an informal cnbc post debate poll has trump on top, followed others saying that rubio came out on top and the consensus is that jeb bush did not do anything to help his faultering campaign. on social media, ted cruz was the most discussed candidate and donald trump has the most mentions on twitter. and they were both full of good cheer, praising the field. >> who were you impressed with tonight? >> i was impressed with everybody. >> i thought it was great and i did well. >> the pair also had good things to say about each other with carson say trump is a smart guy and trump saying he has a lot of respect for carson. ted cruz criticizing the debate moderators. >> the questions that have been asked so far in this debate iln lustrate why the american people don't trust the media. this is not a cage match and you look at the questions, donald trum anp, are you a comic book villain, ben carson can you do math. how about talking about the substantive issues people care about. >> and tweeting out cnbc should be ashamed of how this debate was handled. i will fight to insure future debates allo

it didn't bode well for the left or cnbc. for me it was an opportunity for the gop to look like the heros of the night. >> can you imagine if they ended hands clasped. >> on wednesday marco rubio suggested that hillary clinton lied about benghazi and the media critics have been hammering him since. greg gutfeld and allen combs are next on this. >> the democrats have the ultimate super pac. they're called the mainstream they're called the mainstream media who every single day -- my credit score for free, right? and then you're gonna ask me for my credit card so you can charge me on the down low two weeks later. look, credit karma - oh, are you talking to websites again? it's sayin' 'free credit score.' credit karma? yeah, it's actually free. look, you don't have to put in your credit card information. credit karma. really free credit scores. really. free. fist bump. it takes a lot of work... but i really love it.s. i'm on the move all day long... and sometimes, i just don't eat the way i should. so i drink boost® to get the n

so, look, cnbc is an arm of nbc. i am not going to allow us to move forward until we communicate with the candidates. obviously we had assurances that it was going to be straight up finance which is what they do every day. and what was delivered was just nothing but a crap sandwich. >> meantime the republican presidential campaigns may be taking things into their own hands. they are meeting this sunday but the rnc is not invited to the meeting and now the candidates are taking their complaints public. >> i've seen things that are so bad with the press. they were really asking questions that were bad but what else is new? >> be ready to hear that the campaigns are going to not allow the networks to control this process. >> i've asked my staff to reach out to the other campaigns to talk about a change in format. moderators who are interested in actually getting the facts and not in gotcha questions in zblcht change of network is not going to matter. we need a structural change. what i would suggest, allow all of us to

this time on cnbc. and it did not go well. for more on what went wrong, it's time for "debate wrap-up." [ cheers and applause ] >> seth: the proceedings last night got off to a less than dazzling start when cnbc anchor carl quintanilla opened with this terrible question. >> what is your biggest weakness, and what are you doing to address it? >> seth: what is their weakness? they're presidential candidates. they're not going to answer that question honestly. i mean, what were you even expecting them to say? "uh, when i get mad, sometimes i shut down bridges." [ laughter ] "i leave my curlers in too long." "i sometimes run for things i have no chance of winning." [ laughter ] they're politicians. it's not like they're going to tell you they once tried to stab a guy. >> many people know the story when i was 14 and i tried to [ laughter ] >> seth: okay, i take it back. i take it back. that was a bad example. [ light laughter ] still, opening with a question better suited for "the dating game" set the tone, and the tone was moderat

we all don't tune into the cnbc business channel. john: issue two -- a new speaker, a new deal. >> i think this process is ridiculous. boehner: the honorable paul d. ryan of the state of wisconsin, having received a majority of the votes cast, is duly elected as speaker of the house. [applause] ryan: but lets be frank, the house is broken. were not solving problems, were adding to them. only a fully functioning house an truly represent the people, and if there were ever a time for us to step up, this would be that time. john: paul ryan, new speaker of the u.s. house of representatives, took office on thursday, pledging to make politics work better. but on wednesday, before mr. ryan took the speakers gavel, the house of representatives passed a major bipartisan budget deal. here are its eight key elements. first, government spending. it will increase by a total of $50 billion in 2016, and $30 billion in 2017. the increases will be split equally between defense and domestic programs, but an additional $31 billion will also be allocated

