After criticism following third GOP debate, some hope debate in Milwaukee will focus on issues

MILWAUKEE -- After the third Republican presidential debate, which aired Wednesday night, October 28th on CNBC, the focus now shifts to Milwaukee. The Milwaukee Theatre will play host to the next Republican presidential debate -- and it's less than two weeks away.

The top Republican candidates for president squared off in their third debate Wednesday night. But it may have been the moderators who stole the show.

Some of the candidates were displeased with the moderators and their questions.

"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?" said Ted Cruz during the CNBC debate.

The chatter following the debate was as much about the moderators as it was about the candidates' performances.

"The moderators just lost control of the debate and they let the candidates take it over. It was a disaster," said Mike Huckabee.

The next debate on the docket is at the Milwaukee Theatre on Tuesday, November 10th.

"I'm really hoping that the lesson of (Wednesday) night's debate is that the Milwaukee debate will be about what people at home care about -- not what the beltway media cares about," said Mordecai Lee, UW-Milwaukee professor.

Lee says he thinks the next debate will benefit from the intimate setting of the Milwaukee Theatre. He's hoping the audience will be allowed to contribute questions and that the moderators will keep it focused on the issues important to Wisconsin's relatively pragmatic voters.

"The average voter just is not that interested in what reporters are interested in. What the voters care about is really substance. They care about the meat of it. In other words, they want to hear what is the candidate's position on let's say taxes, or balancing the budget," said Lee.

Professor Lee also anticipates we will start seeing candidates arrive in the Milwaukee are the weekend before the next debate. He expects we may see some of those retail-style politics on display that residents in the early voting states are so familiar with.