the silence amid the storm. a crucial republican presidential debate begins just hours after the leading conservative on the u.s. supreme court dies. >> we need to put people on the bench that understand the constitution is not a living and breathing document. >> who on this stage has the background, the principle the character, the judgment and the strength of resolve to nominate and confirm principle constitutionists to the court. >> the death of antonin scalia

underscoring the stakes. >> and questions for that next president. >> what we want to do, when we want to do it and how hard do we want to hit? >> but it was a previous president that created a fiery moment early. >> george bush made a mistake. we should never have been in iraq. >> i'm sick and tired of him going after my family. >> the world trade center -- >> i thank god all the time it was george w. bush in the white house on 9/11 and not al gore. >> taxes. >> social security. and old fashioned politics. >> this is just crazy, huh? >> analysis of the presidential debate ahead of the south carolina primary, america's election headquarters starts right now.

>> welcome to washington. i'm bret baier. over the next hour we will break down the presidential debate, who did well and who doesn't and with one week left, the south carolina primary a week from today. let's begin with the man at the site of the debate, john roberts, fiery night, john. >> fiery night to say the least, bret. if i were to pick a couple of moments that are illustrative of where the race is going to go is the first and foremost the dustup between jeb bush and donald trump. jeb bush has to be the one who is willing to stand up and punch donald trump in the face and bloody his nose. that's what he tried to do tonight. >> just so you understand -- that's jeb's special interests

in washington talking. let me tell you something -- jeb -- jeb is so wrong. >> i could care less about the insults that donald trump gives to me. it's blood sport for him. i'm glad he is happy about it. while donald trump was building a tv show, my brother was building an apparatus to keep us safe. >> the world trade center came down -- that's not safe. >> that exchange is particularly significant because on monday, george w. bush, the 43rd president will be here in the state in north charlton campaigning with jeb bush. donald trump is on solid ground when it comes to the idea that the iraq war was a mistake. it starts to get more dicey when he says the bush administration lied about it. you'll hear that from the democrats.

but when he said the world trade center came down under george bush's watch that is where it gets tenuous for donald trump. there is not many in the republican party who blame 9/11 on george bush. the other exchange that was significant was the rematch between marco rubio and ted cruz over immigration. and you know, we heard charles talking before the top of the hour about rubio trying to make people forget what happened in new hampshire, if you watch this exchange, people will probably remember the one line that came out of marco rubio's mouth here. watch. >> marco went on univision in spanish and said he would not rescind the executive action -- >> he doesn't speak spanish. and second of all -- >> [ speaking foreign languag ]

language ]. >> this is a disturbing pattern now. for a number of weeks now, ted cruz has just been telling lies. >> i would hazard a guess that not many will remember marco rubio repeating himself in new hampshire but they will remember that. the gloves are off. and it's going to be a rough ride over the next six days. we'll be watching every minute of it. let's bring in our panel, steve hayes, christen powers and david druker. okay. >> i mean, what a night. what a debate. look, marco rubio, after his stumbles last week, in general he had an okay debate but he had memorable stumbles where he sounded robotic and they were played in a loop on cable television. he needed the debate of his life tonight and i think he got it. he was clear and clean the best debater on the stage.

>> you are in the tank for rubio. what's the deal? do you think he had the debate of his life? >> clearly he was one of the best performances. and i was in florida in 2010. yes, you want to be specific about it he gave a great answer on national security to start and within the space of minutes talked about asia and the middle east and the need to rebuild our defenses. he took tough questions on tax policies on whether his plan favors child tax credits in a way liberals might like. i thought he fought ted cruz on immigration to basically a draw. he jumped in to defend george w. bush on donald trump's criticisms of bush on national security in a state that has 21% veterans that voted in 2012. i thought that was a good night. i thought his closing statement was good and he didn't have any

