Former Governor Jeb Bush took hard shots at Trump. He pointed to a lack of foreign policy knowledge and pegged Trump as "unserious," while repeating his own plan for defeating ISIL and the Jihadist threat. Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz faced off in heated discourse over immigration, national security and privacy.

Much has happened since the first Republican debate in August. Highly respected candidates have been forced out of the race, or forced down in the polls. The establishment has failed to coalesce around one candidate.

Trump supporters are for the most part older and under-educated. Only 2% of his supporters are under 30 and around 33% are over 65. Only 19% have a college degree and about 50% have a high-school diploma. 55% of Trump supporters are white and working class.

Donald Trump is not the only ultra-nationalist and xenophobic political figure taking the Western world down an eerily familiar path. Just in the past couple of weeks, we have seen the National Front in France, led by Marine Le Pen, receive the largest share of the first-round votes in regional elections.

'The New York Times' ran a Clinton op-ed on Dec. 7, where the former Secretary of State outlined and defended her plan to "Rein In Wall Street." She praises President Obama's financial reforms and successful rehabilitation of the American economy, while condemning Republican thirst for deregulation.

Of the 857 minutes of election coverage, Trump has grabbed 237 -- 27% of the total. Talk about earned media. That is double Hillary Clinton, his closest rival in the coverage sphere. She has logged a comparably measly 113 minutes on the three big broadcast networks - excluding Benghazi and email coverage.

Recent signs had been pointing to a rising Ted Cruz, and the signs are now supported by the numbers. A brand new Iowa poll has Cruz at the top of the Republican field in the nation's first primary contest, with 24%.

On the campaign trail, discussion has focused on national security and which policies should be proposed in the wake of terror attacks. Candidates with strong backgrounds in law enforcement, such as Chris Christie, got a bump in the polls. Others, such as Ben Carson, who fall short on toughness and national security experience, see their numbers slump.

The Pew Research Center released a report yesterday detailing the makeup of the Washington Press Corps and of the content it produces. Major trends described by the study include the increased focus on Congressional politics and the advent of online-first news outlets.

A Quinnipiac poll through November 30 has Ben Carson sliding into third place nationally, behind Marco Rubio and statistically tied with Ted Cruz. Support for Carson's candidacy has waned in recent weeks, but this is the first time since at least September he is out of the top two spots.