. >> ben carson also took a swing at the cnbc debate moderator who are under fire for their questions. >> debates are supposed to be established to help the people get to know the candidates and what it's turned into is a gotcha. that's silly. >> ben carson and other candidates calling for a change in debate format. 14 million people watched wednesday night as the highest rated program for cnbc, but the third lowest out of the three republican debates. kendis and reena. >> thank you so much. wisconsin republican paul ryan won his election yesterday. he's now speaker of the house and he told colleagues the house is broken and he wants to fix it which restoring order and transparency. he's the youngest house speaker in 150 years. ryan had the votes of all but nine republicans. his predecessor wishes him well. >>> because hope always springs eternal. and if you just do the right things for the right reasons, good things will happen. and this, too, can really happen to you. god bless you and god bless our great country. >> former speaker boehner said despite its many twists his career was

get attention for cnbc. introduce -- >> it worked, then. >> i don't know if it worked, melissa, i don't think more of them, i think less of them. >> cnbc is called don't see nbc. >> let me make one last point. they essentially from my perspective, let the candidates off the hook, because the candidates, take cruz for example, cruz is able to, instead of answering questions -- >> they're swimming in the political pool. they don't know that stroke, they know the money stroke. they're swimming in the money stroke, they would have had the upper hand. >> they didn't take it. they did a disservice to everybody who cares about the issues and wants to hear what they have to say about the economy. wants to hear what they have to say about their ideas for taxes. to be substantive. all of these candidates have been attacked and said hey, listen we want to know some substance. what is your specific plan. not floating, loose rhetoric about what you think you're going to do, making cuts, get specific. >> to your point abo

. >> and tweeting out cnbc should be ashamed of how this debate was handled. i will fight to insure future debates allow for a more robust exchange. and the performance was extremely dispointing and did a disservice to the network and their voters. and thai ey responded by saying, someone who wants to be president should be able to ask tough questions. and hillary clinton #gop debate. >>> this sunday, meet the press presidential candidate, jeb bush. >>> it was a strange site yesterday, the unmanned helium feeled blimp hovered above home. a pair of f-16s were dispatched to follow it as it drifted 100 twept miles s -- 120 miles north of pennsylvania. and it damaged power lines along the way, knocking out power to nearly 30,000 people. pennsylvania senator, even tweeted out, damaged claims information to its constituents. but the blimp ran out of helium and drifted to the ground where military. >>> breaking news overnight, a 10-year-old boy. from the west coast of ohahu. this is the 7th shark attack in hawaii this year. october 17th, a 44-year-old man suffered le

carson have and ben threatened to pull out of the upcoming cnbc debate on october 28 if the candidates are not allowed to make opening and closing statements and a cnbc says the debate is going to last longer than two hours, including commercials. john, are trump and carson going to get their way and why do they want this changed? john: i don't want to discourage -- disparage another network, but i think they will crumple. i have spent all day try to get in the heads of donald trump and ben carson and trying to figure it out. i have no idea. i do not get this remotely. >> i think trump is a showman and he thinks it is a bad show. the other thing is both of them feel like they have the leverage to do it. think trump and carson are the ones who have leverage as the front runners to say we don't want to do it because it is just too long, it is uncomfortable to stand for three hours. it is a lot of weight time. john: i think it is fair to say these are always the most useless part. they don't define anything. mark: taken it to deliver and under still message. john: the truth is, as you kno

they didn't have to okay a cnbc debate, did they? >> well, you know, fortunately, this was so bad that i think even the chc will recognize that was a mistake and maybe we need to be looking for a better way to do this. a way that will advantage us rather than advantaging the other party. >> what was the tipping point for you in the debate last night where you just went you know, this is absurd? what was that? >> well, it was the launch of the cruz missile. when senator cruz really chastised them and, you know, specifically pointed out what they were doing to each one of the candidates. >> brilliant move. >> i think that was very telling. >> it was a brilliant move. >> i agree with you that everything kind of ground to a halt then now, i have been looking at your tax plan, your flat tax plan. look, i want smaller government. i want more money in the pox of american workers very, very badly. your plan is not going to work unless you raise it up to 22%. you get it at 15 you to the to be 22. because we have commitments to the military. w

it's all about what is wrong with the cnbc moderators and wrong with the media. the best line of the debate is the one you're going to hear right now. >> the questions asked so far in this debate illustrate why the american people don't trust the media. this is not a cage match. if you look at the questions, donald trump, are you a comic book vilan? ben carson, can you do math? john kasich, will you assault two people here? marco rubio, why don't you resign? jeb bush, why have your numbers fallen? how about talking about what people care about? does this count? >> so let's ask the question. how many of you think they should be ashamed of what they did tonight? how many of you are angry? what is the problem? >> they're arrogant. >> they don't respect process of a presidential debate. they have docu questions. >> they should be ashamed of themselves but they've got the fire in the bellies and i appreciated that. >> you thought it made them perform better? >> yes. >> i thought the candidates thought it was a game changer for the candidates. >> so you're pleased? >>

