Gotta hand it to Trump about this, though:

After weeks of preparing for a smash-mouth debate with Donald J. Trump, 14 Republican candidates found themselves instead Trump-less but sandwiched into a constricting format on Monday night, delivering strikingly uneven performances just days before the first big test of the presidential primary contest.

Rather than making the other contenders look more presidential, however, the event, at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., seemed to shrink the candidates. Assembled in the front row, the Republicans gawked as each rival took his or her turn on stage, looking at times as if they were being forced to sit through a tedious school assembly.

In Mr. Trump’s absence — he skipped the event, saying it was not worth his time — the candidates filled two hours with credentials and boasts that he could not match. They touted their experience balancing big state budgets (Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Gov. John Kasich of Ohio), their military service (Mr. Graham) and their middle-class roots (Carly Fiorina.)