Presidential candidates (L-R) Ohio Governor John Kasich, Mike Huckabee, Jeb Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz (R-TX), New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) take part in the CNBC Republican Presidential Debate at University of Colorados Coors Events Center October 28, 2015 in Boulder, Colorado.Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Donald Trump proudly packs a pistol, Jeb Bush boasts he's unbeaten in his fantasy football league and Carly Fiorina says her old boss believes it was wrong to fire her.
Those tidbits of questionable substance emerged from Wednesday night's often-feisty Republican presidential debate as candidates jockeyed for position with the first real test – the Iowa caucuses – fewer than 100 days away.
Mr. Trump, the bombastic billionaire property magnate still leading in most national polls, boasted that his was the only campaign that was entirely self-funded. "I'm putting up 100 per cent of my own money," Mr. Trump said. But the last fundraising filing candidates must submit to the U.S. Federal Election Commission suggests otherwise. In the three months ended Oct. 15, the Trump campaign took in $3.9-million (U.S.); only $100,000 came out of Mr. Trump's pocket.
Other boasts turned out to be equally problematic. Ms. Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard boss and only woman running in the Republican field, said: "The man who led my firing, Tom Perkins, an icon of Silicon Valley, has come out publicly and said, 'You know what? We were wrong. She was right. She was a great CEO. She'd be a great president of the United States because the leadership she brought to HP is exactly the leadership we need in Washington, D.C.'"
She was then reminded that among Mr. Perkins's other political views, he believes that rich people should get more votes than the poor and that those who pay no taxes should get no vote at all.
Mr. Bush, the former Florida governor, son of one president and brother of another, whose campaign has stumbled badly in recent weeks, tried to crush his rival and one-time protégé, Senator Marco Rubio, attacking him over missing Senate votes.
"Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up to work … you can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job," Mr. Bush said, only to have the attack backfire.
Mr. Rubio acidly and accurately noted that other sitting senators, including John McCain and Barack Obama, similarly missed many votes during their presidential campaigns.
Later, Mr. Bush boasted about his prowess at fantasy football, seeming lame while Mr. Rubio remained articulate and on message all evening.
Both men are from Florida, a key swing state, and both are capable of drawing broad support from Hispanics – a key demographic if Republicans want to regain the White House after eight Obama years. The Bush-Rubio battle to determine which one emerges as a viable centrist candidate – the establishment patrician or the much younger immigrant son – is a key element in winnowing the Republican field.
Many pundits saw Mr. Rubio as the clear winner in Wednesday's debate.
"In presidential debates, knockouts come on the counterpunch. Marco Rubio knocked Jeb Bush out tonight, flat on his butt. It was a devastating moment," Steve Schmidt, a Republican strategist who worked on Mr. McCain's 2008 campaign told CNN.
"Rubio won tonight with wit, good humour, great one-liners and substance," said Ari Fleischer, former White House spokesman for then-president George W. Bush.
By contrast, both Mr. Trump and the other front-runner, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, were silent for long periods. The two remain hugely popular among the frustrated right-wing party faithful, even as other candidates hammer away at their simple, sweeping solutions.
Mr. Trump admitted he sometimes carries a gun and said massacres would occur less frequently if more people were armed. "Gun-free zones … that's target practice for the sickos and for the mentally ill," he said, adding: "I do carry on occasion, sometimes a lot. But I like to be unpredictable so that people don't know."
Ohio Governor John Kasich launched into both Mr. Trump and Mr. Carson right from the beginning. "We are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job," he said. Then, without referring to either of them by name, he lampooned their policies. They "say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and leave the senior citizens out … in the cold. I've heard them talk about deporting 10 or 11 million people from this country, splitting families. I've heard about tax schemes that don't add up, that put our kids in a deeper hole than they are today."
On Wednesday, in the two-hour debate staged by CNBC at the University of Colorado in Boulder, the loudest cheers came when candidates attacked the moderators, accusing them of left-leaning bias.
Even the Republican National Committee, which is organizing the series of debates, voiced dismay. "The performance by the CNBC moderators was extremely disappointing and did a disservice to their network, our candidates and voters," chairman Reince Priebus said.