Rubio ‘is clearly on the rise’

Cruz, Christie also benefit after debate

A good night on the debate stage put Marco Rubio on top of our GOP Power Rankings for the first time, and it gave Chris Christie his first taste of the top tier.

“Rubio is clearly on the rise after a strong debate performance,” said Kristen Soltis Anderson, one of the 30 political experts we survey each week for their view of Republican candidates. “(Ted) Cruz and Christie also did themselves favors in the debates,” she said, but it’s “still unclear how much the polls move as a result.”

Rubio jumped from third to first place in our survey, and Christie moved up from eighth place to fifth.

“Rubio and Cruz are widely regarded to be the ‘winners’ of the Oct. 28 GOP presidential candi-

date debate,” said Iowa State University’s Dianne Bystrom.

Republican digital consultant Phil Musser said: “The beginning of the ‘second look’ for Christie stage kicked off in earnest this week on the back of a great debate and solid follow on early state endorsements and appearances. Watch his numbers start to move.”

Donald Trump is no longer the center of every political conversation. Trump got eight first-place votes from our panelists, while Rubio got 16.

Ben Carson remains near the top with four first-place votes, and Ted Cruz received two.

Jeb Bush continues to fade. “Bush may technically have time and money, but he needs to do something now to prove to his donors and supporters that he is still a top contender in this race,” said non-partisan political analyst Nathan Gonzales.