overall cnbc did a poor job man ablging the debate. that's why cnbc should be ashamed of how they were doing it. the whole presentation and how they were going back and forth. at thats like they wanted it to be about them rather than the candidates. >> which you should never do you should strive not to do that as a journalist. >> thank you so much. appreciate it as always you getting up early with us. >>> now worry about the fire jets scrambling when a military blimp breaks free knocking out power to thousands and causing chaos for hours. derek tiny is live with what is being done now. >> a specialized military team is on the ground in northeast pennsylvania to recover the 180 million piece of equipment and try to figure out how it got lose. shortly after news the tethered blimp about the length of a football field somehow became detached from the ground in narld for four hours it drifted northwest across maryland and pennsylvania dragging the cable on the way damaging buildings and knocking out power lines leaving nearly 30,000 people

saying he thought it was unfair and cnbc should be ashamed. that is fairly unique. i haven't heard of that any democratic chair speaking out like that. one of the winners was the fox news bell. it's again, a debate where you try to get off the rails sometimes, it's tough to get candidates on track. some questions, they were fact check issues. some of them didn't pan out. >> give me an example. >> john harwood asked a question that he corrected his own story a week and a half earlier and rubio called him on it. and the premise is about the tax structure and whether it's helping poor people or rich people more than poor people. he corrected that story a week and a half before. he is usually on top of his game. >> yes. i don't know the guy. i don't know. i don't know any of those people. i do know that there is a culture that they work in. i know the culture over there. and they're probably getting that from people above them. the next debate is fox business network debate, november 10th, i understand. neil cavuto will be a moderator, as far as t

cnbc east really bad debate night. quote assaying cnbc should be ashamed of their debate handling. now you want to make sure to tune in tuesday november 10, we are going to have the real debate, fox business wall street journal republican debate here on the fox business network. >> nicole: indeed. now turn back to economic news that's out today. economists expect to department to say that the economy growth slowed in the third quarter. domestic products at 1.6% seasonally adjusted rate, that's not a good number. that would be a slow down from 3.9% growth that we saw in the second quarter. they'll be looking at housing, global market, strong u.s. dollar and how that factors in as well. >> cheryl: drug makers, two huge names in the drug industry with a possible merger in what could be the biggest takeover deal this year. however, newspapers says talk is at an early talcses second attempt to acquire a european rival after it failed to purchase last year. pfizer u.s. large maker. >> nicole: this would be a big one if it actually goes through and happens. coming up, reviews are in of ap

saying he thought it was unfair and cnbc should be ashamed. that is fairly unique. i haven't heard of that any democratic chair speaking out like that. one of the winners was the fox news bell. it's again, a debate where you try to get off the rails sometimes, it's tough to get candidates on track. some questions, they were fact check issues. some of them didn't pan out. >> give me an example. >> john harwood asked a question that he corrected his own story a week and a half earlier and rubio called him on it. and the premise is about the tax structure and whether it's helping poor people or rich people more than poor people. he corrected that story a week and a half before. he is usually on top of his game. >> yes. i don't know the guy. i don't know. i don't know any of those people. i do know that there is a culture that they work in. i know the culture over there. and they're probably getting that from people above them. the next debate is fox business network debate, november 10th, i understand. neil cavuto will be a moderator, as far as t

cnbc moderates the next republican presidential debate. the your money your vote event airing wednesday october 28th. that will be from the university of colorado. in boulder. coming up, stock session highs. plus, getting active in ge. trian fund making a big bet on the company. what's the game plan for shareholders? we're going to talk to one coming up just after the break. can it make a dentist appointment when my teeth are ready? ♪ can it tell the doctor how long you have to wear this thing? ♪ can it tell the flight attendant to please not wake me this time? ♪ the answer is yes, it can. so, the question your customers are really asking is, can your business deliver? [during sleep train's the triple choice sale. big for a limited time, you can choose up to 48 months interest-free financing on a huge selection of tempur-pedic models. or choose to save $300 on beautyrest and posturepedic mattress sets. you can even choose $300 in free gifts with sleep train's most popular stearns & foster mattresses. the triple choice sale ends soon

