TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The smallest debate stage to date in the 2024 Republican presidential nomination race had some of the biggest fireworks.

Much of the verbal crossfire at Wednesday’s showdown at the University of Alabama was directed at former ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who has enjoyed plenty of momentum this autumn.

But despite the best efforts of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — who repeatedly chastised his rivals for failing to verbally confront former President Donald Trump — the commanding Republican 2024 front-runner came away from the fourth debate relatively unscathed as he once again skipped taking the stage.

“We’re 17 minutes into this debate… we’ve had these three acting as if the race is between the four of us,” Christie said as he pointed to Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

RNC CHAIR MCDANIEL DEFENDS THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING GOP 2024 FIELD

Trump made history earlier this year as the first former or current president to be indicted for a crime, but his four indictments — including in federal court in Washington, D.C., and in Fulton County court in Georgia on charges he tried to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss — have only fueled his support among Republican voters.

Christie charged that it was “ridiculous” that his debate rivals wouldn’t discuss Trump. “I’m in this race because the truth needs to be spoken… He is unfit to be president.”

But Christie’s jabs at Trump drew boos a couple of times during the debate, including in his closing comments when he predicted that Trump would be convicted and would be unable to vote for himself. 

TRUMP CAMPAIGN PREVIEWS ‘EXTREMELY AGRESSIVE’ PUSH IN IOWA 

“If we deny reality as a party we’re gonna have four more years of Joe Biden,” Christie warned.

But Christie’s scolding of his rivals mostly fell on deaf ears, as they mostly avoided direct criticism of Trump even when the moderators asked a series of questions regarding the former president.

While Trump stayed out of the crossfire, Haley wasn’t nearly as lucky.

DeSantis repeatedly fired shots at Haley, including accusing her of not supporting a ban on gender-affirming procedures for transgender youth, which she denied. 

And he claimed that Haley “caves anytime the left comes after her.”

Haley fired back, arguing that “Ron continues to lie because he’s losing.”

DESANTIS STOPS IN ALL OF IOWA’S 99 COUNTIES, BUT WILL IT HELP HIM CLOSE THE GAP WITH TRUMP?

Ramaswamy renewed his attacks on Haley for her support from top dollar Wall Street donors and her service on the board of the Boeing Company.

“It adds up to the fact that you are corrupt,” he charged as he held up a note pad. The words “Nikki = corrupt” were written on the pad.

Given the chance by the moderators to respond, Haley emphasized “it is not worth my time responding to him.”

Christie vehemently defended Haley from Ramaswamy’s broadsides — calling the first time candidate an “obnoxious blowhard.”

And in the spin room after the showdown, he charged that Ramaswamy “does have a woman problem.”

But he also took aim during the debate at his fellow former Republican governor, telling reporters later that “my criticism of Nikki is very clear. You can’t be everything to everybody.”

GAME ON IN IOWA WITH THE CAUCUSES CLOSING IN 

The debate, the last to be held this year, came with less than six weeks to go until the Jan 15. Iowa caucuses kick off the GOP presidential nominating calendar.

Haley, who has risen in the polls in recent months, thanks in part to well-received performances in the first three GOP presidential primary debates, has leapfrogged DeSantis for second place in New Hampshire, which holds the first primary and votes second in the Republican nominating schedule, and her home state, which holds the first southern contest.

She aims to make a fight of it in Iowa, where she is pulling even with DeSantis in some of the latest polls.

“Nikki was drawing the most fire because she’s had the juice, the momentum,” noted longtime Republican strategist David Kochel.

At one point, Haley turned to her three rivals and said “I love all the attention, fellas, thank you for that.”

 

Kochel, a veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns and statewide campaigns in Iowa, said that “Trump is not central to these debates because what the candidates on the stage are trying to do is get an opportunity to take him on one-on-one.”

And Kochel emphasized that the debate “clarified what the race is about. It’s about who’s going to face Trump, and it’s DeSantis or Haley…. Someone’s going to win that argument and when they do it’s going to be Trump versus that person.”

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

The San Jose Sharks’ second-period comeback against the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday — scoring four unanswered goals to tie the game after trailing by four — had local statistician Darin Stephens reaching for the team’s record book.

It wouldn’t be the only Stephens’ research skills came in handy.

The Sharks and Red Wings would establish a handful of new marks in what became a 6-5 overtime by San Jose at Little Caesars Arena. Mikael Granlund scored 37 seconds into the extra session as the Sharks won for the fifth time in seven games.

The Sharks (8-17-2) now have a couple of days off before they face the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday, hoping to finish off what’s been a 3-2-0 road trip so far on a positive note.

Here are a few stats noted by Stephens and others from Thursday’s game.

Per Stephens, the Sharks win marked the first time in their history that they’ve rallied to win consecutive games after trailing by three or more goals in each.

The Sharks have scored 22 goals in their last four games, as they beat the New Jersey Devils 6-3, the New York Islanders 5-4, and the Red Wings, with a 6-5 loss to the New York Rangers mixed in.

Per Stephens, this is the third time in Sharks history that they’ve scored 22 or more goals in a span of four road games. They had two such spans in Dec. 2018 in which they scored 23 in each. Four consecutive games, home, road, or a mix, with five or more goals in each ties the San Jose record.

