Keller @ Large: Republican Presidential Debates Do Little To Elevate Candidates

By Jon Keller, CBS Boston

November 9, 2023

BOSTON - Give the moderators from NBC News and Salem Radio their due (despite Vivek Ramaswamy's jaw-dropping suggestion that they should be replaced by the law firm of [Tucker] Carlson, [Elon] Musk & [Joe] Rogan) - they cut right to the chase in the latest Republican debate, asking the candidates: why should Republicans back you instead of Donald J. Trump?

Ron DeSantis was first up, and it appears his days of side-stepping direct attacks on the former president are gone, along with his robust early poll numbers: "He should explain why he didn't have Mexico pay for the border wall. He should explain why he racked up so much debt. He should explain why he didn't drain the swamp. And he said Republicans were going to get tired of winning...I'm sick of Republicans losing."

That might have been DeSantis's best moment of the night. Nikki Haley's offering - "the fact that [Trump] used to be right on Ukraine and foreign issues, now he's getting weak in the knees and trying to be friendly again. We've got to go back to the fact that we can't live in the past" - paled by comparison.

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