of those moments. for anyone who thought marco rubio is incapable of answering questions extemporaneously that was blown away tonight. and i thought the other side of that, donald trump had a terrible night. he was at his most unhinged and at some point screaming and yelling. i thought ted cruz had a good night tonight. >> the crowd clearly was anti- trump. i don't know what they were, pro bush or pro-rubiosomething. >> and in the last debate he claims it is because they are all donors. i agree, rubio had a strong night and -- >> are you in the tank for rubio? >> i'm not in the tank for rubio. >> he clearly had a good night. and jeb had a strong night as well. but if you look at when trump was going after george w. bush which it will be interesting to see how it plays out. in a primary where 80% of people have a positive impression of

george bush. it will be interesting to see how almost ron paul type attacks on george bush about 9/11, things that democrats don't even say in their debates. it will be interesting to see how that plays out. and rubio in that exchange outdid jeb. jeb was defending and i think jeb was good but rubio really had the money lines. he was saying -- i thank god that george bush was president on 9/11 and not al gore. he was very, very strong. >> john kasich a number of aw shucks moments. we can't get into this, i'm going to stay positive. how did you see it tonight? >> i think john kasich, he makes a really good point in that i think there are a lot of democrats smiling tonight when the debate opens with the republicans relitigating the iraq war, relitigating the george w. bush presidency which is popular in south carolina but broadly not popular. when you are running for the

presidency you want to run to the future and not relitigate the past. so if you look at what john kasich said, he's right. but this is something that chris christie tried repeatedly and republican voters didn't respond to it. they want to see some of the fights and see people mixing it up. it tells them you are going to mix it up against hillary clinton. so john kasich i think did fine for what he seems to be going for and i know he is looking beyond south carolina but i don't think he did himself any favors in south carolina tonight. >> governor john kasich is hoping to build on his second place finish in new hampshire and he joins us in the spin room. thanks for being here. >> glad to be with you. >> there was a poll that came out earlier, that showed me in second place in south carolina. we'll see how it goes.

but people don't always know ha they're talking about when they're pundits. they talk but don't always know what they're saying. >> what about tonight? what was your overall sense of things? >> somebody said it was like a demolition derby but fortunately my car is still going around the track. it's my intent to be positive. you can't always tell when you are on the stage but it seemed a tad more -- it was more contentious than what i think served the party well. that's my view. >> tonight started in a sad way in the death of justice antonin scalia. you took time to address that and addressing a way forward for selection of his replacement. >> well, look, my sense of it is that, first of all, it's amazing, two minutes after a guy dies we're already talking about the politics. but my sense is the president

shouldn't put anybody forward unless he has someone who says hallelujah that's our man or women. but we are going to have a presidential election that will be important and it will involve who is going to appoint the next supreme court justice. i wish he would hold off. that would be a good thing for our country so we can stop all the fighting going on and see if we can get ourselves together. and if i can become president i will appoint a conservative that interprets the law not make law. >> are you planning on winning south carolina? >> no, no, no. we're going to do our best down here. we're crafty people and we work hard and we're plucky. but we're here. i'm going to be heading to michigan next week. i think i'll be in virginia. i'll be back here. it's not like we bet everything on new hampshire. we have nothing going forward. we're running a national campaign. i have a thousand people in sun

city yesterday, a thousand. i mean, we have 50, 60 rsvps and 500 people are showing up. good things are going on. but we're here and going to get through here and move all across the country and i'm looking forward to the day we get to vote in ohio. >> we'll see you on the trail. >> thank you. the spin room is an amazing place. you take a look at it and all the reporters gather around and all the candidates have signs. there you see donald trump talking to some reporters. be interesting to hear and see his take on this evening. he was going after a number of candidates. there's the roaming candidate. i think that is eric trump talking to reporters. and what happens is they try to get a sense of the night from each of the candidates. tonight, i think is going to be interesting to see how all of these candidates respond to this as governor kasich called it

demolition derby. we'll try to talk to the candidates about how they did. let's go back to the spin room, texas senator ted cruz is. there your sense of this evening? >> well, look, i think it was a good night. there were some fireworks tonight. but i think the people of south carolina saw some real contrasts. this decision matters and it's a serious decision and i think people are getting tired of the circus and tired of the reality show. with justice scalia's passing today, it really underscores what the stakes are in this election and i think the men and women of south carolina are focusing on the records of the candidates and are asking who do you trust to always defend the constitution and the bill of rights an make sure our liberties are protected and keep america safe and i think tonight helped them in that decision making. >> let's go back to the passing of justice scalia. you clerked at the supreme