tonight,ajor backlash over cnbc's handling of the third gop debate. first, there was some big moments last night in boulder, colorado, including this exchange between governor jeb bush and senator marco rubio. >> marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term. and you should be showing up to work. literally, the senate -- what is it like a french workweek? you can campaign or just resign and let someone else take the job. >> you're modelling your campaign after john mccain. that you're going to launch a furious comeback the way he did. you know how many votes john mccain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback? i don't remember you ever complaining about john mccain's vote record. the obviously reason you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position. >> that back and fort may have turned some heads, but senator rubio is now playing what happened on the debate stage last night. he was a guest on my radio program earlier today. here's what he told me about that exchange. >> someone's obviously convinced him,

i'm disappointed in cnbc. i thought maybe they was bring forward a pretty fair forum here tonight, but i think it was one gotcha question, one personal low flow after another. it's almost as if they tried to take the worst element, i think, of what moderators and what the media should bring to the table and all i can tell you is that while i'm proud of our candidates for pretty much sticking together, i'm very disappointed in the moderators and i'm very disappointed with cnbc. >> gror yeah borger, have you ever seen the rnc react like that after a debate? >> no, but if i was reic reice preibus i would be okay with all of this. the debate had the effect of uniting all the republicans against the media, which is something that works really, really well with the base. that's one of the reasons why donald trump didn't come out and blast the debate, even though he called some of the questions nasty during the debate. he didn't have to. it was already -- all the other candidates were doing it. rei in fce priebus was

you can watch the 2-hour debate on cnbc at 7:00 p.m. tomorrow night. the bottom four candidates will participate in an earlier debate starting at 5:00 p.m also on cnbc. house speaker john boehner is pushing for the approval of a two-year budget and a raising of the debt limit before the new house speaker, paul ryan, is sworn in on thursday. today, republicans will discuss the bipartisan plan which came about following behind-the-scenes negotiations last night between boehner and the white house. a south carolina prosecutor says no criminal charges will be filed against a police officer who fatally shot a 19-year-old during a drug sting. zachary hammond was shot and killed in july. right now, federal authorities are looking onto whether they'll bring charges against the officer. lawyers have said the shooting was justified and that hammond was shot when he drove his car at the officer. a south carolina sheriff's deputy working for a school is banned from the high school campus after video showed the deputy wrestling and dragging a disruptive student fro

tweeting out, cnbc should be ashamed of how this debate was handled. i will fight to ensure future debates allow for a more robust exchange. the rnc also put out an official statement saying in part the performance by the cnbc moderators was extremely disappointing and disa disservice to their network, our candidates and voters. cnbc has responded to the critics and saying people who want to be president of the united states should be able to answer tough questions. democratic front-runner hillary clinton, she was pretty direct about her feelings about the debate, tweeting out #gopdebate. >>> this weekend in a sunday exclusive, "meet the press" moderator chuck todd will speak with former governor, now presidential candidate, jeb bush. >>> a runaway military surveillance blimp is back on solid ground this morning. it was a strange sight over pennsylvania yesterday as the blimp traveled 120 miles. it reached an altitude of nearly 16,000 feet. nbc's dan schenamen has the report. >> reporter: the unmanned military surveillance blimp floated over pennsylvan

shouldn't cnbc get some credit for that rather than a debit. i think there was good, solid differences brought out. now, on the federal reserve, ted cruz was frankly talking nonsense there. there are millions of people in work who have been in work because of the economic growth. and the fed at least stimulated that economic growth. this is not a 1% issue. this is millions of people in work. if congress had done something to help, we might be at an even better state. i would actually say that congress are the people who have been asleep at the switch in terms of stimulating growth the last two or three years. >> is it because they haven't been able to get anything through congress? there has been so much grid lock that policies has been a challenge under the obama administration? >> yes. but if you look at history, one of the best periods on of growth is when we had the clinton administration, president bill clinton. we may have to make that distinction soon. with newt gingrich leading the house, the republican house. that was a constructive de

