Iowa debate reaction: What were Haley's, DeSantis' best moments?

I invited a pair of Register Opinion contributors who’ve been active in Republican politics to share their reactions to Wednesday night’s GOP presidential debate in Des Moines and other campaign events.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley debated at Drake University; former President Donald Trump turned down the debate and instead appeared simultaneously on a Fox News town hall interview from the Iowa Events Center. And entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy was interviewed by podcaster Tim Pool.

Chip Baltimore is a former state lawmaker and an attorney. Justin Brady is host of the Iowa Podcast and has interviewed six presidential candidates. Both said they watched the debate and not the other candidates’ counterprogramming. Their comments are condensed and edited from clarity from separate interviews late Wednesday and early Thursday.

On whether it was a problem for Trump to be absent from the debate

Baltimore: I would obviously like to hear President Trump's answers to a lot of questions. I don't know that having him in a debate would get you the answers that you're looking for. … They both said multiple times that Trump should be there. I think that they both forget that Trump throws some punches. He wouldn't just sit there and let them say whatever they want to say about him without throwing punches back at them.

Brady: President Trump is a political enigma. He’s been able to maintain this commanding lead skipping many of the events that four years ago he would have gone to. … President Trump often criticized Joe Biden's sit in the basement, avoid the spotlight strategy, but happens to be utilizing that same exact strategy this time around. … From a comms standpoint, I agree with Haley and DeSantis on saying he absolutely should be here to defend this record. Sure. He should. But didn't have to. And from a campaign standpoint, it'll probably win him the Iowa Caucuses.

More: A fractured ‘debate night’ wasn’t helpful to Iowans before the Caucuses

On DeSantis’ best moments

Brady: There was one line I feel like resonated. … He just started hammering on a bunch of these: “I said this, I delivered. I said this, I delivered. I delivered. I delivered. And then he followed it up with, if we could do that in Florida, just imagine what we could do for the USA. I think that was his winning moment where he really resonated with people.

Baltimore: Governor DeSantis did a pretty good job of speaking Iowa conservative Republicans’ language. He brought in Governor Reynolds and mentioned her several times, mentioned several of what he considered to be successes in Florida that match fairly closely some of Iowa Republicans’ achievements. I think that's largely because Governor DeSantis and Governor Reynolds are very similar in terms of policy and perspective.

On Haley’s best moments

Brady: When Haley mentioned the likelihood of her beating Joe Biden over DeSantis and over Trump, I think that was a winning moment for her.

Baltimore: She has a great deal of cross-sectional national appeal. She does tend to appeal to more of the independents, moderates, undecided, because I think she's somewhat more tempered in her language and in her policies. … (She speaks) like somebody that recognizes that there are going to be people that are going to disagree with her … she still has to live with and accept the fact that they exist, and their opinions exist.

More news coverage

• What it means for Iowa:'Lying,' 'mealy-mouthed': 5 takeaways from a heated Iowa debate between DeSantis and Haley

• Recap:What happened during the Republican debate with Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis

• Fact check:Review the claims that DeSantis, Haley got right (and wrong)

• Trump takeaways: Trump had an easier night than rival and used it to attack them and Biden

On Social Security

Baltimore: Ambassador Haley did a good job of being intellectually honest. Her answer on Social Security was obviously not pandering to people. … I'm tired of people complaining about Social Security and they literally do nothing about it. That answer, and there were a few others that I thought were intellectually honest I would hope that people would appreciate that rather than jump on a political bandwagon and say, “Wow, she's going to raise the retirement age.” I think it's just a mathematical situation.

Brady: One issue they really did differ on was Social Security, and DeSantis seem to win. I think if seniors were listening, DeSantis absolutely won the debate, no question. Because he defended Social Security, said you paid into it, this is unfair to you. He mentioned that in Florida, we have a lot of seniors. And I feel like he was really doing a good job identifying with and showing empathy to older Americans. Haley seemed to brush off the Social Security issue and actually did say she'd raise retirement age.

On the candidates’ debate mechanics

Brady: The tragedy of this debate is that both talked so fast, and rattled through so much nuance, and so much complexity, I feel as though most people completely missed their message. … When you talk really, really fast and you rattle through a bunch of data, no one listens to you. They get lost, they lose interest. So I feel like if both would have slowed down and focused on fewer issues, they may have had a chance to move some poll numbers.

On whether they plan to caucus, and for whom

Baltimore: I see pluses and minuses of everybody. It’s probably going to be a last-minute decision for myself. … When I was in the Legislature, I endorsed Mitt Romney and Gov. (Chris) Christie. …  I was a little bit disappointed to see Chris Christie drop out today because I got to know him back in the day and liked him.

Brady: Honestly, I don't think I will. It's demotivating for me to see that Trump will definitely win. And so what's the point? The caucuses are so exciting because I'm not a registered Democrat. I'm not a registered Republican. I vote for both candidates. I've been called politically confused for my neighbors because I if I have signs up, it's all over the map. … Polling numbers can change, but, my gosh, with the former president having such a commanding lead, it almost seems like the caucuses are more tradition than meaningful this year.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: GOP presidential debate didn't move the needle, Iowans say