For the four Republican presidential candidates relegated to the undercard debate, it was a final chance to make an impression before the Iowa caucuses.
Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and Jim Gilmore steered clear of clashing with each other on Thursday night and directed their ire at Democrats and a national media apparatus that they blame for their struggling campaigns.
I dont think its that the message isnt working, its that the message isnt getting out, Mr. Huckabee, who won the Iowa caucuses in 2008, said of his flagging candidacy.
An enraged Mr. Santorum lashed out at Fox News, which hosted the debate, for creating a two-tier process that kept candidates with low poll numbers on a separate stage.
This is what the media has been doing over the past year in trying to segregate and take Iowans out of the process, said Mr. Santorum, the former senator from Pennsylvania who won the caucuses in 2012.
The candidates also discussed the fight against the Islamic State, tax policy and abortion. They railed against big government. And they accused Democrats of taking the United States in the wrong direction.
Mrs. Fiorina took a page from Donald J. Trumps playbook and assailed Hillary Clinton by highlighting the sexual infidelity of her husband, former President Bill Clinton. Accusing Mrs. Clinton of doing anything to gain and hold power, she said, Listen, if my husband did what Bill Clinton did, I would have left him long ago.
The candidates in the early debate are all mired in the single digits in Iowa polls, trailing far behind Mr. Trump and Senator Ted Cruz. Mr. Santorum and Mr. Huckabee were both planning to attend the rally that the billionaire businessman organized on Thursday night after backing out of the prime-time debate.
Mr. Gilmore, the former governor of Virginia, criticized his rivals for participating in Mr. Trumps event, which he considered a sideshow. Excluded from all but one of the previous Republican debates and making his first visit to Iowa, Mr. Gilmore explained that he is focusing his efforts on New Hampshire. He, too, complained that his message has been unfairly silenced.
Media across the country is manipulating and shaping and framing this campaign, Mr. Gilmore said, expressing confidence that if elected he could change this dynamic. This is wrong. It has to change, and when Im president, its going to change.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/live/republican-debate-january-2016/
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