Winners:
John Kasich - Home crowd advantage with adult-in-the-room answers. Pragmatic. Very smart not to bash Trump, and instead embrace the fact that he speaks to a frustrated segment of the country.
Marco Rubio - I've said for a long time I think he's going to get the nomination, and his performance showed that he's a star. Good looking guy who is young (for a politician) and well spoken. When Republicans get asked about abortion they'll usually state they will exceptions for rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is endangered. He actually doesn't believe in giving exceptions for those three, which is way out of the mainstream. Something to look at if he becomes the nominee.
Moderators - I think they did a great job with the questions they asked. Free flowing debate and allowed for audience reaction
Losers:
Rand Paul - His father would get bullied around during these debates, but could take a punch. Rand did very poorly and his demeanor with Chris Christie was class-less. He looked childish.
Jeb Bush - Talked a mile-a-minute at times. Zero personality. If his name was Jeb Smith he would be debating with Jim Gilmore.
Scott Walker - Lack of pizzazz. Nothing memorable about his answers. There's a ceiling on how "I took on teacher unions" and "I won 3 times in 4 years" will resonate to votes. Explained his flip-flopping on amnesty by saying he changed his views based on citizen's input. Interesting answer and I'm sure he's going to get asked about his amnesty views again during these debates.
Donald Trump - Performed quite well at times. Had good answers for why he's donated to Dems and his past views on single-payer. Dodged the "what proof do you have that the Mexican government is shipping criminals over the border" question. I think he completely flopped on attacking Megyn Kelly. She's one of the few on Fox News that is respected from people that live outside of the Fox bubble.
Ben Carson - No doubt that he's a brilliant man, but his lack of knowledge on most everything is troubling. I kind of saw his answers as "I'm smart, I'll learn". It is weird that he has the polling support to be on the stage.
Meh:
Ted Cruz - This would be his time to shine. He's an award winning debater, but didn't say anything particularly memorable. He said he won't attack other candidates, but he's in the 3%-8% in most polling so he needs to do something. Beating up Mitch McConnell, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton isn't going to build his support.
Mike Huckabee - Had the line of the night with the, "It seems like the election has been a whole lot about a person who has been very high in the polls, who doesn't have a clue about how to govern, a person who has been filled with scandals and could not lead, and of course, I'm talking about Hillary Clinton." That's genuinely funny. Other than that, he wrapped himself up with pretty extreme social issue viewpoints.
Chris Christie - Was in the spar with Rand Paul as they both lost the battle. Invoking 9/11 and saying we have to have unpopular security programs, because if not our safety is ask risk, is not a resonating message anymore. There's no good way to answer why New Jersey is doing poorly, saying that it was worse when he came in is probably the best answer. It was really odd to hear him say, "We still have a lot of work to do." If that is true, then why are you flying around the country running for President?