BOULDER, Colo. -- Republican presidential candidates tackled such topics as government experience, taxes, women's issues and the role of the media in the campaign as they faced off Wednesday night in their third nationally televised debate.
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Throughout the event, CNBC moderators Becky Quick, John Harwood and Carl Quintanilla pushed the 10 candidates for details on their tax and budget proposals and raised questions about their inexperience in government service.
For the candidates, the debate was infused with sharpened attack lines and impatience.
Three months before primary voting begins, the Republican field is a contest that pits Washington outsiders and experienced insiders.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, once seen as the top Republican contender in the race, traded jabs with Florida's U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio over Rubio's missing votes in Washington.
"Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up for work," said Bush, who is one of Rubio's constituents. "The Senate, what is it, like a French workweek? You get like three days where you have to show up?"
Rubio took issue with the criticism, telling Bush: "The only reason you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you."
Rubio said, "My campaign is going to be about the future of America, it's not going to be about attacking anyone else on the stage."
Billionaire businessman Donald Trump has dominated the Republican race for months, though he's been overtaken recently by contender Ben Carson in early-voting Iowa.
Trump bristled when asked by a debate moderator if his policy proposals, including building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and deporting everyone who is in the U.S. illegally, amounted to a "comic book" campaign. And he defended his record in the private sector, despite at one time declaring bankruptcy, casting it as a business technique.
"I've used that to my advantage as a businessman," Trump said. "I used the laws of the country to my benefit."
Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, sought to explain his vague tax policy, which he has compared to tithing, in which families donate the same portions of their incomes to their churches regardless of how much they make.
Carson said in an earlier debate that someone making $10 billion would pay $1 billion in taxes. On Wednesday night, he floated the idea of a 15 percent flat rate.
When a moderator insisted that his tax plan would leave the government without significant revenue, Carson pushed back.
"That's not true," he said. "It works out very well."
Critics of such a tax have questioned whether the government could raise enough revenue under a flat tax system to pay for programs like Social Security.
Bush said higher taxes on wealthier Americans are hurting the economy. "The government has tried it their way. Under their proposals it has failed miserably."
Ohio Gov. John Kasich took aim at Carson, warning that the GOP was on the verge of "picking someone who perhaps cannot do this job."
After Carson defended his tax rate idea, Kasich responded, "This is the fantasy that I talked about at the beginning."
Kasich also attacked Trump for his proposal to deport an estimated 11 million illegal aliens. Trump immediately fired back at Kasich, zeroing in on Kasich's tenure as an investment banker in between his terms as a member of Congress and Ohio governor.
The sparring wasn't reserved just for Republicans. Rubio took aim at Hillary Rodham Clinton, a Democratic presidential candidate.
"It was the week she got exposed as a liar," said Rubio, referring to Clinton's testimony Thursday before a congressional panel investigating the 2012 attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
Social Security, big government
From the other candidates onstage, the debate was varied and aggressive, covering topics from Social Security and the role of big government.
Former technology executive Carly Fiorina took up women's issues, saying it is the "height of hypocrisy" for Clinton to talk about being the first woman president when "every single policy" she endorses is "demonstrably bad for women."
Fiorina said 92 percent of the jobs lost during President Barack Obama's first term were held by women.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas joined her on that topic, saying 3.7 million women went into poverty during Obama's presidency.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie spoke directly to viewers, suggesting to Americans that they'd be fleeced on Social Security under a Democratic president.
On raising Social Security taxes to close the looming gap, Christie asks, "If someone has already stolen money from you, are you going to give them more? ... Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years."
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee compared the federal government to convicted investor Bernie Madoff. He said: "Yes, we've been stolen from. Yes, we've been lied to."
The candidates also addressed the bipartisan budget legislation passed by the House on Wednesday.
Kasich called it a "silly deal" that is more of "the same old stuff." If elected president, he said, he'd push for a balanced budget amendment to make sure the government doesn't spend more than what it has.
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said he's more worried about Congress bankrupting the American people than he is about a government shutdown.
Paul said he opposes the budget deal passed by the House, which raises the country's borrowing limit as well as spending caps to avert a default on the nation's loans.
He said Democrats and Republicans backing the deal are part of an "unholy alliance" to spend the country "into oblivion."
Paul said the deal gives him little hope that U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who faces a confirmation vote today to become the next House speaker, will bring meaningful change.
Paul also sought to tout his flat tax proposal. He argued that it's fairer because it ditches the payroll tax, which bites more heavily into the middle class.
Moderators blasted
The moderators -- and the media as a whole -- were also topics of criticism.
The candidates complained Wednesday evening that the CNBC moderators' questions were hostile and based on inaccurate premises.
After the debate, the chairman of the Republican National Committee said CNBC "should be ashamed" of how its moderators handled the debate.
Reince Priebus said the moderators did a disservice to their network, the candidates and the viewers. The two hours were dominated by candidates complaining about the moderators' questions.
Priebus called the questioning "unfortunate" and said he will "fight to ensure future debates allow a more robust exchange."
At one point in the evening, Christie haggled with Harwood, a CNBC correspondent, after several persistent questions about climate change.
"Even in New Jersey what you're doing is called rude," Christie said.
On climate change, Christie said investment in "all types of energy" is important. He noted that New Jersey has worked with the private sector to boost solar energy.
Cruz received applause when he criticized debate moderators for trying to stir up fights among the candidates, casting it as a sign of media bias against Republicans.
"The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media," Cruz said. "This is not a cage match, and if you look at the questions -- Donald Trump are you a comic book villain, Ben Carson can you do math, John Kasich will you insult two people over here, Marco Rubio why don't you resign, Jeb Bush why have your numbers fallen -- how about talking about the substantive issues people care about."
Cruz said the Republican debate is a stark contrast with the Democratic contest, "where every fawning question" was about "which one of you is more handsome and wise?"
Cruz grew testy when Harwood said Cruz had used up his allotted time on criticizing the media and would not be able to answer a policy question on the debt limit.
"You don't want to hear the answer, John," said Cruz. "You're not interested in an answer?" He was later allowed more time to answer the question.
One question in particular, directed at Huckabee, drew groans and boos from the audience. Asked whether he thinks Trump has the moral authority to unite the country, Huckabee responded: "The few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give him more time. I love Donald Trump. He is a good man.
"Donald Trump would be a better president every day of the week and twice on Sunday rather than Hillary," Huckabee said.
The candidates in the main debate were chosen on the basis of their rankings in recent national polls.
The four lowest-polling candidates participated in an earlier undercard event: Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former New York Gov. George Pataki. None has gotten close to breaking into the upper tier of candidates.
The next debate is scheduled for Nov. 10 in Milwaukee. For the main session of that debate, candidates will have to earn 2.5 percent or higher support in the four newest national polls to qualify to participate.
Information for this article was contributed by Julie Pace and Thomas Beaumont of The Associated Press; by John McCormick and Michael C. Bender of Bloomberg News; and by Patrick Healy and Jonathan Martin of The New York Times.
A Section on 10/29/2015