8:33 – Shifting to Ukraine. Scott supports aid for Ukraine but wants accountability for the spending and a separate funding bill for Israel. Brings in the border crisis. Welker tries to get a yes-or-no on a bill for Ukraine aid, but Scott insists on accountability for the spending first.
8:30 – Christie had a good answer, but I would have preferred more of a challenge to Holt’s framing of the issue, as DeSantis did. Haley talks about American values. That was a better approach.
8:28 – DeSantis has a good answer but ignored Ramaswamy’s comment. Holt then buys into the Islamophobia diversion in the very next question. Neither Hugh nor Kristen Welker have asked a question yet. Maybe each round will have a single moderator?
8:26 – Scott has a better answer on the anti-Semitism on college campuses than Ramaswamy.
8:24 – Interesting insight from Ramaswamy on anti-Semitism and wokery. And he makes a good point about censorship, a point on which DeSantis is at least somewhat vulnerable. Fair comment.
8:23 – DeSantis reminds people of his service in a war zone while insisting on making sure that any attacks on Americans will result in a devastating response.
8:22 – I enjoyed Haley’s slap back at Ramaswamy over his sneering comments about her heels. She’s right about Iran and Biden’s appeasement policies.
8:21 – Why is Matthew Brooks getting a question before Hugh?
8:19 – A good point by Christie on intel failures, and the need for the US to work more closely with Israel on those efforts.
8:18 – Scott gets back on topic, tying the issue to appeasement of Iran by Obama and Biden. This is a very smart answer, and makes Ramaswamy look childish — but I think advocating strikes on Iran may be hanging it out over the edge.
8:15 – Ramaswamy goes after the neocons. And then goes after Haley for being corrupt. “Dick Cheney in 3-inch heels” gets boos from the audience.
8:14 – Good answers from both DeSantis and Haley on Hamas: “Finish them.” Both of them have track records on this topic and are relying on those properly.
8:13 – The question set this time is starting off better than the last two debates. These are big issues for the Republican Party’s voters, not the media’s narrative crafters. We’re only on the second round, though.
8:11 – Tim Scott is doing pretty well too, but DeSantis and Haley were more direct about going after Trump than the other three, even Christie.
8:10 – Christie seems tentative at first, picked up a little steam at the end. He should have started on point first.
8:09 – On the other hand, I did enjoy his criticism of the media.
8:07 – Ramaswamy goes after … Ronna McDaniel. Not that she’s immune from criticism, but the question is about Trump.
8:06 – Good answer from Haley on Trump too, focusing on her experience on foreign policy and national security.
8:04 – DeSantis gets tough with Trump right off the bat. “I’m sick of Republicans losing!”
8:02 – They have new rules — no automatic response after getting mentioned. Maybe that will clean up the infighting.
8:01 ET: Welcome to the live blog! The stage looks colorful …
Original post follows …
… no candidates exit? Tonight we cover the third RNC presidential debate of the cycle, and the third without polling leader Donald Trump in attendance, starting at 8 pm ET tonight. NBC News partners up with Salem Media Group, our parent company, and included Salem Radio host Hugh Hewitt as a moderator, along with Lester Holt and Kristen Welker. It’s the first non-Fox debate of the cycle, and the most recent since the embarrassing ‘Survivor’ stunt in September’s debate.
The Washington Post is horrified, of course. How can conservatives get a fair shake from Kristen Welker? Just kidding!
It was the Republican National Committee that assigned Salem to partner with NBC — and although Salem radio host Hugh Hewitt will serve as one of the moderators, NBC News will retain full editorial control over the questions asked, a network spokesperson said.
Still, Salem’s overtly political and rightward shift has raised questions about the undertaking. “This is a major mistake for NBC,” said Brian Rosenwald, who wrote a 2019 book about the history of political talk radio. “I think it really undermines their journalistic credibility.”
Yeah, sure. My friend Hugh has had a long association with NBC News, and is one of the most educated people on conservative policies and concerns. I’m looking forward to seeing Hugh drill down to those tonight with the five candidates that qualified:
Only five candidates qualified for this debate, down from seven who qualified for the previous debate in September. They are:
Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey.
Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida.
Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and former United Nations ambassador.
Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur.
Tim Scott, a senator from South Carolina.
Under criteria set by the Republican National Committee, candidates needed to have at least 70,000 unique donors (up from 50,000 for the second debate) and to record at least 4 percent support (up from 3 percent) in either two national polls or one national poll in addition to two polls from early-voting states.
Hopefully the smaller group on stage will allow for fuller exploration of topics. And I certainly expect to see a closer focus on topics that matter to Republican primary voters with Hugh on stage. Worth watching: whether the candidates start taking Trump on directly, and how. (Christie’s the lone exception here, as he’s been targeting Trump all along.) The field is running out of room for gaining converts, as the primaries are now only a couple of months away. That matters more than debating each other, but we shall soon see how many of these five realize that.
I will be live-blogging the debate from home tonight, and our other writers will be following along on Twitter. I’ll post updates at the top in reverse-chronological order as soon as the debate begins, so be sure to stay with us all the way through to the spin-room coverage!
Read the full article here