Wall Street Journal
By Reid Epstein and Rebecca Ballhaus
August 6, 2015
Republican
presidential contenders who weren’t invited to a prime-time debate took
muscular positions against illegal immigration, Islamic State, the Iran
nuclear deal,
abortion and the Clintons in the first debate of the 2016 White House
race.
Former
Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO Carly Fiorina, who delivered polished answers,
likely did the most good for her long-shot campaign. In a season when
GOP activists want
a brawler, she took swipes at Hillary Clinton, the Democratic
frontrunner, and her Republican rivals as she laid out the general
election fight.
“I
am a conservative because I believe no one of us is any better than any
other one of us,” she said. “Progressives don’t believe that. They
believe some are smarter
than others, some are better than others, so some are going to need to
take care of others.”
For
the seven Republican candidates participating in the early evening
forum on Fox News—and the 10 others in a later prime-time
showdown—Thursday marked the first opportunity
for many of them to introduce themselves to a national audience.
It
also signaled a turning point in the nascent primary race, moving
policy discussions to the forefront before some campaigns have even had a
chance to roll out their
platforms.
The
bifurcated structure of the first debate of the 2016 primary race also
put greatest pressure on the seven relegated to the not-for-prime-time
event to show donors,
activists and voters that their candidacies are worthy of support. Fox
News limited participation in the prime-time session to the top 10
candidates in national polls.
The
back-of-the-pack candidates had a powerful incentive to make a splash
or break out in some other way in order to move up in the ranks and
qualify for one of the eight
other official debates. The prime-time participants, including Donald
Trump, needed to make a good enough impression to remain in the top
tier.
Mrs.
Fiorina delivered the sharpest blow against Mr. Trump, the GOP leader
in national polls. Taking note that he had consulted with former
President Bill Clinton before
launching his campaign, she asked her rivals: “Did any of you get a
call from Bill Clinton? I didn’t.”
She
went on to accuse Mr. Trump of multiple flip-flopping on issues key to
GOP voters. “Since he has changed his mind on amnesty, on health care
and on abortion, I would
just ask what are the principles by which he would govern?” Mrs.
Fiorina said.
Former
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who was the last candidate bumped from
Thursday’s prime-time stage, called the New York developer a “celebrity”
with a history of backing
liberal policies. “How can you run for the Republican nomination and be
for single-payer health care? I ask that with all due respect,” Mr.
Perry said.
The
Fox News moderators, Bill Hemmer and Martha MacCallum, pressed each of
the candidates on why they are campaigning given their low status in
polls. Asked directly “has
your moment passed,” former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum argued that
at this point in the 2012 campaign he was even farther behind the
leaders. He eventually placed second to nominee Mitt Romney.
“You know, we didn’t start out four years ago at the top of the heap. We were behind where we were today,” Mr. Santorum said.
Louisiana
Gov. Bobby Jindal, for his part, attacked former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush,
one of the prime-time debaters, for taking a more centrist path to the
nomination.
“Jeb
Bush says we’ve got to be willing to lose the primary in order to win
the general,” Mr. Jindal said. “Let me translate that for you: That’s
the establishment telling
us to hide our conservative principles to get the left and the media to
like us. That never works.”
On national security, the candidates vied for the most hawkish position.
Sen.
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said he would send American ground
forces back to Iraq to fight Islamic State, also known as ISIL.
“If
you’re running for president of the United States and you don’t
understand that we need more American ground forces in Iraq and that
America has to be part of a regional
ground force that will go into Syria and destroy ISIL in Syria, then
you’re not ready to be commander in chief and you’re not serious about
destroying ISIL,” Mr. Graham said.
All of the candidates said they opposed President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran.
Mrs.
Fiorina said she would tell Iran’s supreme leader that “until you open
every nuclear and every military facility to full, open, anytime,
anywhere, for real, inspections,
we are going to make it as difficult as possible for you to move money
around the global financial system.”
Messrs.
Perry, Jindal, Graham, Santorum and Mrs. Fiorina were joined by former
New York Gov. George Pataki and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore.
With
so many former politicians in the race, the moderators asked if some
should step aside for a new generation. The candidates dodged the query,
but some of their language
dated them.
Mr.
Pataki spoke of defeating Mario Cuomo, which was in 1994. Mr. Santorum
noted that he “came to Washington, D.C., in 1990.” And Mr. Perry said he
would use Wite-Out
correction fluid to eliminate President Obama’s executive orders.
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