By Neel Lakhanpal '16:The third Republican party debate took place in Boulder, Colorado Wednesday night. It was broadcast on CNBC. Overall, I think the candidates kept their composure in the face of difficult and incendiary questions. There was, in my opinion, a surprisingly even distribution of speaking time among the candidates despite multiple candidates polling well below five percent. I don't think this debate really clarified much. I don't think anyone did bad per se, other than maybe Bush, who looked resigned and seemed to have little energy left in him.
At center stage were Donald Trump and Ben Carson, who are both polling in the twenties and leading the pack. Neither stood out to me; Donald Trump seemed to act normally, albeit a bit toned down compared to a few months ago. Carson was quiet and didn't say anything too surprising. He kept his rhetoric on social issues unsurprisingly conservative, making remarks such as "I am not homophobic because I think marriage must be between a man and a woman."
A few other candidates stood out, notably Ted Cruz. Although I don't think he is a very serious contender, he made an apt remark on the media today. He said that the moderators were attacking each candidate's individual record instead of talking about "substantive issues," which was true to a certain extent. Ohio governor John Kasich also made his name heard, standing out in the first few minutes by escalating his attacks on the frontrunners Carson and Trump. Kasich was quite aggressively shut down by Trump thereafter, though.
All in all, the debate did not settle much. I think it may have brought some candidates such as Kasich a bit more into the foreground. But the two frontrunners remained calm and did not raise any eyebrows. We will look forward to debates in coming weeks to see how they shape the upcoming election cycle.
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