wow. >> so charlie, to you first, obviously cnbc did a bad job. they put john harwood on television, which is insane just to begin with. wasn't the debate pretty interesting, a, pretty instructive, you didn't even learn anything about the candidates and was it a total failure? >> absolutely. you had nurse rachet and the other two revealing all of their politics wearing everything on the sleeve and asking ridiculous questions. absolutely tucker. i thought it was fascinating and so entertaining. somebody who likes to see the media get beat up, my goodness, this was just are a slug fest. even jeb bush was able to land a couple of punches on them. it was absolutely delightful and i think in a very important way it revealed some very good things about a lot of the candidates, some strengths we had not seen before. >> that's exactly right. it's nice, jonah, isn't it, to see the media live down to the stereotype, their horribleness. let's talk about the reaction to that. you often see republican candidates attack the press but, from my perspective, ted c

some people -- i think the cnbc moderators did a god awful job. some people are saying the questioning was hostile as if that was a bad thing. the questioning should be hostile. >> it should be hostile, but it shouldn't be incompetent and it shouldn't be about the moderators themselves. >> anderson cooper when he was cross-examine minuting hillary clinton he was great. he was gutting her and following her back and never made it about himself. you can do it and you should be a hostile interrogator. they started the debate with what's your biggest weakness? it is a bunch of politicians. >> that was not hostile. that was just dumb. >> i think the big thing here is what you said is the general sense which i think is correct is hostile questioning is okay if both sides got it equally from the media, but they tend not to. >> i don't know if that's true about debates. we have only seen one democratic debate and they got it stuck to them pretty good. i think the media does better at debates. >> i think you are a luis livered liberal. >> thank you. >> joe

but cnbc showed it can be as biased as the mother ship, nbc. the moderators focused not so much on the economy or money, more on fantasy football, comic books and gotcha moments, the candidates? let's just say they didn't appreciate the lefty leaning. >> the democrats have the

cnbc was exposed looked nasty and unprepared. candidates should be focus canned on their message not poor little me. if you can't handle those questions. some candidates did, the others did not do well. you shouldn't be in office. if you look at reagan. reagan had tremendous media bias. he didn't complain he really kicked their butts. that's what the republicans need to do. the rnc should have fixed this a long time ago. there is no excuse, eric, it is unforgivable that they let this happen. >> jessica, before you answer that i want to look at jeb bush unt -- you told candidates you have to get better than. this 8 more debates. do what other candidates do rudely interrupt. not answer the questions that are asked and hopefully the debate moderators will actually ask more substantive questions as well. it's going fine. >> are you having any fun. >> oh yeah you saw it having lots of fun. >> was that snarkiness? >> a little sense of humor. we know he has a good fantasy football team i think. i'm not into fantasy football can jeb bush

joining me now former cnbc ted david. frank cesno, and molly hemingway at the conservative website the federalist. let me briegin with you, frank. that was the man you say won the debate. but you also say the debate was a mess, why? >> because it was. it suffered from a lot of things, cnbc, this is the business channel, the economy channel, they promised a focused debate and it did not happen. if you look at the way aerngdson ran the democratic debate. two things came to mind, this is no free pass for liberals. and secondly, he fold up. when one teed it up, he asked that candidate to comment. he tried to generate a real discussion and debate. that didn't happen in the cnbc debate. the whole kind of spectrum of trying to ask snarky questions with a screaming audience behind them. ten candidates, six different people asking debates led to what i would call a format meltdown. there simply wasn't the structure to the debate that could have, should have happened there. and there were real issues, differences between the candid

he was on cnbc this past week. [video clip] jeb bush: we need to go at a far faster rate than we are going today. people'sting a lid on aspirations. 6 million more people living in poverty today than the day that barack obama was elected president. a high-growth strategy requires a dramatic reform of our tax code. we propose civil find the tax rate, expanding the inclusion, so that many low income earners will not pay anything at all. simplify the code to put a cap on deductions because there are thousands and thousands of these credits. eliminate local and .tate exemptions of taxes that would create an environment where people are saving more. all would get a tax cut of some kind. host: jeb bush was on cnbc reacting to what donald trump had to say. marco rubio also outlining his campaign. here are some highlights. host: joe is joining us from north charleston, south carolina. welcome to the conversation. what do you think? caller: how are you doing? host: fine, thank you. caller: doing well done here. it is wet. h

