Republican debate Who were the winners and losers

The first Republican presidential debate was a rowdy affair that saw the eight candidates leap headlong into heated exchanges.

There were some who thought it would be boring without Donald Trump - the ultimate showman - but that was decidedly not the case. The former president may have been the life of the party during primary debates back in 2016, but the eight rivals who travelled to Wisconsin proved they could bring some excitement without his help.

Some candidates stood out from the pack, however - and some seemed to languish on the side-lines.

Here's a rundown of the winners and losers.

WINNERS

Vivek Ramaswamy: The man who never ran for public office - and didn't even vote for a president from 2004 to 2020 - simply dominated this Republican debate.

With a broad smile and a quick tongue, he frequently seemed to be the only candidate on the stage who was enjoying himself. That may partly be because this political novice has exceeded expectations, and is essentially playing with house money while he takes centre stage.

He easily fended off swipes from his fellow candidates, suggesting that Mr Christie was auditioning for a show on left-leaning news channel MSNBC and that Ms Haley was angling for spots on the board of defence contractors with her positions on Ukraine.

"I'm the only person on the stage who isn't bought and paid for," he said during a discussion of climate change - prompting cries of outrage from his rivals.Time and time again, Mr Ramaswamy positioned himself as the outsider against a bunch of political establishment insiders. Many of his views - calling on Ukraine to cede territory to Russia, using military force to secure the US-Mexico border, and banning US companies from doing business with China - are well outside the political mainstream even within the Republican Party. But as Mr Trump demonstrated in 2016, even outlandish, impractical policy proposals can be effective in generating attention.

Mr Ramaswamy may not have the political fuel to challenge Mr Trump for the nomination, and he may not even want to, but the evening's debate ensures that he's going to continue to be a factor in this race in the months ahead.

LOSERS

Ron DeSantis: At the beginning of the year, the race for the Republican nomination seemed like it would be a two-man contest between Mr DeSantis and Mr Trump. Since then, the Florida governor has sagged in the polls.

If the rest of the Republican pack hasn't caught up to him yet, it may very well have him after this debate.

It wasn't a terrible performance - he had his moments, particularly when he spoke about his record of military service and his calls for more aggressive government policies to deal with the opioid epidemic.

He was on the side-lines for all the key moments of the debate, however. Mr Ramaswamy ran circles around him. Other candidates, like Mr Pence and Ms Haley, elbowed him out of the way on issues like abortion and US aid to Ukraine. He seemed on uneven footing when the topic turned to Mr Trump and his recent indictments.

This was not the kind of performance needed to close the gap with Mr Trump. The man who was once billed as the future of the Republican Party was simply a non-factor.

Asa Hutchinson and Doug Burgum: Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson was the last candidate to qualify for the Milwaukee debate. North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum paid his way onto the stage with a gimmick - offering enough people $20 gift cards if they donated $1 to his campaign.

Both candidates desperately needed to show that they deserved to be there, and both were mostly afterthoughts.

Mr Hutchinson's criticisms of Mr Trump seemed weak sauce compared to Mr Christie's more pointed attacks. And Mr Burgum's awe-shucks small-state conservatism never really stood out.

The qualification standards become more rigorous for next month's primary debate in California, and neither candidate did enough on Wednesday night to build the kind of support they will need to make another appearances on the debate stage likely.