You wouldn’t change a syllable of what Rubio said. It was a nearly perfect performance from beginning to end. The problem he has is when you’ve adopted such different strategies and personas from one debate to another it raises questions about your reliability and whether you really know who you are. Still, he probably helped himself, but he needs a miracle to pull out Florida.
Trump was vacuous and incoherent at times, repeatedly falling back on his assurance that he will cut good deals. But he hit his core themes on trade, Islam, and special interest money. He had a more elevated and unifying tone–at least as elevated and unifying as he gets–and had a large hand in making the debate a more civil, serious affair by avoiding his usual theatrics. His ability to dictate the terms and tone of the Republican campaign continues to be extraordinary.
One reason the debate felt different was that it was only Cruz that was going after Trump. The Texan didn’t seem quite as effective as in the last debate, but still scored points, especially in his riff on Trump’s loyalty pledges.
Kasich, as always, ran free, and this time it really matters–to slow Trump, it is crucial that he win Ohio.
Overall, the debate had an autumnal feel. It may be the last one that Trump participates in and the frontrunner opened and closed with an appeal to party unity, confident, of course, that he’ll be the one the party unifies around. Such a pitch from Trump would have seemed otherworldly three months ago, but here we are.