What Went Down At The ABC Republican Debate

For what might have been the first time in the campaign, Jeb Bush clearly got the better of Donald Trump in a debate exchange (in this case, on eminent domain). But to repeat a question I asked earlier today: should Chris Christie, having been so effective against Marco Rubio earlier tonight, be attacking too? Their appeal overlaps more than you might not think — maybe not a lot on policy, but plenty on personality. And Christie will need to pick off votes from a lot of places if he’s going to make a last-minute comeback in New Hampshire.

In answering a question about eminent domain, Trump said that all the other candidates have hit him with ads about his support for it, “except Chris,” referring to Christie, who, as Nate pointed out earlier today, is close with Trump. What followed was one of the sharpest exchanges in the debate, with Bush getting in a couple of shots at Trump, saying he had abused eminent domain in order to “try to take the property of an elderly woman on the strip in Atlantic City.” The crowd booed Trump several times throughout the minutes-long exchange.