Marco Rubio won the Republican presidential candidate in Houston on Thursday, political strategist Dick Morris told
Newsmax TV on Thursday.
"Rubio did very well," Morris told host J.D. Hayworth on the "Newsmax TV Post-Debate Special" in an interview. "He was the winner.
"Rubio was much clearer on immigration — and the exchanges when he mixed it up directly with Donald [Trump] were particularly good, especially on the Obamacare answer."
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He hit Trump hard over hiring foreign workers over Americans in Florida and the "hypocrisy" of having parts his apparel line made in Mexico and China while slamming those countries on immigration and national security issues.
"The idea that he hires illegal immigrants and the idea that he gives preference to foreigners over Americans and gets them into H1B visas are very important issues and his clothing line being made in China and in Mexico is an accusation of hypocrisy that will really hurt him," Morris said.
Regarding Trump overall, the debate fully exposed the front-runner as running a campaign of "basically slogans," Morris said.
"It's the same stuff over and over again. I thought on Obamacare, it was very clear that the lines are around states. He didn't even seem to know what that meant.
"He didn't even seem to know what that was: the negotiator-positioned neutrality on Israel," Morris continued in slamming Trump's position. "I thought that was terrible.
"You can't have a moral equivalency between these two. It's like negotiating between the cops and the robbers."
Ted Cruz, who is vying for second place in the state races with Rubio, was "close on Rubio's heels," Morris told Hayworth.
"On the discussions about religious liberty and the Supreme Court, Cruz was better. On the discussion on Israel, Cruz was better."
The Texas senator also scored when he hit Trump on not releasing his tax returns.
"Cruz did very well when he mixed it up over the tax returns and that range of issues."
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