By David Cruz
Correspondent
This sixth debate, the first of the new year, featured a shrinking lineup and some of the most pointed exchanges of the season. Ted Cruz versus Donald Trump and Chris Christie versus Marco Rubio were highlights. At our watch party, a diverse group of observers from Republican strategists and partisans to liberal Democrats and some of our own news team, all from Jersey, all with thoughts on how the debate went and how the Jersey guy did. We also polled our guests, in a mostly unscientific sampling, to determine who they thought the winner was. The results in a minute. But first, the zingers.
” I’m not bringing a suit, I promise. But the Democrats are going to bring a lawsuit. You have to have certainty. You can’t have a question. I can agree with you or not but you can’t have a question mark over your head,” said Trump.
“Listen, I’ve spent my life defending the constitution before the Supreme Court, and, I tell you, I’m not going to take legal advice from Donald Trump,” Cruz said.
Trump and Cruz are the front runners in this race at the moment, at least according to most polls. They are seen as the favorites of the party’s right wing. Christie, who surged in New Hampshire a couple of weeks ago and has been hanging out just outside the top three, is in a group of so-called establishment candidates, presumably ready to step in if Trump and/or Cruz stumble. In there with him? Sen. Marco Rubio.
“Common Core or the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor or the donation he made to Planned Parenthood. Our next president and our nominee cannot be someone who supports those positions,” Rubio said.
“This is the difference between being a governor and being a senator. See when you’re a senator what you get to do is just talk and talk and talk and you talk so much that nobody can keep up with whether what you’re saying is factual or not. As a governor you’re held accountable for everything you do,” Christie said.
Our pizza-loving guests concurred that this was one of the more spirited — and substantive — GOP debates, and it led to some equally interesting discussions among our guests about Chris Christie’s standing in the party and whether the party itself was in the middle of a seismic shift in this year of the Trump.
“Cruz versus Trump was a reality show. Each guy one upped the other back and forth three or four times. I thought they were both brilliant, to tell you the truth. Rubio and Christie was like a poor man’s Trump and Cruz. They were both good. Christie rose to the occasion after Rubio attacked him pretty hard,” said NJTV News Chief Political Correspondent Michael Aron.
This is a party that has two Latinos, one black guy and they represent New York and Florida and some really diverse states, but in six debates now, I have not heard one question about race. Ralph Caputo represents a largely black district. “Well, you can see that the presentation of the Republican Party is strictly male, white and not realistic in terms of what New Jersey’s about,” Caputo said.
“What you’re seeing in the GOP debate is really a party that in many ways is out of touch with American values, out of touch with where we want to go as a nation, and I think to further that point, as you said, this is a party with two Latinos and a black guy and minorities across America still aren’t impressed,” said community activist Rashawn Davis.
“If you take a look at the candidates running on the Democratic side, you have Clinton, Sanders and O’Malley. All of them are white. I mean if you want to talk about that, and the other thing is this. The candidates up here are not controlling the questions,” said Assemblyman Robert Auth of District 39.
In contrast to the the president’s positive picture of the nation’s current state this week, Republicans are downright gloomy on how things are. That comparison set off an exchange on the current state of the GOP.
“All of the men on stage are in a heated competition with Hillary Clinton, most beating her as of right now, so I think if you’re going to take into context what he was saying as opposed to what people are feeling and thinking, I think there’s a big discrepancy,” said Amanda Woloshen State Director for Congressman Leonard Lance.
“Watching this debate only highlights the fact that the Republican Party is deeply divided. You have the Tea Party extreme right and you have the mainstream Republicans,” Steve Ascyue a Democratic Strategist said.
“Whoa, Tea Party extreme? Come on,” said Bob Yudin Chair of the Bergan County Republican Organization.
“I think you’re going to see a civil war in the Republican Party that you’ve never seen before,” Ascyue said.
“That’s outrageous two statements. Civil War? Come on. The Tea Party does not control the Republican Party, especially here in New Jersey. We are not coming to a civil war. That’s just Democratic propaganda,” Yudin said.
“Now we’re calling a Tea Party candidate like Marco Rubio a moderate, so the Republican Party of Jacob Javitz and centrists and liberal Republicans is way out the window,” said Bill Matsikoudis.
“How can we not talk about the extreme left wing, and Bernie Sanders, a self-proclaimed socialist. I think it’s very unfair,” Woloshen said.
So, who did our viewers think won the debate? We asked them to rank the candidates in order, and the winner — according to our experts — was: Marco Rubio, followed by Donald Trump, with Ted Cruz in third. In fourth? Gov. Chris Christie. Again, just off the top tier, but within striking distance.