I've been watching Scott tonight, and he argued for greater southern border security to push back on the drug trade. But despite being the only U.S. senator on stage, he didn't touch on the Ukraine-Russia conflict and U.S. policy in it, an interesting omission. Although he came into tonight with a very high ceiling of potential support, Scott has been somewhat anonymous tonight, with more coming from Pence, Ramaswamy and Christie.
-Analysis by Geoffrey Skelley of FiveThirtyEight

This is … what we call, a zombie stat. It’s Mostly False.

The Biden administration never proposed hiring 87,000 additional or new IRS agents.

This 87,000 figure comes from a May 2021 Treasury Department assessment of how it would use $80 billion to improve IRS operations. The report said the IRS would add 86,852 new full-time positions.

But even in the 2021 plan, not all of the hires would be auditors, or work in enforcement. The report said the money would go toward many things, including "hiring new specialized enforcement staff, modernizing antiquated information technology, and investing in meaningful taxpayer service."

Although the agency’s staff would increase, it’s key to note that over half of the IRS workforce is close to retirement. The plan was created with that exodus in mind and aims to hire thousands of people to simply maintain current levels. Today, the IRS has about 80,000 employees.

"The IRS will lose about 50,000 people over the next five or six years," said Natasha Sarin, Treasury’s counselor for tax policy and implementation. "A lot of this hiring is about replacing those people."
-Aaron Sharockman, PolitiFact

Haley, as a former ambassador, made an impassioned case for the U.S. continuing military and financial aid to Ukraine amid Russia's invasion.

"When you look at the situation, you have a pro-American country that was invaded by a thug," she said. "You want to talk about what has been given to Ukraine, less than 3.5% of our defense budget has been given to Ukraine. If you look at the percentage per GDP, 11 of the European countries have given more than the U.S."

She was interrupted by Ramaswamy, who is opposed to further assistance, and the two had a fiery back-and-forth.

Haley told the political newcomer: "You have no foreign policy experience and it shows."

On Ramaswamy's approach to Putin, Haley said: "This guy is a murderer and you are choosing a murderer."

-ABC News' Alexandra Hutzler

Scott just took a question about national security and turned it into one about immigration, saying our Southern border is the greatest national security threat. Ramaswamy did something similar earlier. If you look at the polling, it’s easy to see why: According to our FiveThirtyEight/Washington Post/Ipsos poll, 36 percent of Republicans identified “controlling immigration” as one of their top issues in the primary — second only to inflation and rising prices.
-Analysis by Nathaniel Rakich of FiveThirtyEight

Trump maintains a lead of 25 percentage points over his nearest competitor in Iowa, according to the latest polls.

DeSantis and Scott are both polling higher in Iowa than they are nationally, according to our polling average. Trump is polling about 10 points lower in Iowa than in national polls.

According to a July poll from J.L. Partners/DailyMail.com, only 51 percent of Iowa Republicans said their mind was made up. Forty-three percent said they could still be persuaded to support another candidate. Voters who said they plan to vote for Trump were the most likely to say their mind is made up, with 80 percent saying so compared with 37 percent of those who said they plan to vote for DeSantis and 11 percent of those who said they plan to vote for Scott.

Scott and DeSantis have the highest net favorability among Iowa Republican voters. Pence, Christie and Hutchinson are underwater.

In an early state poll from the Manhattan Institute conducted in July, Iowa Republicans are split on whether electability is important. Forty-six percent of Iowa Republican voters say that it is most important for Republican candidates to win elections and be in power, even if that means compromising or moderating their positions, while 45 percent said it is most important for candidates to stay true to their principles, even if that means losing elections.

Iowa Republicans also think that skipping primary debates shows weakness more than strength, according to a July Fox Business/Beacon Research/Shaw & Co. Research survey. Fifty-nine percent of Republicans said skipping the debate shows weakness, while 27 percent said it shows strength.

-Analysis by FiveThirtyEight