Ever since Donald Trump announced his intent to run for president of the United States back in June of this year, he has been all over the news because of the things that have come out of his mouth. With over a year to go before the actual election, it’s not surprising to see some candidates come out with their most eccentric views, as oftentimes they are only saying those things to get themselves some notoriety. However, what may come as a bit surprising to some is to see the lasting power of a candidate like a Donald Trump, and even to certain extents, Doctor Ben Carson, who is a world renowned neurosurgeon.

Participating in Wednesday night’s Republican Presidential debate in the overwhelming liberal college town of Boulder, Colorado were Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, John Kasich, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Ben Carson, Rand Paul and Mike Huckabee. Some people at DePaul are looking for reasons for the Republican Party to inspire hope in this election process. “Republicans need to address how they plan on uniting the Republican Party and guiding the republican base away from the fringes and toward the moderate voting block,” said Michael McGonigle, a senior Finance and Economics major at DePaul.

A good portion of the debate found the candidates pretty candidly and relatively professionally addressing what they believed to be the biggest issues facing the United States, some of which included the economy and the tax dollar of the average American citizen. The candidates seem to be in sync and more collaborative than in the first Republican debate this year, when they were all attempting to show the American people who they really were for the first time.

Zachary Cook, a professor in DePaul’s School for New Learning predicted some of the topics that would come up in the debate, including how the candidates would discuss cutting taxes, and he was dead on the money. “There are some interesting differences between the candidates on tax reform,” Cook told the DePaulia. “That may not always be a top issue for college students, but it is a naturally important subject for many Republican constituencies. So I hope they will get into distinguishing some of their views. They all favor cutting taxes to some degree, but they do not all agree on where to cut, and how much.”

Carly Fiorina of Texas did her best to ensure that the audience in attendance for the debate and the American people watching at home understood that her firing from Hewlett-Packard was unjust at the time, and stated that the man who fired her, Tom Perkins, admitted to her that she was unfairly terminated. Fiorina proclaimed that at the debate stating, “The man who led my firing, Tom Perkins, an icon of silicon valley, has come out publicly and said ‘you know what, we were wrong. She was right. She was a great CEO. She’d be a great President of the United States because the leadership she brought to HP is exactly the leadership we need in Washington, D.C.”

Christina Rivers, a Political Science professor at DePaul, was not necessarily looking forward to Wednesday’s Republican debate, or any other political party debates for that matter, mainly because of how planned out many of the speeches seem to be. “I don’t really do political parties, in part because I just find it really frustrating to watch debates, that aren’t really debates, that are so orchestrated that you can’t really get a straight answer.”

Donald Trump continued to speak in what many people would consider hyperbole. He continued along with his trademark “I’m going to make America a winner again” phrases, which oftentimes was met with large applauses from the audience, especially at the end of the debate. We heard a lot about jobs and improving the economy from these candidates, but not too much was spoken on the human rights of people that are facing violence and abuse every day.

Now, as we are inching closer and closer to the inevitable dropping out of the less popular candidates, we are starting to see certain candidates piggyback onto many of the ideas of their counterparts who may have more of an impact as the election season gears up. Some speculate that the lesser known candidates are positioning themselves to be selected by the eventual Republican presidential candidate as his or her vice president. The 2016 Presidential Election is still 1 year and 11 days away. Buckle in.