The first Republican TV debate of the US presidential season, courtesy of Donald Trump, was certainly not dull. But although sharper-than-usual questioning from the Fox News panel did produce some sparky exchanges, the debate on Thursday did little to help reduce the crowded field of 17 hopefuls, and nothing to burnish the Republican brand. Or indeed, answer the question whether the campaign bubble of billionaire property tycoon Trump is ready to burst.
There appears to be a resilience to the unelectable maverick's ego-driven presidential bid that is beginning to alarm party bosses that will have been fuelled by his open willingness to contemplate running as an independent should he fail to get the party nomination. By splitting the conservative vote, already probably a minority, he would almost certainly guarantee the presidency to the likely Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton.
Yet Trump also provided a useful service to the party – “although he sucks up all the air in the room,” DD Guttenplan writes in The Nation, “the angriest white man on the planet also turned what would otherwise have been the deadliest two hours on television into an electrifying illustration of the effect of celebrity in politics.”
If the debate achieved anything, however, beyond confirming Trump’s leading-candidate status, it has at least demonstrated a degree of competence among the also-running. Commentators had been too quick to see in the multitude of candidates breadth but no depth, a lack of substance. But a comparison of this year’s crop with the 2012 field reflects a heavier political and intellectual heft, although they remain for the most part even more firmly rooted in – or pandering to – the party’s deeply conservative mainstream base.
The party made it clear it hoped they would spend more time attacking Clinton than taking lumps out of each other. Although she did not feature much, the debate did show a number of candidates more able and willing to take on the Democrats on their ground. In former Florida governor Jeb Bush – likely to emerge as the establishment's favourite – it has the semblance of a centrist whose embrace of issues like immigration reform might help with the Hispanic vote. Ohio's John Kasich was able to boast a sensitivity to the plight of the poor in his support for the extension of Medicaid. And, although opposed to gay marriage, was willing to reach out to that community.
Florida's Marco Rubio reminded voters of his humble beginnings and pointed out the contrasts between Hillary Clinton and himself. "If I'm our nominee, how is Hillary Clinton going to lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck."
Straws in the wind, perhaps. But a tentative sign that some in the party understand the real challenge ahead. First, however, they will have to trump Trump, and that will be no mean task.