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Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have dominated the Republican presidential nomination fight for much of the year. Neither dominated the debate stage Wednesday night.

Trump, of course, decided to skip the GOP’s opening presidential primary debate given his overwhelming lead in the polls. DeSantis showed up, but he was overshadowed for much of the night by political newcomer Vivek Ramaswamy.

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And there was no shortage of aggressive performances from the others on stage either. Former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie were aggressive when given the opportunity.

It took more than an hour for moderators to ask about Trump’s legal battles, a discussion previewed with a video of the Atlanta jail where he will surrender on charges Thursday.

The former president scheduled counterprogramming with an interview aired on X, formerly known as Twitter, while his team suggested that the debate was essentially an audience to see who’s best positioned to serve as his running mate.

Vivek grabs the spotlight

At the center of the stage, and the center of the debate’s hottest exchanges, was a 38-year-old man who no one expected to be there even a few months ago – a novice candidate and technology entrepreneur named Vivek Ramaswamy.

Though he’s well behind Trump, Ramaswamy has crept up in recent polls, leading to his position next to DeSantis at center stage.

And he quickly showed why when he showcased his ready-for-video, on-message approach — talking about how his poor parents moved to the U.S. and gave him the chance to found billion-dollar companies.

Then Ramaswamy started to throw elbows.

At one point he declared, “I’m the only person on the stage who isn’t bought and paid for.”

He slammed his rivals as “super PAC puppets” who were using “ready-made, pre-prepared slogans” to attack him.