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Trump’s Clumsy Pivot to the General Election

We tuned in to the Republican debate Thursday night expecting fireworks. Instead we heard the hissing crackle of a wet fuse refusing to light.

Trump seemed somnolent to the point of comatose. Perhaps he has internal polls indicating that his ever-more-outrageous shtick was finally beginning to hurt him with voters; more likely, he’s decided that it’s time to prepare for the general election. But he didn’t seem to know quite how.

Lee praised Cruz for the promises he has made to protect gun rights, fight Obamacare and uphold other conservative principles, in an announcement just hours before CNN’s Republican debate.

Following a second-place finish in the Nevada caucuses that many thought established him as the leading alternative to frontrunner Donald Trump, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has seen his campaign stumble badly, winning only two contests (Minnesota and Puerto Rico) while coming in behind Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in most of the primaries and caucuses since and even coming in behind Ohio Gov. John Kasich in several states. Over at FiveThirtyEight.com, data guru Nate Silver diagnoses a key shortcoming of the ... Read More >>

Individually, we get why Donald Trump’s rivals mostly backed away from challenging the GOP frontrunner in last night’s 12th — and possibly final — Republican debate. For Marco Rubio, who saw his fav/unfav drop eight points in the past month in the NBC/WSJ poll, the nicer debate allowed him to dial back from the nasty, personal insults that dominated the previous two gatherings. For Ted Cruz, the current status quo helps him get closer to his desired one-on-one matchup against Trump. And for John Kasich, he simply followed the same strategy he’s been using throughout this race.

With yesterday’s contests in the rearview mirror and all eyes turning to pivotal matchups next Tuesday, Republican candidates are charting out their paths to clinching the GOP nomination.

But most aren’t looking all that likely.

GOP debate winners and losers

Thursday night’s Republican debate in Miami saw a dramatic shift in tone from recent GOP clashes, which had been marked by rancorous exchanges and name-calling.

The change surprised even front-runner Donald Trump who said at one point, “I cannot believe how civil it’s been up here.”

Never has there been a luckier front-runner. Donald Trump’s three opponents not only declined to launch fierce attacks, but largely left him alone at Thursday night’s Republican debate in Miami, Florida—for different reasons. Marco Rubio was forced to return to a positive message in the chastening wake of his failed antic and raunchy riffs against the billionaire.