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[h=4]Six takeaways from the GOP debate[/h]The<span style="color: Red;">*</span>fourth Republican presidential debate<span style="color: Red;">*</span>featured fewer<span style="color: Red;">*</span>candidates —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee were bumped<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to the undercard<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— and more time for those still standing on the main stage.
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Donald Trump's presence at the 4th GOP presidential debate wasn't as noticeable as in previous debates, but he still got into his fair share of altercations. VPC
Presidential candidate Republican Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) gives his closing remarks at the Republican Presidential Debate sponsored by Fox Business and the Wall Street Journal at the Milwaukee Theatre November 10, 2015, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.(Photo: Scott Olson, Getty Images)
The<span style="color: Red;">*</span>fourth Republican presidential debate<span style="color: Red;">*</span>featured fewer<span style="color: Red;">*</span>candidates —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee were bumped<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to the undercard<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— and more time for those still standing on the main stage.
Here are some key takeaways:
1. Jobs plan similar<span style="color: Red;">*</span>
The candidates offered similar prescriptions for creating jobs, focusing on cutting taxes and reducing government regulation.
The exception was Marco Rubio, who<span style="color: Red;">*</span>gave one of the night’s most memorable lines<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in calling for more vocational training — while taking a swipe at the academic choices of some liberal arts majors. “You’re going to make people more expensive than a machine. We need more welders and less philosophers,” Rubio said.
In the initial undercard debate, Rick Santorum was the only one to stray from the party’s traditional, tax-centric platform by calling for more job training to help match Americans with the job market.
2. No breakthrough for Jeb Bush
The stakes for this debate were probably the highest for Bush, who is in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>direct competition with Rubio<span style="color: Red;">*</span>for support from the establishment wing of the party.
After failing to land his punches on the Florida senator<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in the last debate, Bush pulled them this time around and gave an unremarkable performance. At one point, even Donald Trump playfully urged the moderator to let Bush<span style="color: Red;">*</span>speak. “Thank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That’s really nice of you. Really appreciate that,’’ Bush said.
That may not be good enough to convince his supporters, many of them trying to determine whether Rubio would be a more formidable<span style="color: Red;">*</span>general election candidate, that he’s the strongest horse in the race.
That’s especially true after<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Rubio gave another strong showing punctuated by his<span style="color: Red;">*</span>handling of an attack from Rand Paul<span style="color: Red;">*</span>who<span style="color: Red;">*</span>attacked Rubio as not “a conservative” for advocating greater military spending. Rubio punched back: “They are coming to us,’’ he said of terror cells in the Middle East.
3.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Trump out of his element?
The debate<span style="color: Red;">*</span>focused more than previous ones on policy.
Trump was asked about his opposition to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal under consideration by Congress that many in his party support. He said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the deal would harm U.S. workers and stressed the danger in allowing<span style="color: Red;">*</span>China to continue to manipulate its currency. After Trump finished, Paul chimed in to address the moderator and deliver a sting to Trump: “Gerard, you might want to point out China is not part of this deal.’
Presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during the Republican Presidential Debate sponsored by Fox Business and the Wall Street Journal at the Milwaukee Theatre November 10, 2015, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Scott Olson, Getty Images)
When asked about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression toward Ukraine he talked first talked about Iran, China and North Korea. He eventually answered the question by asking why the U.S. is doing all the work.
Later in the debate, after Fiorina took an indirect jab at him as a television personality, Trump lashed out: “Why does she keep interrupting everybody?”
It was the second time in the evening that he drew boos from the audience. The first was when he answered an attack from Kasich over his immigration plan. “I don’t have to hear from this man, believe me,’’ said Trump of the Ohio governor.
4.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Moderators less combative
The moderators of the last Republican debate, hosted by CNBC, came under fire for asking provocative questions unrelated to the economy. The Fox Business Network team seemed intent on sticking to the economy.
While the moderators of the main debate occasionally pressed the candidates to answer the questions posed, they left the job of fact-checking to the candidates competing against each other on stage.
In the undercard debate, the moderators did not ask a single follow-up question.
5.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Carson vs. Trump fizzles
With Ben Carson eclipsing Donald Trump<span style="color: Red;">*</span>at the top of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>some polls, expectations were high for some type of a clash between the two.
Presidential candidate Donald Trump and Ben Carson pause during a commercial break at the the Republican Presidential Debate.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Scott Olson, Getty Images)
In the days before the debate Trump attacked Carson for some of the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>controversy surrounding his résumé, including a claim Carson made that he stabbed someone as a youth. Trump pulled his punches and Carson<span style="color: Red;">*</span>shrugged off a question<span style="color: Red;">*</span>about his biography early in the debate, disappearing for long stretches of the remainder of the night.
“I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth,’’ said Carson, who proceeded to criticize Hillary Clinton’s testimony about the Benghazi terror attacks.
6.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Kasich as truth teller
After failing to get much time in the limelight at past debates, Kasich had several moments during which he commanded the stage.
It started early on as he interrupted candidates pitching flat tax plans, including Ted Cruz, calling them out as budget busters. He also<span style="color: Red;">*</span>dug into Trump on the immigration issue, saying the billionaire businessman’s plan to deport millions of immigrants is “not an adult argument” and “makes no sense.”
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