CNN Undercard Republican Debate: Live Coverage

Does it feel like you’ve seen these same guys over and over during the undercard debates? That’s not exactly right. August’s undercard didn’t include Huckabee, who got the main stage. It also featured Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina and Jim Gilmore. By September, Gilmore had dropped off the debate rosters, Perry had dropped out of the race entirely, and Fiorina had jumped alongside Huckabee and the rest of the main debaters. The undercard stayed steady in October: Santorum, Jindal, Pataki, Graham. Last month, Huckabee and Chris Christie dropped to the kids’ table — yes, this post is an excuse to use lots of synonyms for the undercard debate — while Pataki and Graham got the night off. Since then, Jindal has dropped out and Christie has moved up, making room for Pataki and Graham to take the spots that it feels like they’ve always occupied in these debates.

When asked about Putin and Assad, Graham said, “I blame Obama for ISIL.” A March Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 34 percent of Republicans ranked Obama as an imminent threat, ahead of Putin (25 percent) and Assad (23 percent).

Crude oil exports — which are currently banned — are shaping up to be a big issue in Congress, and based on Huckabee’s comments, could be an issue in the general election campaign too. But the surge in U.S. oil production has already done plenty to destabilize global oil markets. Oil has tumbled below $40 a barrel, and the U.S. is importing less oil than it has in decades. Natural gas exports, by the way, are legal, and Cheniere Energy is set to start shipping liquefied natural gas from a newly constructed Louisiana terminal early in the new year.