorate that is looking for more red

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