court. it's a sad day and we expressed c condolences to his family. the sense of loss for the nation, for the conservatives and on the court? >> well, he was on extraordinary man. he is a wonderful man. he was witty, he was fun. he was full of life. he was brilliant. he was an incomparable writer and his legacy on the court there are only a handful of justices with a legacy on the court as he has. and as ronald reagan was to the presidency, antonin scalia was to the supreme court. so it is an enormous loss. i am very glad that this called for the senate not to -- i think the people need to press leadership to honor that promise but it underscores the stakes of

this election. that if justice scalia is replaced by a left wing judicial activism our rights are in jeopardy, the second amendment. if donald trump is our nominee or if donald trump becomes president, the odds are unacceptably high that the second amendment right to keep and bear arms will be lost forever. one more liberal will work to take away the right to keep and bear arms of every single individual american. we can't let that happen. we have to fight to defend our liberty. >> but the constitution does say the president shall nominate to fill a vacancy on the u.s. supreme court and the senate shall confirm or shoot down that nominee. do you think it's okay to have a vacancy for a year? >> oh, sure. it's been 80 years since a vacancy occurred and was confirmed in an election year.

this is what the election is all about. let's let the people decide. i can't wait to be campaigning against hillary clinton or bernie sanders and take the case to the american people which vision of the court do you want? do you want our religious liberty to be stripped away where abortion on demand the available where veterans memorials are torn down or do you want to get back to the constitutional liberties that built this country? that's why we have an election and i trust the american people to make that decision. >> senator cruz, donald trump is right behind you, every time you are asked about donald trump you always start with he's a friend of mine, i like him. today on that stage he called you a liar. how many friends of yours call you a liar? >> you know, it is a strange dynamic, and both donald trump and marco rubio have a very

similar pattern. when you point to their record they get very upset and scream liar, liar, liar. it's an odd dynamic. donald on the stage tonight advocated for planned parthood but screams i'm a liar for saying his own words. donald trump advocated for socialized medicine like bernie sanders. when i point that out he responds liar, liar, liar. when anyone looks at marco rubio's -- >> will your preamble change now? that he is a friend and you like him? >> i continue to like both donald and marco but i do think the people of south carolina need to ask who do you trust? who do you know will honor their commitments and will defend the constitution and stop amnesty? and a very important question

tonight is who is prepared to be commander-in-chief. this is a dangerous world and we can't have a commander-in-chief who goes into the situation room and doesn't have a meaningful understanding of the enemies facing the country and doesn't know what the nuclear triad is. this is too dangerous of a world for a commander-in-chief that doesn't have the basic understanding necessary to keep this country safe. >> senator cruz, thank you for your time tonight. >> it's always a pleasure. >> back with plenty more and more candidate interviews after a time-out. >> it took jeb bush if you remember, at the beginning of his announcement, it took him five days. he went back. it wasn't a mistake. took him five days before his people told him what to say and he ultimately said it was a

mistake. they lied. they said there were weapons of mass destruction. there were none and they knew there were none. >> i'm sick of barack obama blaming my brother for all the problems he's had and frankly i could care less about the insults that donald trump gives to me.

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we will leave it there. >> he gets the foreign policy from the shows. this is a guy who thinks that hillary clinton was a great negotiator in iran. this is a man who insults his way to the nomination. >> and give me a break. >> and now, a fiery debate tonight, and america's election headquarters special rolls on post debate. joining us now from the spin room in greenville, south carolina, is mr. donald trump. thanks for joining us. >> thank you, bret. >> your sense of tonight? >> i really loved it. i mean, it was the toughest because everybody was coming at me but i thought it was maybe my best debate. you know, supposedly i have won a lot of them, but we will see what happens, and i thought that tonight was the best debate, and because i have a big lead, everybody was coming at me, and

