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Reshuffling after that cnbc debate. is the race entering a new volatile phase as it's called? joining us now, michael smerconish. great to see you this morning. >> thank you. >> give us the big picture. how do you think the field is re-aligning today? >> the big picture is, if you haven't been paying attention and you suddenly tuned into this week's debate, you'd have a difficult time believing that donald trump and ben carson are the front-runners. they were largely nonentities in that debate. all of the action as you've been describing was wrong marco rubio, jeb bush and not in a good way an...

A strong debate. i'm surprised that's what they came out with. >> he will say they are trying to hurt me because i have a lefty agenda. that is back with a roar in this case. you heard it on the stage. it's resonating through the campaigns. we're getting it in the spin cycle, seeing it on social media. what will be the effect? >> someone fired off a remark at the media, probably that ted cruz comment, the others fed on it. i think better than half of the candidates on that stage ended up saying something negative relative to the media. my view on those debate questions for what it's worth is a...

Of a difference between debates one, two or three, including fox, which is, of course, the great oracle of the rnc. >> style matters. how a moderator does their job is important. it's good that people get that. that's not a given. megyn kelly was asking an appropriate question in terms of what trump said in the past. how it came across wound up creating a combative dynamic. >> with cnbc, the expectation was that it will be more economy driven. >> be sure to check out "smerconish" on cnn at 9:00. also hear him weekdays on sirius at 9:00 a.m.

Rating from aaa to something less, the united states is going to have to pay more in the interest in terms of borrowing the money. is that right? >> exactly. think about it. in other words, if someone is going to go out there and lend us money, they're taking on more risk because we would in theory no longer have that aaa rating. so if they're going to take on that risk, they want to be paid for it. we have to pay them by paying a higher interest rate. and so it would cost us more money to borrow. the same exact thing as if, you know, you have a lot of debt in your own personal life and you're...

Going forward. there's a lot happening behind the scenes. if we could only be a fly on the wall. david. >> great reporting. thank you as always. by the way, michele bachmann has interesting things to say at the tea party rally. we'll talk about that later. the high priced role of prostitution draws in many politicians and celebrities. we'll take a look at the most memorable prostitution scandals in today's top three. plus the united states is coming closer to losing its aaa credit rating. cnbc's trish regan will join us to explain why this is a huge deal for every american and our very w...