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It was an appropriately lively debate for a Saturday night. The Republican candidates were vicious to one another, the crowd was riled up, and the most important story of the evening — the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia — was largely drowned out in the noise.

GOP debate winners and losers

The final Republican debate before the crucial South Carolina primary was perhaps the rowdiest to date, with intense verbal firefights erupting between Donald Trump and Jeb Bush in particular — though Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio got in on the action too.

Jeb Bush breaks through on Twitter during debate

For the first time this cycle, Jeb Bush captured a significant portion of the conversation on Twitter during a Republican primary debate.

Though Donald Trump was the most talked about candidate, capturing 40 percent of the conversation, Bush was in second with 20 percent, according to data provided by Twitter.

Insiders: Trump flopped in debate

Sparks flew Saturday night, and Donald Trump got burned — more than half of Republican insiders say the billionaire was the loser at the GOP primary debate in Greenville, South Carolina.

That’s according to the POLITICO Caucus, our weekly survey of the top activists, operatives and early-state strategists.

Off Message 5 takeaways from the GOP debate

There’s just something about South Carolina — maybe it’s the bad-karma ghost of John C. Calhoun (the ideological godfather of secession) — that just brings out the snarling mean in conservatives.

More likely it’s the palpable fear among GOP candidates that Donald Trump is running away with the Republican nomination that accounted for the foul mood that descended on the sour debate stage in Greenville, South Carolina, on Saturday night.

After a disappointing fifth-place finish in the New Hampshire primary, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is hoping for a better showing in South Carolina’s primary on Feb. 20. The Washington Examiner this morning explains what Rubio’s plan is to regain the momentum he had coming out of Iowa and re-establish himself as a leading contender for the GOP nomination:

Marco Rubio’s South Carolina comeback plan

The Florida senator has expanded his scope of attack to include rival Donald Trump, while continuing to contrast ... Read More >>

The Five Republicans Who Could Be President

We began with more than 20 Republican candidates. Seventeen made it to a formal announcement. Eleven reached Iowa. Now six remain; and with Ben Carson going nowhere, only five have a chance to win the nomination. Here is how each of them could do that.