Meanwhile, Republican candidates appeared in California Wednesday night for the second 2024 GOP presidential primary debate.

And it was a chaotic event by most accounts, as seven GOP contenders fought for airtime and just to be heard over each other.

Several delivered some memorable moments and one liners that are likely stick around through the campaign cycle.

The party's frontrunner, former President Donald Trump, he did not appear on stage alongside his rivals.

But a senior correspondent Joanna Girgis reports.

That doesn't seem to be making a difference in his support.

Because the last time the.

Nation voted for the spending, interrupting and talking over each other seemed to be the theme of last night's GOP debate the second of this primary season and the second that Donald Trump skipped.

Republican voters looking for one strong winner came away with only a few one liners.

Every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber for what you say.

Donald, I know you're watching.

You can't help yourself.

You're talking these things.

And let me tell you what's going to happen.

You keep doing that.

No one up here is going to call you Donald Trump anymore.

We're gonna call you Donald Duck.

The Donald Duck reference, you know, is memorable in the sense that it was a good canned line and Mason got some action on Twitter and things of that nature.

I think his problem is it's not translating into any further movement in the polls.

Republican strategist Chris Russell says former Governor Chris Christie has a lot of ground to cover to stay in this race.

But Christie worked hard to have a standout moment last night.

Bill Palatucci, chair of his super PAC, believes he was the strongest debater on the stage.

He was direct.

He was substantive on many, many issues education, foreign policy, crime and the government shutdown.

The governor ended it well, saying it's time to vote.

Donald Trump off the island.

It wasn't only Christie this time calling out former President Trump.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis took more direct jabs at Trump than he has in the past.

This one over Trump's criticism of the Florida abortion ban.

He's missing in action tonight.

He's had a lot to say about that.

He should be here explaining his comments to try to say that pro-life protections are somehow a terrible thing.

Some analysts have called the sentence the winner of last night's debate.

Others, like pollster Patrick Murray, say his performance likely just stopped the bleeding for the candidate once thought to be a sure bet against Trump.

There was nothing particularly wrong with his performance in last night's debate.

It's still there wasn't any star power there that says, okay, he's the one that we.

Should coalesce around.

Yet DeSantis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley seem to be the frontrunners at this point.

And Haley came out swinging last night.

Data in Florida, you ban fracking, you ban offshore drilling.

I do think she's one of the really credible challengers.

And I think, you know, someone who, if she were to get through this stage, could present a credible challenge to President Trump for the nomination.

And ultimately potentially take on President Biden in one of the more awkward moments of the night.

During Chris Christie's familiar rant against the teachers union.

He took this jab at first lady and college professor Jill Biden.

And when you have the president, United States, sleeping with a member of the teachers union, there is no chance that you can take the stranglehold away.

Which prompted this cringe worthy response from former Vice President Mike Pence.

I've been sleeping with a teacher for 38 years.

I'd rather them not talk about who they're sleeping with on these debates.

But with Donald Trump ahead by double digits in the polls and absent on the stage all the candidates political footwork is akin to a tree falling in the forest with no trump to react to it.

A lot of.

The kind of little tricks and shtick that folks use, including former Governor Christie.

Don't work.

If the front runner isn't standing there on the stage with you.

Pollster Ashley Koning says this field really needs to narrow.

If there is any significant faction of the Republican Party that does not want Trump to be the nominee, they really are going to have to come together, unify the candidates, have the candidates have a deep talk with one another about who is going to drop out of this race and who's going to make room for the other candidates.

A conversation unlikely to happen any time soon.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Joanna Gagis.