The Debaters Won the Debate

Here are some quick thoughts on last night's CNN debate.
The losers: CNN and Jake Tapper, which tried to turn the event into a mud-slinging, Trump-centric reality program and failed miserably. The 11 varsity candidates, including The Donald, failed to swallow the bait.
The winners: Marco Rubio, the most substantive candidate; Rand Paul, who presented a sensible foreign affairs policy; John Kasich, who made a compelling case for  a more moderate direction for the party; Carley Fiorina, who was forceful and CEO-like if soft on the details.
Trump was a clown show.  His candidacy is doomed. A recent Washington Post-ABC poll showed hat the public distrusts him and does not deem him suitable to be president, despite his general popularity.
The JV team: Jindall and Graham showed that they could go toe-to-toe with the 11 candidates on the varsity squad.
Jeb Bush: To Bush-like to be liked. His name is radioactive. He is too laid back. (I will resist the temptation to insert a reefer joke).
 We saw some flashes of wit from Huckabee, as when he  compared The Donald to Mr. T. Too bad  that there was a dearth of humor and wit on stage for most of the three hours the 11 were on stage.
At the end of three hours, I was exhausted.  Not one of the candidates would keep my eyelids open.