The Cough That Consumed the GOP Debate

— -- Amid the rhetorical brawls and ISIS policy plans, there was something else that pervaded the GOP debate tonight: The cough.

At the beginning of the GOP debate tonight, someone let out a cough. And the Internet went wild over who it could have been.

Even celebrities watching were curious.

Theories quickly abounded about who it could be, with many assuming it was Ben Carson, especially after footage from the debate showed him coughing.

Rob Lowe agrees … but isn’t mentioning anyone by name.

Then Carson campaign said the following: “We all caught something a month ago, and he, like me, keeps a bagging cough for weeks,” Carson’s communications director Doug Watts said. “No, not sick, just working through this cough. Almost gone.”