the top 10 gop candidates will participate in the main event at 7:00 iowa time on cnbc. the 4 lower tier candidates have their own debate earlier in the evening. steve: it's a scene that is in iowa. neighbor helping neighbor to ensure that a fellow farmer in need gets his crop to market. kcci's vanessa peng has the heartwarming story from harcourt. vanessa: guys, this is what iowa nice is all about. a group of farmers coming together, using their own time, their own equipment to help out one man fighting cancer. >> it's overwhelming, it's just unbelievable. vanessa: you don't usually see this much green, and a little bit of red, out on one iowa cornfield. >> 13 combines and all 8 row because chuck had a 16 row head. vanessa: about 80 guys, some 30 semi truck drivers hauling corn. other farmers in the combine or tractor, all spending hours out in the field to harvest another man's corn, chuck gustafson's. he's a dear friend of mine i >>he's a dear friend of mine i without being a part of it. vanessa: gustafson says he's fighting esophagus cancer. he's gone through radiati

they said that cnbc, you forget about that three-hour debate you've got planned. we're going two hours and if you don't, we're not coming. the candidates have a lot of leverage with the news organizations that are sponsoring the debate. i know you have suggestions about how you would change the debate format. what would you do? >> i'll give you a couple of ideas. they're scheduled for the 12th of never. i think it would be useful. have a single moderator. have them sitting at a table instead of standing. also have the candidates get in, debate one as opposed debate two or three by lottery. the lottery would be held right before the debate. the candidates wouldn't know exactly who they're going to be debating. this should be all about the voters. not the candidate. not the parties and not the moderators and the news organizations. i make an exception for neil cavuto. i know he's moderating the next debate. i do want it to be all about him. >> okay. >> happy hour debate, 6:00 p.m. follow bid the main event, 9:00 p.m. eastern. >>> fuj tigitive accused of shog a polic

welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc. we will get into the debate from all different angles this morning. we will talk to a couple different candidates on the last night. senator marco rubio will will join us 7:20 a.m. eastern time. 8:00 a.m., governor chris christie will be with us. as we do every morning, we will check on the markets and see what's happening. the fed deciding to open that door on a possible rate hike in december. the market is taking that as a vote of confidence. stocks surging, up nearly 200 points. take a look this morning. you will see there are red arrows when you check out the futures. dow indicating down

. >> carson proposed imposing a flat tax, the cnbc moderators said his numbers don't add up. >> the rate will be closer to 15%. >> 15% still leaves you with a million dollar hole. >> you also have to get rid of the deductions and the loopholes. >> marco rubio answered calls from his hometown newspaper to resign from the senate for missing too many votes. >> it is actually evidence of the bias that exists in the american media today. >> when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term. and you should show up for your term. >> somebody convinced you that attacking me will help you. >> carly fiorina was attacked for hewlett-packard. >> yes i was fired for a disagreement in the boardroom. >> after the questioning ted cruz had enough. >> this is not a cage match. you look at the question and are you a comic book villain and can you do math and will you insult two people over here? it should be what are your sub substantive -- >> they were fighting for time and often talking over each other and arguing with the mod it rayer. in less than two weeks they will face-off again. abc news, would

it's all about what is wrong with the cnbc moderators and wrong with the media. the best line of the debate is the one you're going to hear right now. >> the questions asked so far in this debate illustrate why the american people don't trust the media. this is not a cage match. if you look at the questions, donald trump, are you a comic book vilan? ben carson, can you do math? john kasich, will you assault two people here? marco rubio, why don't you resign? jeb bush, why have your numbers fallen? how about talking about what people care about? does this count? >> so let's ask the question. how many of you think they should be ashamed of what they did tonight? how many of you are angry? what is the problem? >> they're arrogant. >> they don't respect process of a presidential debate. they have docu questions. >> they should be ashamed of themselves but they've got the fire in the bellies and i appreciated that. >> you thought it made them perform better? >> yes. >> i thought the candidates thought it was a game changer for the candidates. >> so you're pleased? >>

cnbc's economy debate covered tax reform.. medicare.. social security and the current fight in washington over spending and raising the debt limit: (sot: rand paul/ (r) presidential candidate) "this is the unholy alliance people need to know about." (sot: mike huckabee/ (r) presidential candidate) "somebody is taking it in the teeth - and it's not wall street." carly fiorina defended her business decisions: (sot: carly fiorina/ (r) presidential candidate) "i will run on my record all day long." besides the media, the republicans most consistent target: hillary clinton. there was a pretty fierce back and forth over some of the candidates' flat tax plans... crunching the numbers on whether they'll work. i'm tracie potts in washington, now back to you. >> after a cool and breezy start to the day... ben says the winds should be calming down a bit. he's back with the forecast after this. spencer, iowa.... ben, it was cold and breezy out there this we'll pick up right where we left off this morning with strong winds, some lingering clouds and

