Winners, Losers From the 4th GOP Debate

With less than six weeks to go until the Iowa caucuses, a narrowed field of Republican candidates gathered in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on Wednesday night for the fourth and final debate on the calendar. As in the previous three debates, former President Trump, whose poll numbers remain higher than those of Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, and Vivek Ramaswamy put together, was absent. Here's what pundits had to say about winners and losers:

• Nikki Haley. The former South Carolina governor, who is competing with DeSantis for distant second in the polls, was a "prime target" for both DeSantis and Ramaswamy. But she held her own without getting too bogged down by the attacks, Maeve Reston writes at the Washington Post, putting Haley in the winners' column. Her "message discipline and her ability to land a punch have been hallmarks of her candidacy, and they were both on display in Tuscaloosa," Reston writes.

• Chris Christie. While not a winner in the sense that he has any hope of winning the nomination, the former New Jersey governor had his strongest debate yet, delivering the "kind of forceful and inspired performance that his supporters have been waiting for at a now-or-never juncture for his flagging candidacy," according to the New York Times. Christie—who defended Haley from one of Ramaswamy's attacks—repeatedly brought the conversation back to the topic of Trump, accusing his three opponents of avoiding the name like "Voldemort."
• Ron DeSantis. The Florida governor received mixed reviews for his performance in the debate, in which he repeatedly clashed with Haley on issues including friendliness to China—and which of them has done more to block gender-affirming care for transgender minors. Niall Stanage at the Hill says his "assertive" performance was his best so far and could give his campaign a vital boost, though the Times notes that he "stuck with his risk-averse strategy" toward Trump. His performance "didn't make it clear he can move the needle" before the Iowa caucuses, according to USA Today.

• Vivek Ramaswamy. The tech entrepreneur was widely seen as the clearest loser of the four and was frequently booed. Vox declares "far-right conspiracy theories" one of the debate's winners, noting that Ramaswamy declared Jan. 6 was an "inside job" and endorsed the "great replacement" theory. His campaign "looks more and more like it is designed primarily to stoke up the resentments of his vocal but limited band of online supporters," Stanage writes at the Hill.
• Civility. Reston at the Post has another entry in the losers' column, noting that insults flew back and forth and the debate "often devolved into a shouting match among the contenders that seemed out of control." "The candidates don't bother to follow the rules anymore," she writes. "And other than Christie's defense of Haley's intelligence, the moments of civility were few and far between."

(More Republican debate stories.)