Will the Republican candidates for President get to answer real questions about the economy and fiscal issues? We will find out tonight! The Chad Hasty Show airs 8:30-11am on 790AM KFYO.

Republican Presidential Candidates Hold Third Debate In Colorado
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Republican Debate

There is another Republican Presidential debate tonight and this time it will be moderated by FOX Business and the Wall Street Journal. According to POLITICO, FOX Business is hoping to shine compared to CNBC.

Tuesday’s encounter will be the first GOP debate since CNBC’s on October 29, after which multiple campaigns blasted the moderators for losing control and asking “gotcha” questions – while RNC Chairman Reince Priebus dismissed it as a “crap sandwich.”

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Thus, FBN’s moderators Neil Cavuto and Maria Bartiromo insisted in POLITICO interviews that they are aiming to be quite different from CNBC — and seemed to share the sense that CNBC’s questions veered from the strict substance of the issues.

"My goal is to make myself invisible,” Cavuto, one of three moderators for primetime debate, said in an interview last week. "That I’m not the issue … That we’re not the issue. The answers to what we’re raising become the issue."

Bartiromo sounded a similar note: “After that [CNBC] debate, I realized, I knew my marching orders. It was clearer than ever what my marching orders are, and that is to help the viewer, help the voter better understand what each candidate’s plan is, is it a realistic plan, can it work and how is it different from the next guy or gal and that’s what I plan to focus on."

Cavuto and Bartiromo both worked for CNBC before defecting to Fox Business, whose chairman and CEO, Roger Ailes, used to be president of CNBC.

For years CNBC has been seen as the more famous and influential cable business news network. CNBC is available in approximately 93 million homes while Fox Business is in approximately 82 million homes, according to Nielsen. But Fox Business has been catching up in the ratings notching some important wins this year, and clearly sees the debate as an opportunity to make up some ground in both ratings and credibility.

A debate promo from the network airing in recent days declares, "CNBC never asked the real questions, never covered the real issues. That's why on November 10, the real debate about our economy and our future is only on Fox Business Network."

The tough talk went all the way up to the highest levels of parent company 21st Century Fox, which is co-chaired by Rupert Murdoch.

"We think it's really a great opportunity to showcase and differentiate Fox Business in terms of depth, quality and production," 21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch, Rupert's son, said of the debate on the company's quarterly earnings call last week.

I am hoping that this will be a better debate and I'm betting that it will be. It may not be as entertaining, but I think the voters will learn more about the candidates which is the point of having these debates.

Be sure to join KFYO and the Lubbock County Republican Party at Premier Cinemas tonight for our GOP Debate Watch Party. Doors open at 7:30pm and the debate starts at 8pm. Come join us!

Jeb Bush

According to POLITICO, more and more voters are coming to a bad conclusion of Jeb Bush. They don't like him.

A new McClatchy-Marist poll conducted from Oct. 29 through Nov. 4 found that Carson has the most appeal as voters are more exposed to him, with 67 percent expressing that favorable view, and 20 percent saying they have a less favorable view the more they hear about the retired neurosurgeon. Rubio comes in second at 58 percent to 27 percent, followed by Cruz with 51 percent to 31 percent.

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But the news isn’t as good for Bush, who has been attempting a reset from flagging poll numbers and a series of underwhelming debate performances. For the former Florida governor, 58 percent of Republican voters like him less after hearing more about him, compared with 32 percent who like him more.

And while Donald Trump is in second place in the overall Republican poll, nearly half of voters say they like him less the more they hear about him (49 percent to 44 percent).

Carson continues his hold on the No. 1 spot of the survey of Republican voters, with 24 percent, but he’s just 1 percentage point ahead of Trump, well within the margin of error. Rubio comes in third at 12 percent, and Cruz and Bush are tied for fourth with 8 percent each. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is in fifth place with 5 percent. All other candidates are at 4 percent or lower.

The McClatchy-Marist poll also found that a majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents — 59 percent to 39 percent — say it’s more important to have a candidate who stands for conservative principles than one who can win.

Again, why is Jeb Bush running? The Ted Cruz campaign has to be loving that last paragraph that I posted.

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