Per Stephens, Sportsnet Stats and the NHL, when the Sharks and Red Wings combined to score six goals in a 3:01 in the second period, it was the second-fastest six goals scored in NHL history. The Quebec Nordiques and Washington Capitals scored six goals in exactly three minutes on February 22, 1981.

Per SportRadar, the Sharks are the first NHL team to win back-to-back games, both on the road, after trailing by three or more goals in each since the Los Angeles Kings did so on January 24-26, 1981.

Per Stephens, Hertl is tied for the Sharks’ all-time lead in career game-tying goals in the final two minutes of regulation with five. Hertl scored to tie Thursday’s game with 89 seconds left, and also scored with 90 seconds left against the New York Islanders. He shared the team record with Patrick Marleau.

Per Sharks team president Jonathan Becher, Thursday’s game was the first in NHL history to be tied, then have one team take a 4-goal lead, and then be tied again all within the same period.

Per Stephens, this was the second time the Sharks in their history — and the first time in the regular season — that they rallied from a four-goal deficit to win a game. The other time it happened was Game 3 of the 2011 Western Conference quarterfinals in Los Angeles. That night, the Sharks trailed the Kings 4-0 before they won 6-5, with Devin Setoguchi scoring the overtime winner.

When Tim Sheehy began his 40-year career with the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce in 1983, the Milwaukee Bucks were still shooting hoops at the MECCA Arena, the Milwaukee Brewers were running the bases at County Stadium, and the Park East Freeway was bisecting what is today one of the city’s largest entertainment districts.

In the past four decades, Sheehy, who became president of the MMAC in 1992, has been instrumental in lobbying for public policy, economic development and funding that have kept southeastern Wisconsin moving forward. In 1995, he pushed state legislators to pass the regional sales tax that funded the construction of what’s now known as American Family Field. Ten years later, he was one of the more vocal advocates for public funding for a new home for the Bucks.

But if any year saw Milwaukee reap the rewards of Sheehy’s knack for dealmaking, it was 2023.

A home run for efforts expected to shore up the city’s financial future, the year saw MMAC and other city boosters rejoice in the approval of an increase in shared revenue for Wisconsin municipalities as well as the approval of local sales tax increases that will help keep Milwaukee city and county governments not just afloat, but also able to make strategic investments in their future.

Those local victories were coupled with a historic, and long sought-after, increase in per-pupil state funding for students in charter and private voucher schools.

The final run was scored when the Legislature approved $365.8 million in state funding to help pay for future improvements to the Brewers’ 22-year-old stadium.

Sheehy was an influential advocate for all of those. For Sheehy, who will step down from his role as president of the MMAC at the end of the year, the goal has always been to do what is in the best interest of Milwaukee.

“I think that if you look at MMAC, it’s not a liberal-leaning organization, it is not a conservative-leaning organization,” he said. “It’s an organization that leans forward in the best interests of Milwaukee and our ability to be an attractive place for capital investment in jobs.”

In recognition of all he has accomplished and the impact he’s made on the region – especially in a momentous final year of his career – Tim Sheehy is the BizTimes Milwaukee 2023 Best in Business Community Leader of the Year.

Working for the 162-year-old chamber has allowed Sheehy to take “the long view” and focus on the things that will get deals made without having to worry about voters or shareholders, like elected officials or CEOs.

“What I’ve taken away from the experiences I’ve had during my career is that in order to be successful, you need to balance people, policy and politics,” he said. “You need to engage the right people, you need to understand the nuances of the policy and you need to be attentive to the politics around any situation or any solution. And you can’t just get two of the three, you need to get all three.”

Getting all three requires both patience and perseverance.

“There were a lot of failed attempts at getting a funding stream in place to support the city and county between 2016 and 2023,” he said. “And the same is true in terms of the per-pupil funding. I mean, that’s something we’ve been after for decades.”

Getting more equitable state funding for the voucher and charter schools and increased shared revenue for the city and county – both of which Sheehy calls mission-aligned policies for the MMAC – meant leveraging the wants of two of the association’s key constituencies.

“There were those that said, ‘Look, I’ll give more on shared revenue if I get funding for closing this per-pupil gap.’ And then there were others who said, ‘I’m willing to give more on equitable funding if I can get more on shared revenue,’” he said.

The result was a testament to one of Sheehy’s favorite mottos: “Politics is not the art of the perfect, it’s the art of the possible.”

The sentiment is as true of the per-pupil funding boost for charter and voucher schools – an increase some school choice advocates bemoaned for not being high enough – as it is for the solution to the American Family Field funding situation.

“In a perfect world, maybe we wouldn’t be putting public financing into major league (sports) stadiums, but we don’t live in a perfect world,” said Sheehy, who was appointed board chairman of the Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District in 2021.

As he continues to work to improve the Milwaukee region, Sheehy said he’ll continue to emphasize the value of perspective – both in improving his own perspective and taking time to understand the perspective of others.

“Instead of judging somebody for a viewpoint they have, ask them questions,” he said. “The better your perspective, the better leader you are and the better decisions you make.”

When he retires at year’s end, Sheehy will hand over the reins to former state legislator Dale Kooyenga, who has worked under him since January as the chamber’s first-ever senior vice president.