i don't know, based on all of the polls, drudge and everybody else they are all saying i won it quite handily. >> and there are some supporters out there who are wondering why you would be swinging down in their words to jeb bush in south carolina. >> well, you are right, it is swinging down. he doesn't have it, and i understand that, but he is taking, bret, $20 million and put on phony commercials on television, and including on fox in all fairness, but he has taken $20 million and he has a lot of money that he got from the special interests and donors and lobbyists and frankly who took total control over him, and taken $20 million and done the negative ads on me, an when they do that, i swing down. >> and what about the tone of tonight, and the back and forth on calling others liars and kind of the sense of the debate? >> well, i think that it was a tough debate. i mean, you know, when people lie about you, you look at ted,

ted cruz has put out a robo and he said donald trump might not -- the same thing he did to carson, might not run, vote for ted cruz. i said, where does this komd from? it and it is dirty politics, and in iowa when they did the voter violation notice which looks like it comes from the federal government and it's a total fraud. so when a guy does that and what really bothers me. because i am a good christian when a guy does the things that ted did and then holds up the bible, i don't like it. and i like to call the guy out. >> and so, tonight, justice antonin scalia passed away and it is a big night when you look at the u.s. supreme court, and replace him, and ted cruz was just on the air saying that you would appoint liberal justices. >> well, just so you understand, if you look at ted, he put robert, and you know, i mean, he put john roberts on the supreme court. he was the one that pushed for john roberts. john roberts has been a

disaster. john roberts had two chances to knock out obamacare and he didn't do it. and it was ted cruz and bush, including jeb, that was pushing him and those two guys, they pushed john roberts and when it came to a vote on obamacare, john roberts did not terminate obamacare, not once but twice. so ted cruz pushed and worked with very hard to get john roberts on the supreme court, and when he needed the vote, the most important votes that we have had, he let everybody down, including the conservatives and he let all of us down, because he let obamacare stay. that is really a disgrace, and ted cruz gave us john roberts. >> and so are you a conservative? >> i'm a conservative, yes, but i am also a common sense conservative, and if you need to use eminent domain to build highways and roadways and hospitals and by the way, the keystone pipeline if it ever gets approves and the wall

between us and mexico, if you need eminent domain, you used. i'm a common sense conservative, absolutely. >> john kasich on the stage said that he was appalled by the back and forth and he said that he is running a positive campaign, and creeping up the polls, and came in second at new hampshire, and what do you think of governor kasich? >> well, i think he's a nice guy and he got lucky with oil. he struck oil in ohio. it is easier to be a governor in ohio when you are a good governor, and they fracked and struck oil and that is going to make et a lot easier, but john was talking about how he is an angel, but if you look at new hampshire which i won by a lot, and he did an ad, and at the end of the ad, he knocked me. you know, he did a very negative statement about me which turned out not to be so, but it was a radio ad and i said, wow, i thought he was supposed to be a positive person. i said they're all politicians, all talk, no action. >> when you get questioned about

the specifics, and the specifics of social security, and the specifics on tax, some people say that you don't provide all the details in your answers. that you get to make america great again at the end. how to you respond to that criticism? >> well i think i'm very specific. i answered a question tonight about social security afternoon i got a rousing ovation. and even though the audience was stacked with donors or special interests, and because i am putting up my own money, you don't have many people in the room. that audience was so stacked with these people that control the politicians, but no, i think that i'm very specific. you look at the website and you will see the tax plans, and you will see the military plan, and you'll see vet plans for the vets where i have tremendous veteran support because i'm the one who's going to help the vets. you'll see a lot of things. i'm very specific. >> and mr. trump, the path win in south carolina, i assume you'd say. but then where? >> well, we go and we'll start immediately in nevada, and the

s.e.c., and we are doing well everywhere. we had a great couple of polls come out tonight, as you saw, and probably reported on, but we are doing well in south carolina, and i think that we will do great in nevada and we will do great in the s.e.c., but that will be next. >> mr. trump, thank you for the time. >> thank you, bret. >> we will get some reaction from charles krauthammer, and jeb bush stops by and we'll talk to the rubio camp as well. stay with us, america's election headquarters rolls on. rubio he headquarters as well. what're you, what're you, what're you? i probably got that question 3 to 4 times a week. i'd always get asked if i was asian or moroccan or something else. so i jumped at the chance to take the dna test through ancestry. and my results ended up being african, european and asian. it just confirmed what i guess people had seen in me all my life. i do feel like ancestry helped give me a sense of identity. "what are you?" now i know. discover the story only your dna can tell. order your kit now at ancestrydna.com

