What Former Moderators Have to Say About the Republican Debate
— -- First, there’s the debate. And then there’s the spin.
With all the punditry following the first Republican presidential debate, it isn’t easy to cut through the talking points. So we decided to ask the experts.
ABC News spoke with veteran reporters and debate moderators Cokie Roberts, an ABC News contributor, Ann Compton, a former ABC News White House Correspondent and John Donvan, an ABC News Correspondent, on the day after the debate to get their takes on the biggest night so far in the race for the White House.
Trump: Winner or Loser?
While Donald Trump grabbed the headlines and dominated the spotlight in the first debate, our experts say the debate likely won’t have much of an effect on his frontrunner status. “I don’t know that in the rearview mirror this debate will be landmark moment for Donald Trump,” said Compton, who co-moderated presidential debates in 1988 and 1992.
Roberts, who moderated a Republican presidential debate in 1992 and a Democratic presidential debate in 2000, says Trump’s past comments on women were offensive, but the idea they could topple his campaign is “baloney.”
“If people were going to be upset about that, they would have been upset about a million other things he’s said,” said. “I don’t think women were flocking to him anyway.”
No Harm, No Foul For Jeb Bush
For Jeb Bush, the goal was to survive and advance. And Roberts says he did just that. “I think Jeb Bush came out of it looking like a grownup, which was the main thing for him to do,” she said. “I don’t think he hurt himself in any way.”
But Compton says that Bush’s lack of drama may be a negative for some. “I think people who were looking for a little more energy and a little more fire in the belly might be a little disappointed,” she said.
Donvan, who has moderated nearly 100 debates, agreed. “There were certain people I felt appeared to me to be somewhat too intellectually sophisticated to do well in such a silly format. And [Jeb Bush] was one of them,” he said.
Fiorina’s Moment To Shine
Some candidates may have been disappointed to be in the second-string event, but Carly Fiorina sure didn’t show it, Donvan says. “She took the opportunity to sell as hard as she could,” he said. “She gave the impression that she was competing about a certain idea with somebody.”
Roberts and Compton also said Fiorina was impressive during the first debate, but it’s not clear what the effects will be.
“One of the problems with being in the bottom tier is that it makes them appear like losers. And that becomes a problem in terms of getting money,” said Roberts. “But if she stirred up enough of a buzz to move in the polls and to get some money, then sure, she becomes a player.”
The Best of the Rest
After spending time with Marco Rubio –- then a potential vice-presidential pick for Mitt Romney in 2012 -– Ann Compton says she saw exactly the politician she has known and covered. “I think people who don’t know Marco Rubio were impressed with his positions, with his style, with his command,” she said.
And Roberts pointed out why some Republicans like the idea of Rubio in the general election: “It certainly would be helpful to the party to have a Hispanic at the top of the ticket, and I think running against anybody in the Democratic field of being the new generation actually does have an appeal.”
Compton added that John Kasich likely “did himself a world of good” with his home-field advantage on Thursday night. “Kasich is a very, very capable political figure,” she said. “I have seen his earlier career. So the Kasich I saw last night was very familiar to me: knowledgeable and authoritative.”
But overall, Donvan lamented that there was little exchange of ideas on stage. “It was kind of like a beauty pageant, when they ask each candidates a question and they give a little speech,” he said. “They didn’t really have a debate in which we got to hear their ideas work off each other.”
