Last night, seven Republican candidates took the debate stage for the first time since the Iowa Caucus, and the last time before Tuesday's New Hampshire primary. Recent campaign scandals and questions over potential presidential leadership dominated the conversation. News 8 took a look at what the candidates had to say and separated fact from fiction.
With the Republican field whittled down to seven on the main stage, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Ben Carson, and John Kasich squared off for the 8th time. The debate got off to a heated start, narrowing in on two battles between four candidates.
Up first... Cruz vs. Carson. After the Cruz campaign sent out an email to caucus volunteers reporting that Dr. Carson would be dropping out of the race, Cruz insists he did nothing wrong. He explained he was simply relaying information CNN had reported. Cruz said, "Let me tell you the facts of what happened. On Monday night about 6:30 PM, CNN reported that Ben wasn't going to New Hampshire. They said he was taking a break from campaigning. They reported that on television. Our political team saw that and forwarded that information to our caucus volunteers."
This is misleading. While CNN did say Dr. Carson wasn't "carrying on to New Hampshire", and instead, going back to Florida, that isn't the whole story. News 8 got ahold of the email from Cruz' campaign, and here it is:
The email reads, "BREAKING NEWS: the press is reporting that Dr. Ben Carson is taking time off from the campaign trail after Iowa and making a big announcement next week."
CNN never said anything about a "big announcement." What they did say was that Cruz would be speaking at a prayer breakfast, but that's hardly a "major announcement."
Onto the other showdown, Rubio vs. Christie. When Christie argued Rubio was just another "Washington politician" making 25 second memorized speeches, Rubio attacked Christie's record as New Jersey governor. Rubio attacked Christie, saying, "I think experience is not just what you did, but how it worked out. New Jersey was downgraded nine times, this country already has a debate problem, and you didn't do enough to help the credit rating of your state."
This is true. Since Christie took office as governor of New Jersey in 2010, three major credit rating firms have collectively downgraded the state's bond rating nine times. The latest move came from Moody's investor service in April. That time, the rating fell from A1 to A2. That number of downgrades is record-breaking. The previous record was six.
But are all nine economic errors solely attributed to Christie? That remains unknown. Pension problems began before Christie's time, and Democrats have controlled the New Jersey legislature throughout Christie's tenure.
The next Republican debate is just six days away in Greenville, South Carolina. Democrats Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton will fact off Thursday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.