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(special effects)usic) lisa! what took you so long? (laser blasts) duracell quantum lasts longer in 99% of devices, so you can power imagination all day long. (duracell slamtones) looking live at the spin room as dr. ben carson is going to make his way with the familiar signs following the candidates around. talking with us now is former florida governor jeb bush. governor, thank you for being here. >> thank you, bret. >> your thoughts on tonight? >> well, i was pleased with my

performance. i was pleased with the debate. i was only person who went after donald trump the front-running candidate for the republican nomination who is not a conservative and i think that i exposed a lot of flaws in his candidacy. >> you think that you got under his skin? >> he embraces putin -- of course i did. that was pretty clear. as i was going to shake his hand, he walked away, and is so i think that i am still under his skin, and that is not the point, but the point is to point out that i was not a serious candidate on the things that you would expect the president to do or to know or to have views on. he is not a conservative for sure, and the more that he talked, the more i think that south carolinians got the sense that he is not a conservative, and fact that he went after my brother and called him a liar is i just can't imagine that will be an effective political statement in south carolina. he is wrong about it, but apart from that, you know, disparaging a former president who's got a

pretty high approval rating in this state is not very smart of him. >> and earlier, governor john kasich said it is a demolition derby and he stayed on the outside and his car is still going. what about that sense that people might not like this back and forth where people are throwing jabs at each other in that debate format? >> that's fine. look, here is the problem that donald trump is going to win the nomination in no one goes after him. and if he wins the nomination, bernie sanders or hillary clinton is going to be the president of the united states, and if that happens, that will be an unmitigated disaster both in terms of appointments to the supreme court, higher taxes and more spending. and the country is going to be in decline. so somebody had to take him on. and, look, all my adult life, i have been a committed conservative. and i do not want my party hijacked by somebody who is not a conservative and someone who

is vulgar and divides rather than takes our philosophy and takes our cause to every nook and cranny of the country to go win. that is what we need to do. >> and isn't it fair to say, governor, in order to be the guy to take on donald trump, that you need to beat florida senator marco rubio in south carolina, a state that lines up for you? >> well, i think that what is important for me to give people a sense that i can lead. that i can be a commander-in-chief. that i will fix the veterans administration, that i will rebuild our military, that i will have a foreign policy that is true to our heritage, not being the world's policeman but leading to increase security. and that is what the people in south carolina want, and it is not so much of who is winning or losing, and they want to know, do you the right stuff? do you have a backbone? do you have a heart for people? and the more i campaign here, the more confident i am. >> governor jeb bush, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you, bret. >> let's go the one of south carolina's congressman, declared marco rubio supporter, trey gowdy.

and we know that senator rubio has left the room, and your thoughts on the night? >> well, i thought that marco looked as presidential as anyone on that stage and more than most, quite frankly. the answers were substantive, and he did not engage in the professional wrestling that we saw at certain points tonight. he was calm and composed and he gave great answers, and in some ways, he did a better way of defending george w. bush than his own brother did. i just thought he was fantastic. >> a lot of the people in the media, i guess foe 'caused on that last debate. there was a lot of focus on marco rubio's performance and then that finish. did this erase that? >> i sure hope it did, bret. he is the most effective communicator that he has, and in some instances he is judged against his own standard. the first ten minutes of the last debate were not great by marco rubio's standards, but even at the end of that, his answers were substantive and tonight, frankly, he was flawless. so if you are interested in

somebody who is going to win in november and you're interested in someone who looks and acts presidential, you're going to like marco tonight. >> and congressman, do you speak spanish? >> i can say tu es muy guapo. >> that's strong. >> and what about the exchange with ted cruz? >> any time you want to point out people's inconsistencies it is fair game. and the fact that it is ted cruz's position on the immigration, and i'm frankly glad that it's changed but it's changed and the notion that somehow he is the only pure person on that stage who has never changed a position on a single issue is just balderdash, he has. at least marco has the courage to admit it. >> i want to, while i have you, in a different hat, are we going to be seeing a report from the benghazi committee soon, and what's the outlook for that? >> well, yes, sir, bret.

