Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015, marked the first Republican debate for the 17 GOP Presidential nominees in Cleveland, Ohio, which was hosted by Fox News. The debate was split into two, the first having the lower seven nominees, and then the primetime debate featured the top 10 ranking Republican nominees according to their standing in the polls.

According to Fox News, the top Presidential candidates by conversation are Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush, John Kasich, and Bernie Sanders. The top issues in order are racial issues, economy, LGBT issues, immigration and religion. Many were hoping these issues would be addressed.

The early debate consisted of candidates Carly Fiorina, Jim Gilmore, Lindsey Graham, Bobby Jindal, George Pataki, Rick Perry and Rick Santorum. An online vote conducted by Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren found that popular opinion believes former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, Carly Fiorina won the underdog debate. The primetime debate, however, had more mixed feelings.

The top 10 nominees who participated were Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Chris Christie and John Kasich.

Moderator Brett Baier started out by asking if any of the candidates would be “unwilling tonight to pledge [their] support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party” pledging “to not run an independent campaign against that person.”

Trump, one of the more controversial of the candidates, raised his hand, saying he cannot make that pledge at this time. His start came with some backlash from the audience, who immediately booed his answer. After, however, he got praise from the audience for his straightforward answers. When questioned by the moderator, Kelly, about referring to women as “fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals,” Trump replies, “only Rosie O’Donnell.” He insists “the big problem” we have as a country “is being politically correct,” and what he says oftentimes is “fun” and “kidding.”

Bush, the second in polling, did not make as strong as a impression in these debates as some of his other contenders. As Florida’s former governor, he sets himself away from his previous Presidential office-holding brother and father, saying he’s his “own man” who “governed as a conservative, and [governed] effectively.”

Other notable candidates judging by their answers and audience response to the debate include Huckabee, Carson, Rubio, Christie and Kasich.

Former Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, had one of the more talked about comments of the night:

“Ronald Reagan said ‘trust, but verify.’ President Obama is ‘trust, but vilify.’ He trusts our enemies and vilifies everyone who disagrees with him.”

as well as,

“It seems like this election has been a whole lot about a person who’s very high in the polls, that doesn’t have a clue about how to govern. A person who has been filled with scandals, and who could not lead, and, of course, I’m talking about Hillary Clinton.”

Doctor Ben Carson, although first questioned for his inexperience in politics, was able to come around by addressing race relations in America:

“I was asked by an NPR reporter once, why don’t I talk about race that often. I said it’s because I’m a neurosurgeon. And she thought that was a strange response…I said, you see, when I take someone to the operating room, I’m actually operating on the thing that makes them who they are. The skin doesn’t make them who they are. The hair doesn’t make them who they are. And it’s time for us to move beyond that.”

In his closing speech, he addresses his neurosurgeon background:

“I haven’t said anything about me being the only one to do anything, so let me try that. I’m the only one to separate siamese twins. The only one to operate on babies while they were still in mother’s womb, the only one to take out half of a brain, although you would think, if you go to Washington, that someone had beat me to it.”

Rubio, Senator of Florida, addresses both Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton and student debt by stating:

“If I’m our nominee, how is Hillary Clinton gonna lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck…How is she gonna lecture me about student loans? I owed over $100,000 just four years ago.”

He throws in a favorite line of the night, by saying:

“I think God has blessed us. He has blessed the Republican Party with some very good candidates. The Democrats can’t even find one.”

He said he is running for President because of his belief “that we can’t just save the American dream; we can expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before.”

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie openly disagrees with Senator Rand Paul’s opposition to the NSA. After back and forth between Christie and Paul, Paul says he doesn't “trust President Obama with our records,” saying he “know[s] [Christie] gave him a big hug.” Many, although dependent on whose side they stand with, praise Christie’s response:

“Senator Paul…the hugs that I remember are the hugs that I gave to the families who lost their people on September 11th. Those are the hugs I remember…and those had nothing to do with politics, unlike what you’re doing by cutting speeches on the floor of the Senate, then putting them on the Internet within half an hour to raise money for your campaign.”

As for the 10th place candidate in the polls, Ohio Govenor Kasich, his comment regarding gay marriage received praise from Republicans and Democrats alike:

“I’m an old-fashioned person here, and I happen to believe in traditional marriage…the court has ruled, and I said we’ll accept it. And guess what, I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay. Because somebody doesn’t think the way I do, doesn’t mean that I can’t care about them or can’t love them. So if one of my daughters happened to be that, of course I would love them and I would accept them. Because you know what? That’s what we’re taught when we have strong faith…issues like that are planted to divide us. I think the simple fact of the matter is…and I’ve been saying it all along, we need to give everybody a chance, treat everybody with respect, and let them share in this great American dream that we have. So, look, I’m going to love my daughters, I’m going to love them no matter what they do. Because, you know what, God gives me unconditional love. I’m going to give it to my family and my friends and the people around me.”

Who do you think won the Republican Presidential debate?