With “the elephant not in the room,” as Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly began Thursday’s Republican debate referring to the absence of businessman Donald Trump, the wild tundra that is the 2016 Republican presidential primary was a little less savage.
That’s not to say that the seven candidates trailing “The Donald” did not take advantage of his taking-his-ball-and-going-home row with Fox to ravage each other. There was just too much up for grabs with just days left until Monday’s first official vote in the Iowa caucuses.
This was an opportunity for the candidates to make their case to the voters without Trump’s megaphone bluster and elbowing tactics. His no-show meant the debate was more substantive, more about policy.
Texas senator Ted Cruz, the conservative rabble-rouser, took the role of substitute frontrunner in place of Trump, but it was not a part he played well. He came across as irritable and petty, claiming at one point that he was being repeatedly attacked by the others.
“A debate actually is a policy issue,” he said, complaining. “But I will say this: Gosh, if you guys ask one more mean question I may have to leave the stage,” he added, poking fun at Trump.
Cruz, as the second-highest polling candidate in Iowa after Trump, predictably bore most of the attacks on the Des Moines debate stage with the fiercest exchanges coming between him and Florida senator Marco Rubio as they battle for conservatives and evangelicals in Iowa.
The Texan knows that a convincing third-place finish for the Floridian will help Rubio in the later voting states.
Both are hoping for a surprise result in Iowa to derail the Trump juggernaut. They filled the void left by the businessman on the stage.
They clashed on immigration, trading blows on their Senate votes on whether they offered citizenship or legalisation to illegal immigrants.
“This is the lie that Ted’s campaign is built on,” said Rubio, disputing Cruz’s assertion that the Texas blocked a Bill co-authored by the Florida senator that would have granted amnesty to the illegals.
“The truth is, Ted, throughout this campaign, you’ve been willing to say or do anything in order to get votes,” Rubio jabbed at Cruz.
Former Florida governor Jeb Bush and New Jersey governor Chris Christie sucked up lots of the oxygen on offer in the Trump-less vacuum, pitching themselves to voters seeking a moderate alternative.
They are eyeing a stronger finish in New Hampshire, which votes eight days after Iowa and where establishment candidates have a better chance than among Iowa’s conservative Republican caucus-goers.
Christie bashed Cruz as part of “the Washington establishment,” while Rand Paul, for months a peripheral figure, even shone.
Bush appeared the most liberated with Trump not around, debating with the swagger of a young boy roaming the safe Republican streets with the neighbourhood bully away on holiday.
Hoping to hurt Rubio in his well-positioned third place in the polls, Bush’s debate was his strongest of the seven so far.
The candidate, who has run an anaemic campaign, even managed a little humour: “I kind of miss Donald Trump. He was a little teddy bear to me. We always had such a loving relationship in these debates.”
Bush enjoyed his strongest moment when he hit Rubio for flip-flopping on immigration, managing to fluster the usually unflappable senator while at the same time show off his moderate credentials on the subject. Despite the attack and occasional hyperactivity, Rubio put in another strong debate performance that will not have hurt him in Iowa.
Even though Trump wasn’t there, he managed to overshadow the debate from his rival event, a benefit for war veterans two miles away. Despite digs at Fox and Bush, a more restrained Trump pondered whether his boycott of the debate would cost him votes in Iowa.
“Will it be a good thing? Will it be a bad thing? Will I get more votes? Will I get less votes? Who the hell knows!” he said.
Given the attacks and counterattacks that took place in his absence, Trump’s gamble is likely to have paid off. He may not have been in the room, but post-debate he remains the biggest elephant in this race.