Story highlights
- Hugh Hewitt: Rubio won a debate that was more like a damaging bar fight. GOP race still seems headed for an open convention
- He says Trump has resources, extraordinarily passionate base to get to 1,237 delegates, but last night he also gained new hurdles
Hugh Hewitt is a lawyer, law professor, author and host of a nationally syndicated radio show. He served in the Reagan administration in posts including assistant counsel in the White House and special assistant to two attorneys general. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.
(CNN)It was like walking into a bar fight scene from Deadwood.
That's how I explained Thursday night's CNN debate to Anderson Cooper afterward.
Anderson deftly parried with a knowledge of the gritty TV Western, noting that Thursday's night debate was less Shakespearean. True -- but it was wildly entertaining, even when the chair was broken over my head. (Donald Trump noted for the audience my alleged low ratings -- but such is the nature of a brawl, and if you are going to play on that stage, you can't complain about a few shots to the jaw.)
Hugh Hewitt
Who won? Rubio. Two Silvers awarded to Cruz and Kasich from my seat on the dais, but it remains to be seen whether it matters.
Cruz did seem to me to seal away a win in Texas, making the March 1 SuperDuper Tuesday vote there and elsewhere a jumble of delegate allocations that will underscore not just the importance of Michigan when its March 8 vote rolls around, but also of the final CNN-Salem debate when it comes around on March 10. (And yes, I am going back into the bar with Jake and Dana for that one...wouldn't miss it for the world even if I get a third "Trump tattoo" in the course of the proceedings.)
News reports suggest that Team Rubio is preparing for an open convention. If Cruz brings home Texas and if either Rubio bags Florida or Kasich bags Ohio on March 15, an open -- or contested -- convention seems inevitable. Such a brokered convention comes about if no one clinches the nomination and the GOP descends on Cleveland in July with multiple candidates still vying for the party crown -- none having the needed number of delegates to nominate.
Trump, Rubio, Cruz spar over Trump University 01:09
It is a hard slog to 1,237 delegates and a simple majority. While Trump has the resources and the extraordinarily passionate base, as of yesterday he also has some new hurdles: the hidden tax returns that could easily be released; accounts of his hiring -- and settling out of court over treatment of -- undocumented Polish immigrants; lawsuits over Trump University.
The adage is that when you are explaining, you aren't winning, and Donald Trump spent a lot of time explaining last night. He is still the frontrunner by far and dominating most polls, but there was slippage last night which may be followed by shrinkage. Time tells, not pundits.
CNN's Houston GOP debate in 90 seconds 01:30
And events. It is a lifetime until SuperDuper Tuesday, then another until Super Tuesday. After Super Tuesday the view will be clear. Trump vs. Hillary Clinton or Clinton vs. somebody else? Eventually the questions over classified information found on her private email server, her disregard of national security and feckless foreign policy will take center stage.
The campaign, interesting since it began, just hit warp drive.
