The very last GOP debate before the Iowa vote next week took place last night. Fox News moderated and the usual cast of candidates attended…except for a certain billionaire businessman who’d decided to put aside his Twitter tantrums and focus “Conveniently” on our nation’s veterans. But I digress. I’m sure you know who the moderators were:

The candidates were pretty familiar as well.

It was a substantive and interesting night with quite a few moments here and there.

"I'm a maniac, you're all stupid, fat & ugly, & Ben you're a terrible surgeon. Now the Trump portion is out of the way" @tedcruz #GOPDebate

— Feisty☀️Floridian (@peddoc63) January 29, 2016

.@JebBush slammed @HillaryClinton in tonight’s @FoxNews-Google #GOPDebate. pic.twitter.com/oYO7jcBxoo

— Fox News (@FoxNews) January 29, 2016

But there were also the times where it was – Oh wait I forgot he was on the stage. Don’t get me wrong. Dr. Ben Carson, John Kasich, and Rand Paul are fine men with heartfelt intentions for our country…but the debate ended up being a 5 sided puzzle dialogue between Cruz, Rubio, Jeb, and Christie. Well, then there was that time when Ted Cruz went after the moderators. Ouch.

Can someone PLEASE tell me why Chris Wallace emphasized ‘foreign terrorism’ over just plain ole terrorism?  You and I, and the folks in San Bernardino know very very well that terrorism has no boundaries and respects no borders, so why would Wallace attempt to make such a weird distinction? Furthermore, why would the candidates responding not pick up on that?? Hmmm.

Speaking of terrorism: Note to Megyn et al, the terrorists Do Not Care about our Constitution or Bill of Rights. Furthermore many terrorist use mosques as part of their network. No Rand, that doesn’t mean we arbitrarily shut them all down, but it does mean that we should investigate if a link is found. And guess what? Sometimes that link is found through..you guess it, text messages/emails/chat rooms! Sorry Gov. Christie, I don’t agree with you that we can find terrorists without doing any profiling.

Rubio stayed strong on the issues of foreign policy and national security. He also kept his focus on the candidate who must be defeated, answering a question concerning Hillary’s idea of Obama for Supreme Court…

Rubio went on to assert that he believes the greater goal of the election is to defeat the former secretary of State.

“It’s not about Donald Trump, he’s an entertaining guy. This campaign is about a president who has systematically destroyed much of the things that make this country great,” he said.

“That is why Hillary Clinton cannot win this election.”

Just out of curiosity, what was Trump up to during all of this?

While #GOPDebate was on break, switched to CCN to watch #Trump He was low energy, rambling and repeating the stuff about cameras

— Deborah Gyapong (@dhgyapong) January 29, 2016

Alrighty then! Meanwhile, there was a question from a Muslim American activist regarding bias and discrimination. She’s an interesting activist alright – one that seems to ‘Feel The Bern!’

I took this pic at the grocery store last night to send to @AndreasChoice ❤️ Who else feels the BERN? #Bernie2016 pic.twitter.com/0HsTfqgsn2

— N A B E L A (@NabelaNoor) January 16, 2016

The candidates, I must say, handled themselves well. Strong closing statements, but this one from Dr. Ben Carson reminds us all of what is important.

In many ways this debate was far better than the previous debates, you can read the transcript here. Largely due in part because Trump wasn’t distracting everyone. However, I do believe the Fox News moderators missed a chance to turn this debate into one that provided opportunities for the voters to receive more details from the candidates on the topics that matter most.

Did we want fireworks? I don’t think so. But even with the few fireworks that did happen was there anything that really changed anyone’s mind? I doubt it. The candidates were strong as a whole and quite frankly I don’t think having Trump in the room would’ve made a difference. In the end it was a strong debate that didn’t move the needle one way or another for Iowa voters.