My take on the first of many debates

I take umbrage with Joseph Heller’s cartoon (just to the left of this column) even though I placed it there. Some weeks are better than others with our cartoonist and though I figured this cartoon would anger the least amount of people than any other he submitted, I thought Thursday night’s first (two) GOP Debates hosted by Fox News were both entertaining and informative.

With any good debate, there are winners, losers and the also ran. Here is my take on the night’s events, for what it is worth.

The “Winners”

Fox News. The cable news show hosted the event and since it was the first of who knows how many debates to be held over the next year, I figured there would be a lot of softball questions in more of a get to know you event.

That wasn’t the case, even a little bit. The night’s moderators got Donald Trump to almost admit that he would run as a third party candidate if he didn’t receive the Republican nomination and Jeb Bush said he thought invading Iraq during his brother’s watch was a mistake. Each of the night’s questions were well thought out, important for this country and fair. Hat’s off to Fox News.

As for the winners of the debate (and let’s be honest, it was the first debate and one debate doesn’t really mean much) were Marko Rubio, Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz and John Kasich in my eyes. Those four seemed the most polished and “Presidential” … if that is your thing.

The “Losers”

In my eyes were Bush, Rand Paul, Chris Christie and Scott Walker. All four had moments when they somewhat shined, but more often than not, it seemed like they melted into the giant blue curtain behind them and left me questioning how prepared they were for the night.

The “Also Ran”

Donald Trump was his usual brash self and continues to make headlines (even if he is not trying.) Ben Carson seemed to start off slow and gain momentum as the night went on (and he was actually called upon to speak.) Neither one of them came off as politicians or “Presidential” …which might also be your thing.

All told, we are months away from any of these candidates really making strides as the next Republican nominee, and there is no lack of candidates, but after just one debate, looks to me like the GOP has some worthy contenders in their corner.