we have about a dozen more witness interviews to go. several of them are related to the department of defense. as you know when you do investigations the right way and you do them the right way you hear new names that no one has ever heard. this week, we got information from cia that no other committee in congress has bothered to ask for or received. so i will be criticized for the timeliness of the report so i might as well do a good job. and if it takes me another month and a half i'm going to do it. >> and thank you for the dual hat appearance here. appreciate the time. >> yes, sir. have a good weekend. >> and the long promised debate analysis from charles krauthammer after the debate. don't go anywhere. after the de. don't go anywhere. dad, you can just drop me off right here. oh no, i'll take you up to the front of the school. that's where your friends are. seriously, it's, it's really fine. you don't want to be seen with your dad? no, it's..no.. oh, there's tracy. what! [ horn honking ] [ forward collision warning ]

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and i think that you can look back in hindsight and say a couple of things, but he kept us safe, and not only did he keep us safe, but no matter what you want to say about the weapons of mass destruction, saddam hussein was in violation of u.n. resolutions, open violations, and the world would not do anything about it, and george w. bush did what the world demanded. >> how did he keep us safe when the world trade center -- >> and now, let's get some reaction from the debate when charles krauthammer joins us to night from san diego. charles. >> well, look, always the moments that happen in the debates that are often overlooked and end up to be the thing that people remember. i think what was sort of unusual about this debate is how incredibly sincere and spontaneous everyone was because if any of them had strategies coming in, it fell apart

instantly, especially trump, who was reacting as he himself said to you from all the attacks left and right. but i think that he might have made a major stumble in terms of the substance when he accused george w. of not just making a mistake, but deliberately lying us into the war. and now, that is charge that you to go to the more radical democrats to hear. you don't hear it among the republicans, and you don't hear about it from the reasonable democrats. and then, i thought that was sort of going to a place where he may regret, particularly since george w. is really popular in south carolina. but there is one exchange where trump was blaming 9/11 on george w. and jeb answered and a good answer, but not strong enough, and i think it was rubio who then stepped in and said, no, that was the fault of president clinton who had a chance to kill osama bin laden and didn't.

and i thought that was a very telling blow. overall, i thought that he came in number one, rubio, and bush second, and cruz third. trump, i thought could have hurt himself, i'm not sure. among his supporters, probably not but there may be moments that he may regret. and kasich who was sort of standing out there on the sidelines and played the game of being above it all. and it feeds into the narrative earn could help him, but it's hard to say. >> and charles, i would be remiss if i didn't ask you tonight about the life and legacy of justice antonin scalia. >> look, he is the father, and will be remembered the father of originalism which is the most powerful attack on the 50-year history of the sort of the living constitution which is the idea of liberalism, i.e., we change the constitution on the court as we want, and pretending that we are reflecting the value of today.

he came after it with a very hard-line specific, and i thought intellectually rigorous attack of originalism, ie, you don't interpret it on what you think that the spirit of our age is, but you interpret it only the way that you actually have a handle, an anchor on the reality of the constitution, and that is by attributing it to what the founders intended. and that will live on for generations. >> charles krauthammer from san diego tonight. and we can track charles down anywhere. see you on the special report monday. >> and it is about 50 degrees here. >> will much nicer there. thank you. one more round with the panel after the break.

