Thread by @igorbobic

Republican Mike Lee is wearing a blue tie, and Independent Evan McMullin is wearing a red tie #analysis #debates #whattowatchfor

a Milton Friedman reference from Mike Lee in tonight's debate

drink 1 shot

Mike Lee: "To suggest I've been a bootlicker for either party is folly and it's contradicted by the plain facts"

"No member of the Senate Republican conference voted more independently than I did ...I have stood against my party time and time again to oppose reckless spending"

Did Joe Biden fairly win the 2020 election?

"Yes, Joe Biden is our president...he was chosen by the only election that matters, the election of the electoral college. Joe Biden won that," Mike Lee says

Adds "there's always room for debate" on voting errors

McMullin says Lee sought "to urge the White House to find fake electors to overturn the will of the people

"That was the most egregious betrayal of our constitution in our nation's history, and it will be your legacy"

"It's not true. You owe me an apology," Lee responds

McMullin says Lee urged the White House to listen to "legal quack Sidney Powell"

"When the barbarians were at the gate, you were happy to let them in," he added

Lee says there's "absolutely nothing to the idea I would have supported a fake elector plot"

Mike Lee on Jan. 6: "Yes, there were people who behaved very badly that day, I was not one of them, I was one who was trying to dismantle this situation, to try to prevent it from happening

"How dare you, sir," he adds, holding up his pocket Constitution

McMullin: "Senator Lee has been doing this thing with his pocket constitution for the last several years... The constitution is not a prop for you to wave about and then when it's convenient for you for your pursuit of power to abandon without a thought"

Lee on his pocket constitution: "This is not a prop, this is a reference manual. I refer to it daily...my colleagues have to depend on it because they know I've always got it."

"You should be ashamed," he tells McMullin

A student asks the candidates about Biden's student loan forgiveness program.

'The government has to get out of the student loan business," Lee says

McMullin says gov't has role to play but expresses concern about inflation

"It should have been more narrowly focused"

McMullin says a senator's job isn't only to vote "no" on spending measures. Cites Hatch & Romney for working across party lines to solve problems.

Lee responds: "I called out President Trump all the time...I called President Trump about spending bills specifically"

Mike Lee says the country needs "a Republican offset to a president who’s not all there, to a president for whom my opponent voted."

McMullin notes Lee voted for him in the 2016 GOP primary "when you stood on principle as you should have"

Lee gives a head nod

Asked about abortion, McMullin says he's "pro-life."

"I oppose extremes on both sides of this issue," he adds, objecting to "abortion on demand" as well as legislation forcing 10-year-old rape victims to carry their pregnancy to term

Lee says it should be left up to states

Lee says "we have to do something" to help DACA recipients. He adds: "We first have to secure the border"

McMullin says he would support citizenship for Dreamers. "I do believe we also need to secure our border"

McMullin again gives a shoutout to Romney in response to a question about draught.

"He works with Republicans and Democrats to deliver for Utah. He voted for the bipartisan infrastructure bill that you voted against"