Those who didn't tune in to Tuesday night Republican presidential debate might be surprised to learn that it was actually quite different from the seven million (give or take) GOP primary debates that have come before it this year. For one, it featured just eight presidential candidates—a mercifully low number considering that previous debates this cycle have featured as many as 12 GOP tryhards. And following what they viewed as unfair treatment at the hands of the CNBC moderators during the last round, the candidates were able to extract some concessions from its network TV partner—in this case, Fox Business News. That included including no reaction shots of audience members, no visual references to the candidates going to the bathroom, and no touching (OK, we made that one up).The result was a surprisingly substantive exchange of ideas about economic issues, foreign policy, and the size of the federal government. Sure, it was dry at points, and we didn't solve the mystery of Egypt's pyramids, but that's what we asked for, right? And just because the moderators never asked Ben Carson if he actually tried to kill anybody, doesn't mean the debate was completely lacking in crazy. We liveblogged it all below.
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