Tonight at 6pm the top 11 GOP candidates will attend a debate at the Ronald Reagan library. The debate will be broadcasted on CNN. Here’s what some of the candidates needs to do in order to have a successful night in my opinion.
Donald Trump- Donald Trump has easily been the most talked about republican nominee since he declared he was going to run a couple of months ago. Trump is currently leading the polls among republican candidates. Trump’s egotistical personality has definitely caused him to stand out as a candidate but in order to be successful at tonight’s debate Trump needs to tone it down a little. At the last GOP debate Trump attacked Fox News personality Megyn Kelly claiming that Kelly’s questions were “ridiculous” and “off base.” Many people found Trump’s hostility as a turn off and Trump should try his best to not repeat this hostility towards tough questions. Trump also needs to discuss specific plans and policies. Much of Trump’s campaign has included Trump calling out America’s current leadership, but Trump rarely discusses his specific plans for solving today’s issues.
Ben Carson- Ben Carson had a fantastic showing at the last GOP debate. Carson arguably had the best line of the night when he claimed, “I’m the only one to separate Siamese twins, the only one to operate on babies while they are still in their mother’s womb and the only one to take out half of a brain, although you would think if you go to Washington that someone had beat me to it.” According to most polls Carson and Trump have a huge lead ahead of the rest of the republican candidates. Carson is very methodical and intelligent but his weakness is his lack of political experience. In order to stand out tonight, Carson, like Trump, should also focus on talking about his specific plans for solving issues
Jeb Bush- Jeb Bush looks the most presidential out of all the candidates, but he has a couple of weaknesses. His first major weakness is how boring he is. Watching grass grow is more interesting than listening to Jeb Bush talk. His boring demeanor can sometimes make it seem like Jeb doesn’t care about the issues he is discussing. I’m sure that Jeb does in fact care about the issues that he talks about, however he needs to speak in a way that causes listeners to think that he cares about what he is saying. Jeb needs to really focus on speaking with a passion tonight. Whether that means getting into it with another candidate or just simply talking with a more interesting demeanor the fact of the matter is if Jeb doesn’t spicen things up tonight then this debate will hurt him more than it helps him.
Carly Fiorina- Carly Fiorina is the only candidate in the debate that wasn’t apart of last month’s debate. Fiorina started to make a name for herself at the early Republican debate last month and has been increasing in popularity ever since. Tonight Fiorina just needs to stand her ground just like she did with a recent attack from Trump. Trump, when asked about Fiorina, said “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that?” Fiorina used this criticism as the inspiration for her new political ad in which Fiorina says, “Ladies, look at this face and look at all of your faces, the face of leadership. This is the face of a 61-year-old woman. I am proud of every year and every wrinkle.” It is likely that Fiorina will be challenged by one of the other candidates tonight since she is the only woman in the debate. If this happens Fiorina needs to stand her ground just like she did with Trump. If Fiorina performs like she did at the early Republican debate last month then she will have a very beneficial night.
Scott Walker- Scott Walker had a mediocre at best performance at the last debate which caused him to drop in nearly every national and state poll. Walker has said that he plans to “inject himself” in tonight’s debate. If Walker doesn’t have a good performance tonight then the chances of him being the Republican nominee are very slim. Walker needs to focus on being more aggressive. Like Jeb, mixing it up with another candidate tonight would be very beneficial for Walker’s campaign.
Marco Rubio- In my opinion Marco Rubio is one of the strongest debaters in tonight’s debate. Rubio is very articulate and he did well in the first debate. To my surprise Rubio currently has pretty mediocre poll numbers but I think as we get closer and closer to the presidential election we will see an increase in Rubio’s numbers. Tonight Rubio needs to have another solid showing at the debate and if his first election performance is any indication of how he will do tonight then Rubio will be successful in tonight’s election.
Chris Christie- Chris Christie shocked a lot of people with his impressive and passionate performance at the last debate. Christie got into a heated exchange with Rand Paul over the NSA. Rand Paul attacked Christie’s support of the NSA’s practice of collecting information about American citizens to which Christie answered, “Listen, senator, you know, when you’re sitting in a subcommittee, just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like that, when you’re responsible for protecting the lives of the American people, then what you need to do is to make sure…” Many people think that Christie got the better of Rand Paul in this exchange. Christie needs to approach tonight’s debate with the same passion that he expressed in the first debate.
Ted Cruz- Ted Cruz is another one of the stronger debaters that will be at tonight’s debate. Many people are unaware of the fact that Cruz was a debate champion at Princeton. Cruz also had a strong showing at last month’s debate and I predict that tonight won’t be any different for the Texas senator. Much like Rubio, Cruz’s mediocre poll numbers have surprised me. I believe that if Cruz simply stays the course then his poll numbers will start to increase. 
