Haley's first big moment of the debate comes as she spars with Pence on abortion, but the moderators cut off their conversation before it really developed. Somewhat unexpectedly, Burgum stands out on abortion too, unequivocally coming out against a national abortion ban on constitutional grounds.
-Analysis by Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections

Members of DeSantis’s campaign are still upset about a debate memo that was prepared and published last week by a super PAC supporting the governor, a source close to the campaign told ABC News on Wednesday, describing those members of his team as “wildly irritated.”

Chief among the complaints is that the memo, which detailed suggested approaches and lines of attack, effectively handcuffs DeSantis by preventing the governor from using any of the advice on stage lest he invite attacks from opponents for using lines manufactured for him by other people.

The memo included research documents that show that Axiom Strategies, a consulting firm tied to the super political action committee, anticipated that the biggest hits to DeSantis would include his battle with Disney -- ABC News' parent company -- past comments on Ukraine, Florida's Black history standard, the culture wars and abortion.

The packet also included past comments made by presidential hopefuls attacking DeSantis on those specific subjects.

DeSantis himself has downplayed the memo, telling Fox News recently, “It’s not mine. I haven’t read it. It’s just -- I think it’s something that we have put off to the side.”

-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie, Will McDuffie and Olivia Osteen

Abortion hasn't just been a losing issue at the ballot for Republicans: Since the Dobbs decision, more Americans are supporting more liberal views on abortion than they have in decades. More Americans want abortion to be legal in most cases, and more Americans are suspicious of restrictions. The share of Americans who want abortion to be legal in the first trimester is 60 percent, according to Gallup.
-Analysis by Monica Potts of FiveThirtyEight

Haley was the first participant to name Trump during the debate, referring to the amount that was added to the nation's debt under the former president, who also oversaw the sweeping response to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic and a major tax cut.

-ABC News’ Abby Cruz

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the pugnacious Christie repeatedly mixed it up with other candidates tonight. He was critical of Trump, calling the front-runner's behavior "unbecoming" and making him unfit to be president. Christie has a track record of strong debates, having shown in 2016 how he can throw a verbal punch, including his famous takedown of Marco Rubio just ahead of the New Hampshire primary that year. But Christie's criticism of Trump and his high unfavorable ratings among Republicans make his performance unlikely to cause a Christie boomlet in this race.

For Scott, tonight was an opportunity to capitalize on his potential as a candidate who is well-liked by Republicans familiar with him but who is not that well-known. And he largely tried to stay above the fray on most issues, which in theory made sense if he wanted to look like a consensus-style candidate who most Republicans could like. However, that also led to him getting less airtime, as the candidates who engaged each other and freely interrupted were more likely to be on camera. This debate doesn't hurt Scott, but I'm skeptical it helped him much.

-Analysis by Geoffrey Skelley of FiveThirtyEight