Great crowd for the live debate tonight. Huge crowd in Cleveland in the same place where the Republican National Convention will be held next year.
The candidates are lined up and ready to go.
Jeb Bush introduced and he looks nerdy.
Rand Paul's hair still looks weird.
Much applause for all the candidates.
Word is that Carly Fiorina has already one the first debate among second-tier candidates. No surprise there.
Trump is now roundly booed because he refuses to pledge to support the eventual GOP nominee nor will he pledge not to run as an independent candidate.
Rand Paul goes after Trump: "He [Trump] buys and sells politicians of all types." Paul is feisty. Trump answers: "I gave money to you [Paul]."
Ben Carson answers a tough question smartly.
Rubio: "This election cannot be a resumé competition." But Rubio's answer to his first question sounds canned. He lashes out at Hillary.
Jeb Bush needs new glasses. He's wearing some sort of square granny glasses. "I'm gonna have to earn this," he says. And then he goes into his Florida record -- strong on physical conervatism. "I'm my own man," he says.
Now to Trump. He's nailed on nasty things he's said about women and answers: "Only Rosie O'Donnell." Trump always appears to be squinting. His eyes are tiny. "The big problem that this country has is political correctness," he says. He tries to pivot to "making America great again" but then gives moderator Megan a not-too-veiled swipe.
Ted Cruz looks good tonight. He's intense and his dark eyes are compelling. He's forceful.
Now to Christie. Christie appears calm and rested. On NJ's economy he says: "If you think it's bad now, you should have seen it when I got there." Then he rat-a-tat-tats his economic record in NJ and he's got lots of facts and statistics. Zippy!
Scott Walker looks like your friendly neighbor next door. His personality is open and welcoming. "I defunded Planned Parenthood more than four years ago long before these videos came out." But Walker doesn't answer the question.
Huckabee says we need to invoke the 5th and 14th amendments to the Constitution to stop abortions because the unborn child does not have due process and equal protection under the law.
Rand Paul now seems almost boyish, smiling. And his mild souther accent is appealing. He calls strongly for not funding ISIS.
And finally to Kasich who looks like an ordinary American businessman (which Trump does NOT look like, and is not). Kasich is the intriguing dark horse here. Don't ever count him out. He can be very convincing.
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