Total wishful thinking
End results last night
Trump:
No knock out blows, no gaffes which leaves the rest still in Trumps rear view mirror
Rubio:
Great talker and smooth which will make the GOP ladies swoon but no there there. A human parrot repeating what he was taught to say. Take him off script and he fails badly.
For example: After going on the attack in this excited high pitched tone about Trump supposedly lacking specifics in his Health Care plan Rubio ends his tirade sneering “erasing lines around states what does that even mean?”
Trump then calmly respond by schooling young Rubio on how competition in health insurance would work. I guess we can understand why Rubio would be confused: we haven’t had real competition in the US Healthcare Insurance system for almost as long as Rubio has been alive. While Trump is making a clear concise case for his plan, Rubio interrupts with “Yes I know all that it is in my plan”
Those kind of exchanges may make political reporter all excited but it leave average voters going Huh? 30 seconds ago you did not know what it meant NOW it is “part of your plan”?
“Ruibot” earned his unflattering tag again last night. Great as long as he is not forced off script. Once he is forced off script he looks flustered and uncertain. Of the many things voters look for in a President, flustered and uncertain are not two of them.
Cruz.
It is over. Cannot campaign with soaring rhetoric and high minded “perfect political purity” talking points only to have the real record be less then perfect. Warp yourself in “holy” political pure white robes, as Cruz has done, and the political dirt of errors shows up darker and more noticeable. Cruz spent all night walking face 1st into the other candidates, specifically Trumps, punches.
Biggest knock down punches. After telling everyone he was the best qualified to pick SC Justices, Trump points out Cruz’s support for John Roberts, who GOP voters feel should of ended the debate on Obamacare and Gay Marriage and did not.
Then Cruz lectures Trump about campaign contributions only to have Trump point out he gave money to Cruz. Three point shot for Trump since it points out Cruz is woefully unprepared, paints Cruz as a hypocrite and it exposes Cruz as a professional political insider playing this race as a pretend “outsider”.
So at best Rubio/Cruz can claim is a stalemate which is a lose since they are the ones in Trumps rear view mirror