What to know about tonight's GOP debate:
- Four candidates battled during tonight's fourth Republican presidential primary debate, the smallest stage of the cycle so far: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
- Haley faced a deluge of attacks from her fellow candidates, although Christie vigorously defended her against Ramaswamy in one particularly fiery moment.
- Former President Donald Trump, who is the front-runner in the polls, skipped the debate again. The candidates took a handful of shots at Trump's record and his absence.
- The debate was hosted by NewsNation, “The Megyn Kelly Show” on SiriusXM and The Washington Free Beacon. It was moderated by Kelly, Washington Free Beacon editor-in-chief Eliana Johnson and NewsNation anchor Elizabeth Vargas.
Ramaswamy appears to have cribbed a line from Barack Obama — again. In the debate, he said, “We don’t have a health care system in this country; we have a sick care system.” That’s very similar to a line Obama liked to use during his presidency as he promoted the Affordable Care Act, though Obama might have borrowed it from another Democrat who used it even earlier, former Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa.
In the first GOP debate this year, Ramaswamy was accused of cribbing a different Obama line by calling himself a “skinny kid with a funny last name,” which is very similar to a famous line from Obama’s breakout Democratic convention speech in 2004, when he called himself a “skinny with a funny name.”
Ramaswamy had the most talking time. Christie had the least.
Ramaswamy spoke for the longest time during the debate, topping out at 21 minutes. Following Ramaswamy were DeSantis, who spoke for 20.05 minutes; Haley, who spoke for 17.7 minutes; and Christie, who spoke for 16.7 minutes.
DeSantis spoke the most frequently, 23 times. Haley was next, at 17. Ramaswamy spoke 16 times, and Christie spoke the least, at 14 times.
Biden campaign slams Republicans on health care policies
The Biden campaign slammed the Republicans' health care policy positions in a statement after the debate.
"Here’s a fact that conveniently didn’t come up on tonight’s debate stage: The Republicans running for president — led by Donald J. Trump — will make sure that the millions of Americans benefiting from lifesaving health care suffer if Republicans have their way and dismantle the ACA," campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz said.
Munoz went on to criticize Republicans' positions on the Inflation Reduction Act, a signature part of Biden's economic agenda. He also provided a list of instances when the candidates criticized Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act, by calling it "out of control" and "disastrous."
"For Joe Biden and Democrats, health care is a right. For Republicans, it’s a privilege," Munoz said.
Got to wonder if Haley was referring to DeSantis when she just said there would be no “drama” in her administration. DeSantis world has been deluged with internal drama in recent weeks.
After a debate of attacks, Haley is finally back on her usual stump speech — in substance, tone and cadence.
NBC News is watching the debate with an eight-person youth voter watch panel at New England College in Henniker, N.H. All participants are Republicans or Independents.
A temperature check after the final commercial break:
Nathan Seal, 23, says of Ramaswamy: “It’s frustrating when he says such crazy things and such sensible things. So I don’t know how much to hate him.”
Christopher Ford, 22, has been impressed by Christie. “I think Chris Christie has taken the floor with a lot of it. He has shown he has clear stances and clear plans for if he were the president,” he said. “I think Vivek Ramaswamy has done a good job at explaining his stances and explaining his policies but has not done a good job at explaining how his policies would be implemented if he were in office."
After watching four debates, I'm surprised at Haley’s performance tonight, in which she has seemed less aggressive, choosing to ignore at times rather than fire back. Does “above the fray” work?
As the candidates answer the final question before closing statements, it appears this is the first debate at which Republicans were not asked about abortion, which is expected to be a major issue in the 2024 election.
Even though Christie barely made it into this debate, this would’ve been a wildly different event tonight without him.
There are multiple TikTok ads about how great TikTok is during this debate — placed during an event at which the company would expect to be criticized by candidates onstage (and it has been).
Quite the juxtaposition of candidates slamming China and then cutting to commercial breaks filled with TikTok.