• by Philip Rosenstein , Staff Writer, January 15, 2016

“All 12 of our candidates are a lot better than Hillary Clinton,” shouted RNC chairman Reince Priebus before introducing the seven GOP candidates present in last night’s Fox Business debate.

The short time that Reince spent on stage was dominated by an attempt to appease all possible factions of the Republican Party. He spoke of South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and repeated that whomever you support, you must work with your fellow Republicans to win the White House.

The Republican debate adequately opened with a question on President Obama’s last State of the Union. All those who addressed it exhibited an intense dislike and distrust of the President and his Tuesday speech. Gov. Chris Christie described the speech as “story time with Barack Obama.”

The rifts we’ve seen develop over the past few weeks -- Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz taking their gloves off and the Chris Christie-Marco Rubio squabble -- were on full display in South Carolina.

Donald Trump had a strong showing, especially when a tussle with Ted Cruz digressed into a discussion about "New York values." Trump was able to invoke the September 11 attacks in a surprisingly careful and measured way, when discussing the significance of Manhattan conservatives.

It's worth noting that Manhattan houses Fox News, Wall Street, The National Review and many top GOP donors, including the billionaire David Koch, a Cruz contributor.

Trump defended his Muslim ban as well. When flatly asked if he was thinking of rolling back his comments, he responded: “No!” Cheers were heard throughout the crowd and he repeated: “I want security,” a few times.

Jeb had a stronger night, though most likely too late to make a convincing bid for the nomination. If he goes down, he’ll go down swinging. Bush told Trump point blank: “I hope you’ll reconsider [the Muslim ban].” He won't.

Sen. Marco Rubio was questioned about a pro-Rubio super PAC ad aired about Chris Christie, which pegged the New Jersey Governor as too liberal.

Rubio adeptly attacked Christie for his closeness to President Obama, while making a broader point about the importance of conservatism. It is difficult to tell who won the exchange, as Christie quickly rejected a number of Rubio’s assertions, though CNN's Reality Check this morning notes some of Rubio's attacks were true.

The Rubio-Cruz skirmish continued last night as well, with additional accusations of flip-flopping. Like Christie, Cruz said flat out that much of what Rubio attacked him for was just false. Fact-checkers are having another field day with last night’s debate, deciding if the candidates were any closer to reality this time around.