Pro-Ukraine aid ad airs during debate as shutdown looms
A pro-Ukraine spending ad playing during the debate is interesting. From Defending Democracy Together — urging Republicans in Congress to stand by the country — even as the debate over aid to Ukraine fractures the GOP-controlled House and could be a factor in the seemingly-unavoidable shutdown coming this weekend.
Earlier today, 93 House Republicans voted for an amendment to ban security assistance for Ukraine from a defense funding bill.
Veepstakes never far from mind. South Dakota's governor, and Trump ally/endorser, Kristi Noem with an ad about her state airing at the commercial break.
Follow candidate attacks on the attack tracker
Tim Scott lobbed the first attack of the night on another candidate on the stage against Vivek Ramaswamy over business in China. Follow along with the candidate attacks on NBC News' debate attack tracker.
Jillian Frankel points out: Pence uses his speaking time (which was supposed to answer a question about Dreamers) to criticize Ramaswamy, as he did at the last debate. Pence repeated the “no time for on the job training” line that he used against Ramaswamy at the first debate.
Dasha Burns adds: Quick one-liners -- not necessarily what the former VP is known for.
Allan Smith adds: He did not have the same thoughts about running with Donald Trump, who also had no experience in government.
And for Pence's new line, Sarah Dean points out: That is now part of his stump!
The candidates clearly did their homework this time, dropping lots of research against opponents, which suggests they planned out attacks ahead of time with advisers.
Mark Murray points out: We are now 30 minutes into the debate, and it’s notable that the only real candidate criticisms about frontrunner Donald Trump have been about his no-show at the debate — but not on his multiple indictments or his position on abortion or position on other issues. Trump is leading the GOP race nationally by between 40 and 50 points.
Hallie Jackson responds: I take your point about the attacks on Trump so far mostly being focused on his debate no-show, but worth noting DeSantis did try to tie his attack back to spending: “He owes it to you to defend his record when they added 7.8 trillion to the debt that set the stage for the inflation that we have.”
And if you put that quote in a vacuum and tried to guess who said it — most ppl might’ve guessed Christie, not DeSantis.
Ramaswamy’s wife, Apoorva, and Desantis’ wife, Casey, are sitting one seat apart just behind the moderators.
Thirty minutes into the debate and most candidates' first attacks are Vivek or Trump, not Haley as her camp anticipated but the night is young
Team Burgum shares a Ted Lasso reference as he struggles in polls
As we wait to see if/when Gov. Doug Burgum inserts himself again, just thinking about this tweet his team shared as he went onto the debate stage showing him touching a yellow “Believe” sign — a reference to Ted Lasso and his role as the underdog on stage tonight, just barely scraping by in polling to earn his spot on this stage.
DeSantis once said he was glad to stay out
Alec Hernández points out: It’s a bit ironic that DeSantis is trying to insert himself into this conversation. After the last debate, he told reporters in Iowa that he was glad to have stayed above the fray while other candidates got stuck in cross-talk.
Ali Vitali adds: Seems like Haley taking this advice more tonight than DeSantis is.