Who won the Paul vs. Christie Battle

[Higgs]

Arguably the best moment of the debate. It was intense, both came out swinging. Personally I think Paul won although that may be because I'm pretty biased towards him.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Christie may have won the battle because most of the GOP primary vote is olds. But Paul probably won the war because younger people more then likely agree with him.

[Senator Cris]

Christie. Paul was pretty ridiculous.

[Orthogonian Society Treasurer]

[eric82oslo]

Christie was emotional, while Paul was stiff, rude (talking over Christie) and pedantic. Emotional always wins over stiffness, even with Republican voters (perhaps especially with Republican voters).

Also Christie is right that it's pretty darn impossible to gather more information on potential terrorists and less on everyone else until you know who might actually commit terrorist attacks in the future.

[MisSkeptic]

In a way it was a tie. Rand Paul with his principals, which will defiantly sway the conspiracy and libertarian crowds that support him. However, a lot of pro-war, do anything to stop the enemy supporters will be clearly alienated by him.

Which is why Chris Christie is able to "pull some weight" on their little debate. His pro-NSA and pro-war speech will sure draw support from many conservatives.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Unfortunately the fatty made a more resonant message.

[Türkisblau]

defiantly

I hate to be mean or a douche or anything, but you keep typing "defiantly" when you mean "definitely."

[/]

Chris

[Blair]

Paul got the partisan jab about Obama across, although he could have done better than just screaming bill of rights

[MisSkeptic]

defiantly

I hate to be mean or a douche or anything, but you keep typing "defiantly" when you mean "definitely."

Forgive me! I need to learn how to proof read more. I've been sick and lazy to care if my spelling and grammar is accurate. Thanks anyway.

[Senator Cris]

Clearly Paul. Christie came off as stupid and looked like a dictator. "Oh how are we supposed to respect the Bill of Rights?" Paul obliterated his answers and pointed out how he used warrants. His 9/11 comments did not resonate as well.

LOL. Rand came off as stupid and expecially desperate, with his comments against Trump (that killed Paul with "you are having an hard time tonight") and with his comment about the Obama-Christie hug.

[Torie]

A tie. They both lost, while the audience won in the sense of getting some great entertainment.

[mencken]

A tie. They both lost, while the audience won in the sense of getting some great entertainment.

This, although Paul "won" by a hair with his "hug" jab.

[dudeabides]

Christie on style and substance. Paul sounded more like a Democrat.

[Maxwell]

I'd say Paul narrowly, thanks to Christie's pathetic 9/11 plea.

[PresidentTRUMP]

Like Paul and hate Christie but Christie won that battle, very very poor showing for Rand Paul last night, disappointing.

[NHI]

Christie may have won the battle because most of the GOP primary vote is olds. But Paul probably won the war because younger people more then likely agree with him.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Like Paul and hate Christie but Christie won that battle, very very poor showing for Rand Paul last night, disappointing.

Agree on all of this.

In a real way, Christie was the second biggest winner of last night's debate (behind John Kasich).  He was a guy who was in some danger of being winnowed out of the top tier.  Folks had been progressively dismissing him as being unviable.  Last night, Christie fought back in a way that, I believe, will cause people to "take a second look" at him, at least for VP.  Perhaps the Bridgegate stuff will become partisan noise after all.  

Christie, a guy who's big negative is being an unlikeable blowhard, came off as more likeable than a guy who, until recently, polled better against Hillary Clinton than the rest of the field.  I'd say that's a working definition of an overachiever.

[Mr. Illini]

Christie won the logic behind the data collection, but his 9/11 plea was cringe-worthy.

If he had the balls he would have told Paul that he hugged the President because his state was just wrecked by a hurricane and he's not going to play politics in a time like that.

But the audience was GOP primary voters, and that wouldn't have gone over well with them. So mention 9/11 instead.

[dudeabides]

Christie won the logic behind the data collection, but his 9/11 plea was cringe-worthy.

If he had the balls he would have told Paul that he hugged the President because his state was just wrecked by a hurricane and he's not going to play politics in a time like that.

But the audience was GOP primary voters, and that wouldn't have gone over well with them. So mention 9/11 instead.

Absurd

Rand Paul is playing politics with national security. I agree with him that the NSA collecting bulk data from everyone is unconstitutional, but that does not mean the NSA should not collect any data at all - the NSA must abide by the Patriot Act.

Chris Christie did evoke emotion into the debate, but this is an area where emotion is warranted. Christie made a sound, logical, and emotional argument, I am a critic of his, but in this instance, Christie was pure genius. Christie explained that we have to protect this country, and he made Paul look bad by telling him he's just a legislator.

Rand Paul gave one of the worst responses ever when he said that Christie hugged Obama. Christie then turned that statement around and completely owned Paul.

To be fair, Rand Paul had a very good night. He owned Donald Trump within two minutes of the start of the debate, and he made the case that he's a "different kind of Republican." But, Chris Christie had the best night of anyone up there, and part of it was how badly he owned Paul in their exchange.

To be fair, if people actually researched Christie's record in New Jersey, they'd know he has no credibility, but on style, Christie won the debate.

[CapoteMonster]

Both of them lost by looking unpresidential and using blatant appeals to emotion but I agree with Menckhen that Paul "won" with that hug joke. The audience ate that up.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

I'd say Christie, but, then again, I am strongly biased towards his position on the NSA and think that Paul's doesn't even make sense.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

That said, I think the "you once hugged a negro" jab was a pretty effective line by Paul, no matter how much the fatarse tried to splutter and explain himself.

[DavidB.]

I agreed more with Paul (though I'm somewhere between their positions) - but Christie won it.