Republican Debate # 3: Marco Rubio, Chris Christie and H1B visas star on crowded stage

Two nights before America goes trick or treating, 10 Republicans who fancy their chances of being President of the USA grabbed a megaphone each and were itching to scream Boo! at Donald Trump. The Republican Debate moderator did it for them instead and kind of cleared the decks for a less Trumpian evening which included, among the usual laundry list of questions, prime time attention to God, guns, H1B visas and speciality tech workers from India. Ten of the highest polling Republican candidates took the stage at Colorado Wednesday night. “Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign?” CNBC debate moderator John Harwood asked Donald Trump, right at the opening bell of a debate headlined ‘Your money, your vote’. What no one expected though, was the recently humbled Trump Version 2.0. He brought with him a one line he did not tweet yet. “It wasn’t me!” [caption id=“attachment_2487206” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Ten candidates, crowded stage. AP[/caption] He said “It wasn’t me” or “It was someone else” to all “nasty” questions. Shows that his sinking poll numbers and threats from Hispanics have hit home. The Donald’s dance bar with its rickety tin roof on foreign policy is selling all insults and tweets at 75 percent off. “You don’t need us now, you won’t have us then. You insult us now, we will be deaf to you then,” Republican leader Rosario Marin, who served as US Treasurer under President George W Bush, warned Trump hours before the debate. “He (Trump) became Mr Conehead, navigating a sudden burst of traffic cones on the road,” said Chris Mathews, MSNBC prime time host. With none of the 10 candidates on stage getting more than 60 seconds max, Marco Rubio, Carly Fiorina and Chris Christie pounced at their chances with eloquence and aggression. For Governor Jeb Bush, it was an evening of too many missed chances. Rubio branded Hillary Clinton “a liar” and accused the Democrats of using the mainstream media to spread those “lies,” a rite of passage at every GOP summitry. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie wasted no time in lashing out at Democrats.“You put me on the stage with her (Clinton) next September and she won’t get within 10 miles of the White House,” he said. Political pundits were unanimous that Christie is going to get a very hard second look by Republican voters. “These guys are against the media, against the government, they’re against everything, why do they want to be in government?” sniggered Jim Cramer, host of Mad Money on CNBC. Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio clashed for controlling the ideological centre of the party’s identity three months before the first state wide votes are cast in the race. On most questions, Rubio played it like Candidate Obama, staying aggressive and keeping it personal. [caption id=“attachment_2487248” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. AP[/caption] “My dad was a bartender and my mother a maid. My four children have had a good Christian education and I have saved enough to send them to college,” said Rubio, staking claim for his part as a guy who knows how to work his taxes and can work it for all American families. Asked about medical insurance, he spoke about his mom. Personal, personal, he kept bringing it back. On H1B visas, Trump sprung a surprising defence of the program, singing praises of “these hugely talented guys who go to Harvard and Yale and work in Silicon Valley.” Whoopee doo! “Didn’t you say you didn’t like these visas,” CNBC moderator Becky Quick asked him Donald Trump’s campaign website has called Rubio “Mark Zuckerberg’s personal senator” for supporting the tech visas. “Oh you guys write this stuff, you should know,” Trump said to roars of laughter. “I have a permit to carry a gun and I do sometimes. I like to be unpredictable,” Trump said sticking to his line that gun free zones are disastrous. In summary Rivals Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio agree on lower taxes. Rubio says he is a living example of the American Dream come true. Jeb Bush paints himself as a unifier who can bring government to agree and move on policies that make a difference. But Rubio stole the thunder. Chris Christie slammed Hillary Clinton, kept focus on his proven credentials. Former technology executive Carly Fiorina says she wants to be Hillary Clinton’s worst nightmare. Says “every single policy” Clinton endorses is “demonstrably bad for women.” Dr. Ben Carson, leading in Iowa and national polls, says he didn’t see himself as president until the “hundreds of thousands of people” who are supporting him persuaded him to run. He filled in, did not dominate. Meanwhile, the only Trump scrap that’s selling well - creepy Halloween masks with Trump’s mouth agape and signature blonde tuft. A Mexican company is cashing in on the anti-Trump sentiment by exporting freaky rubber masks in Trump’s likeness to more than 30 countries, including the US and Canada. On amazon.com, these masks are selling at $18 a piece.