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After Debate, Republicans Try to Alter Perceptions of Their Performance
Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin after the debate in Simi Valley, Calif., on Wednesday. He later urged his financial backers to describe his debate answers as "feisty" and "aggressive."Credit Monica Almeida/The New York Times

ROCHESTER, N.H. — As Republican presidential candidates tried to put their best spin on Wednesday night’s debate, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who has faltered in the polls, went to extra lengths on Thursday to cast his mixed performance in a positive light, urging donors to buttress an all-out push to win the Iowa caucuses.

“We need folks to help us out right now,” he said on a conference call with donors.

Mr. Walker urged his financial backers to describe his debate answers as “feisty” and “aggressive” in their conversations with others, but seemed to concede that the evening had not gone entirely as planned: He placed the blame for any unflattering assessments on CNN because, he said, he was asked the fewest number of questions.

Negotiating a debate’s aftereffect is a delicate art — a multipronged scramble to assuage supporters, call attention to highlights and prove that a campaign’s immediate boasts of victory were more credible than wishful.

The candidates are likely to cross paths again soon, at least offstage: Nearly all the Republican contenders will make the pilgrimage to South Carolina on Friday for a forum hosted by the conservative group Heritage Action for America. (They are not expected to appear together.)

Continue reading the main storyAfter Debate, Republicans Try to Alter Perceptions of Their Performance

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Graphic: Trump Remains Center Stage at 2nd G.O.P. Debate

But first, several candidates strove on Thursday to influence how their debate showings would be rated, crisscrossing the country for public events and appearing on television to trumpet their performances.

Donald J. Trump followed an uneven debate with an event here in New Hampshire, where he bragged that he had won the debate and noted that he was ahead of rivals like Carly Fiorina — and smiled as his crowd booed her name.

Mr. Trump, taking questions from the audience later, failed to correct a man who asserted that President Obama was a Muslim — a break from the practice of Senator John McCain and some other Republicans who have pointedly told voters that, no, Mr. Obama is a Christian.

“We have a problem in this country. It’s called Muslims,” the man said, leading off the question-and-answer session with Mr. Trump. “We know our current president is one — you know he’s not even an American.”

Mr. Trump chuckled and said, “We need this question — this is the first question.” He went on to commiserate with the man about the possible existence of training camps in the United States to prepare Muslims to attack the West. “We’ll be looking at that and a lot of other things,” Mr. Trump said, sidestepping whether such camps existed.

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida was quiet on the campaign trail on Thursday, but he did tell Fox News in an interview that the debate had been framed like “a pay-per-view boxing match,” and he defended his Senate attendance record after Mr. Trump poked him over it Wednesday night.

Besides Mr. Walker, perhaps no candidate faced more pressure for a breakout debate than Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, who stopped in Las Vegas for a rally on Thursday.

But Mr. Bush drew an anemic turnout, with fewer than 150 supporters (and 40 journalists). He reminded the crowd that Nevada was a caucus state and, alluding to Mr. Trump’s critique of his vitality as a candidate, expressed hope that “I will be so brilliant and so eloquent and so high-energy that you sign up.”

Asked afterward why he thought the crowd had been so sparse, Mr. Bush said simply: “Three o’clock in the afternoon.”

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After Debate, Republicans Try to Alter Perceptions of Their Performance
Jeb Bush spoke at a rally in Las Vegas on Thursday.Credit Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Meanwhile, Mr. Bush’s super PAC extended its advertising spending to $37 million with a $13 million buy for January and February, two people familiar with the buy confirmed. That leaves Mr. Bush’s allies spending $24 million this year alone, an unheard-of amount this early in a presidential race, and an indication of their reaching for a safety valve to change the direction of his campaign.

On two calls with donors, Mr. Bush’s aides talked up his debate efforts, saying they felt he had accomplished what he needed to, staring down Mr. Trump and forcefully defending his own wife and older brother.

His campaign went a step further, sending out on Twitter an iconic photo of President George W. Bush standing atop a pile of rubble at the World Trade Center site almost immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The text read, “He kept us safe,” an echo of the candidate’s pronouncement during the debate. (Several critics noted that George W. Bush’s presidency did not begin on Sept. 12.)

The Bush campaign also hailed an exchange with Mr. Trump over Mr. Trump’s unsuccessful push for casino gambling in Florida while Mr. Bush was governor.

Mr. Walker’s team appeared less pleased with the debate’s rhythms. One Republican close to the Walker campaign said the governor had showed energy in the debate but expressed doubt that it would alter the trajectory of his campaign.

In the call with donors, to which a New York Times reporter was given access by one of the participants, Mr. Walker and his advisers repeatedly stressed that he had been asked only two questions by the moderators; they said that three other candidates — Mr. Trump, Mr. Bush and Ms. Fiorina — were asked 45 questions in total.

Mr. Walker said he was “frustrated with CNN” for the imbalance of questions. His campaign manager, Rick Wiley, said he was throwing CNN “under the bus” for its efforts.

The two also spoke bluntly about the importance of winning Iowa. Mr. Wiley said Mr. Walker was “planting a flag in Iowa,” indicating that he would spend the bulk of his time and money trying to win the state. Mr. Walker has been sliding in Iowa polls, declining in one from first place in July to 10th place this month. While he didn’t refer to the polls on the call, Mr. Walker said stronger fund-raising was crucial to “get us through Iowa, to win Iowa.”

Noting that there were “a lot of donors who haven’t kicked in yet,” Mr. Walker said the campaign would “need help in reaching out” to them and to other potential supporters to receive contributions by the end of September, the next quarterly fund-raising deadline. The totals will be a source of bragging rights or embarrassment.

“We just got to have the money. We don’t have to have the most; we have a lean, effective strategy in how to organize Iowa,” Mr. Walker said. “We’ve got a clear strategy going forward — we’ve just got to implement it.”

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