John Locke Foundation founding president and Senior Fellow Marc Rotterman offered Newsmax the following assessment of Tuesday night’s Republican presidential debate.

“Tonight Marco became the establishment pick, usurping Jeb who was uninspiring and robotic,” predicted veteran North Carolina GOP consultant Marc Rotterman, “He took complex questions and gave answers that Main Street could understand. He walked a line that endeared him to the establishment but doesn’t offend the base and also made a good case for generational change.”

“And Jeb doubled down on amnesty, which once again shows his lack of understanding of the base. Watch Bush donors switch to Rubio.”

“Cruz also had a very big night,” according to Rotterman, “He scored big on securing the border and standing with American workers. My view at the end of the day it will come to Cruz and Rubio.”

Trump, he felt, “was passive and Carson was steady.” But, like the other observers, Rotterman’s harshest review was reserved for Kasich, whom he characterized as “looking desperate, struggling to be relevant, and at times, downright rude. He may be next to depart the race.”

Rotterman also seemed to speak for the entire panel of observers when he told me “the big winners all three Fox Business News moderators.” Contrasting this panel with that in the last debate moderated by CNBC, the North Carolinian said “they asked good thoughtful questions and they never overshadowed the candidates.”