As a "damned liberal" who would consider voting for a republican candidate close to the center, my thoughts:
Rubio had a great debate, but he lost me with the abortion stuff. I liked what he had to say about education reform needing to be a national movement instead of a state set standard.
Ben Carson has some extreme opinions in the social realm but doesn't have a voting record to balance them out. Perhaps because of some of the things he's said in the past (prison makes people gay, for example) I didn't go into the night considering him and didn't think he did all that great.
Bush did a horrible job separating himself from the other Bush's, and at on point he defended the war in Iraq by saying that "ISIS didn't exist when my brother left office." Technically true, I guess. He also defended Common Core.
Christie is a guy I really liked back in 2008/2012, but it seems like he's moved further right. Last night he defended the Patriot Act, NSA surveillance, and used "9/11" as much as possible. Thought he chocked hard.
Rand has always had the most appeal to me, but he's so bad at debating people and portraying his opinions in a flattering manner. I think him picking fights with Trump and Christie had a more lasting effect than any of the stuff he said.
Kasich won me over big time. Came out guns blazing on prison reform and drug treatment as opposed to drug punishment. Gave a wonderful non-answer on immigration in which he basically said its too complicated of an issue to discuss in 30 seconds.
Cruz grandstanded the entire time, especially about our nation's debt and how it's Obama's fault. No mention of Iraq.
My personal take is that the guys who flew closer to the center won the debate. Just based on last night the only guys I'd consider are Rubio, Kasich, and MAYBE Bush. Just from last night.
I think people my age want to hear less about taxes (we're in way too much debt because of both parties, taxes are going to have to be raised regardless, and I don't want to hear how it's Obama's fault... Just fix it), less devisive rhetoric, and more discussion on social issues. I'm desperately looking for someone to vote for other than Hillary, and the GOP needs to capitalize on that.