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bigger, smugger. and you? rubbery buttons. enter the x1 voice remote. now when someone says... show me funny movies. watch discovery. record this. voila. remotes you are back. the x1 voice remote is here. x1 customers get your voice remote by visiting xfinty.com/voiceremote. final thoughts from our panel tonight. david, kirsten and steve. david? >> i thought what was very interesting about this debate is how personal everybody got. and the fact that at least as i'm looking at this, there are many scenarios i could draw from this. i could draw from this that trump looked negative and had a meltdown. on the other hand, his supporters seemed to like

whatever he does. you can look at this jeb taking on trump, and that can look good for him. you can lock at this as cruz taking on trump or rubio simply getting in jabs, rising above it all and erasing the problem he had in new hampshire. i think because this is the only debate until south carolina votes next saturday, the question is what did this debate do to set the table for the final week of the campaign? did it help particular candidates rise or fall? that's something we won't know until we see some real data. >> also you have to remember the backdrop for all of this is the passing of justice scalia. so you would think that that would make people want somebody a little more serious. so the stakes are high and you want somebody who is going to nominate a reliably conservative justice. so theoretically that would hurt trump. i think rubio had a strong

night. i think jeb a close second, he had a strong night. he could be a little stronger perhaps on dropping the stuff about his mother and father and focus more on what rubio is doing, which is really solidifying his support for the conservative principles and cruz had a solid night. there wasn't any major moment for him necessarily, but i think he had a very solid night. >> steve in >> cruz did tell in framing the debate about the seriousness, given justice scalia's passing. he had a good answer about it in the beginning. he came back to it later in the debate and said this is time to be serious. i thought jeb bush had a very good debate. i think the fact that the framing of the questions, the back and forth in the first 30 minutes where jeb bush versus donald trump, you know, if you're donald trump supporter, you're not likely considering jeb bush at this point. and if you're a maybe jeb bush supporter and looking at these

other candidates, i think jeb benefited. he had a couple of good ex-changes with trump. i am not a trump guy, everybody knows that. i thought trump had the worst of his debates tonight. he had several times when he seemed to not know what he was talking about, which has happened before. at one point, there are sometimes moments in the debate that don't stick out at first, but at one point trump said the following, i don't often agree with marco. i don't often agree with ted. and he was talking about their criticism of jeb on immigration. but i think it was an interesting point in a broader sense. i think he's right. he doesn't often agree with marco or ted because he's not a conservative. so tonight you had him defending imminent doe neighbor, praising planned parenthood, spinning conspiracy theories about george w. bush, blaming george w. bush for 9/11. this is donald trump. it may be the case that republicans decide they're going

to vote for somebody who is a nationalist and not a conservative, but if they want to know what they have in donald trump, they got it tonight. >> quickly, ben carson, he's chugging along in south carolina. does he hurt the ted cruzes, sort of taking votes away in iowa, another place that has a high evangelical vote, south carolina? >> south carolina is a little more complicated because of the national security vote along the coast and then it's a mixture in the center. i don't think carson is much of a factor anymore. but sometimes he's the kind of candidate that can hurt cruz or rubio, because they both do well with the evangelical vote. so in that sense, where those two candidates are trying to position them selves, carson is a nuisance, but i don't think he's enough of a factor at this point to be problematic. >> very quickly, john kasich,

can the positive guy go to the t top? >> we'll see. he's definitely all in with that strategy, pleading with everybody to be decent. we'll have to see if he can pull it off. >> thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. that's it for this america's election headquarters special. fair, balanced, and yes, unafraid. please join me monday and every weekday for "special report "at 6:00 p.m. eastern and on "fox news sunday." chris wallace talks with senator bernie sanders. it's a busy news night. good night from washington. sanders. it's a busy news night. good night from washington. ♪ ♪

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a fox urgent supreme court justice antonin scalia has died. tonight we take a look back at his contributions to the law and the battle ahead over who will take his place on the country's highest court. good evening, i'm john scott. this is "the fox report." at 79 years old, justice scalia was the longest serving justice of those currently serving on the court. reaction pouring in from around the country now as the nation remembers the legal giant known for his conservative stance and historic rulings on controversial issues. issues including affirmative action, abortion, same-sex marriage, and immigration. chief justice john roberts making this statement,