tracc tracy, theci tracie, there's a new cnbc poll out. >> yes. you know, depending on where you look, social media out there sort of all over the place in terms of who won this thing. facebook, most of the discussion on facebook was about ted cruz. twitter, donald trump actually did get most mentions on twitter, 22%, but that's way down from the 37% he got on the last debate. >> tracie, i want to talk more about marco rubio. a lot of people saying his perform was wrong and sort of might catapult him more this this race. >> he had a big clash with rubio. he came in with a scathing editorial about his boating record in washington, why he submitted so many votes and he was clearly ready to enter it. he got into it with jeb bush, bush saying, look, you need to show up to the job. rubio's response saying i don't remember you making that same criticism of john mccain when you supported him. someone must have told you that this would help your campaign. >> they say he fell flat trying to create a moment. what is this about a promise to kiss democrats? i

>> well, look, the fox debate was not as bad as cnbc. i know a lot of people survived rollovers on the highway and this was ironically out of that car that rolled over on wednesday night, marco rubio, ted cruz and chris christie sprinted unharmed but none of the moderators got out. the first debate everybody got banged up. the cnn debate with dana bash and me, i think university well-regarded and 23 million people agreed. so there is a happy medium with a strong moderator, with well-prepared professionals. mark preston basically lived in my head for four weeks before that debate working, working, working. so it takes practice and preparation and i just didn't see that this week. i saw -- even the sound guys were off, don. >> yeah, mark is very experienced politically and been here at cnn for quite sometime. i know mark preston. wow. just kidding, mark. >> no, i can speak a second language now which is profanity. >> and the accent, the new england accent. first, they complain about the length of the debate, when it was here on cnn and say

nbc news owned by the same parent company as cnbc called it a disappointing development but promises to work in good faith to resolve this matter with the republican party. more fallout after a debate giving new momentum to ted cruz and marco rubio, who lended a counter-punch against jeb bush. >> the super pac supporting rubio -- previewing the first ad is also highlighting cruz, trump and carson as his biggest competitors. not mentioned, his former mentor, jeb bush. that is even as a leaked memo shows the campaign plan to go after rubio, painting him as a risky bet. >> someone decides they want to do the democrats job for them and make it easier for the democrats to defeat a republican, that is the choice they make in their campaign. but i can't let it change my campaign and i won't. >> tonight signs of a shake up for bush. his chief operating officer leaving the campaign as bush promises to get better as a candidate explaining how to casey hunt. >> we have eight more debates and i'm going to have to do what other candidates do which is rudely interrupt and not answer the questions

we'll see if it kicks off on cnbc. jonathan, thanks so much for joining us today. >> take care. >>> just ahead, a high-powered republican wants to impeach the head of the irs? we have those details next. it takes a lot of work... to run this business. but i really love it. i'm on the move all day long... and sometimes, i just don't eat the way i should. so i drink boost® to get the nutrition that i'm missing. boost complete nutritional drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to support strong bones and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. all with a great taste. i don't plan on slowing down any time soon. stay strong. stay active with boost®. >>> leading the news on nbcnews.come, two killed when a world war ii era tank explodes in oregon. deputies responded to the explosion tuesday afternoon. paramedics attempted to save the victims but they died from their injuries. local and state authorities are still investigating. >>> jason chaffetz moves to impeach irs chief. yester

. >> cnbc taking a lot of heat for last night's fw op debate. this morning the moderators almost more of a story than the candidates themselves. some questions were so pointed they t crowd booed before the candidates had a chance to answer. florida senator marco rubio called main street hillary clinton's super pac. >> do you want me to answer or do you want to answer? how do you want to do this? i've got to tell you the truth. even in new jersey what you're doing is call rude. >> nbc "meet the press" moderator chuck todd tweeted, remember, when a politician doesn't like a question or doesn't want to answer a question, default is to attack the media. centuries-old tradition. >> nbc's tracie potts will join us with perspective on this from capitol hill in just a bit. >> your time, 6:05. d.c. regulators just voted to consider a settlement that would allow the merger. after that mayor muriel bower's negotiation stepped in. the $78 million deal includes protection for consumers, guarantees job and investments in renewable energy. >> we told you about