Chrissie Thompson

cthompson@usatoday.com

GREENVILLE, S.C. – John Kasich and Jeb Bush both want to become the "anti-Donald Trump" candidate, but took different strategies to make their case in Saturday night's Republican presidential debate.

The CBS News event played out as a series of arguments between several pairs of candidates. Bush battled Trump capably in several heated exchanges, most notably when the billionaire repeatedly trashed the presidency of his brother, George W. Bush. Later in the debate, battles raged between Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, and then Cruz and Trump.

Kasich, on the other hand, sought to stay out of the fray, sticking with the "adult-in-the-room" approach that propelled him to a second-place finish in New Hampshire last week. He offered commentary on the bickering that ranged from the briefly viral exasperation "jeez-oh-man" to a suggestion that the GOP could lose the general election to Democrat Hillary Clinton if candidates continue to skirmish. The strategy distinguished him from his rivals, but left him out of the debate's top moments. His talking time again lagged that of most other candidates.

Only once did a kerfuffle include Kasich. Bush jumped in to engage the Ohio governor, as he had previewed he would during the week, on Kasich's support of Medicaid expansion under President Barack Obama's health care law. The two candidates talked over each other, but avoided the shouting that characterized much of the debate.

What's next for John Kasich's GOP presidential campaign

"Obamacare’s expansion … is creating further debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren. We should be fighting Obamacare," Bush said. South Carolina, the next state to vote and the host of the debate, has declined to expand Medicaid and wants a conservative candidate, Bush said.

“He knows I’m not for Obamacare, never have been," Kasich responded. Providing health care to the working poor to get them on their feet and keep them out of emergency rooms is a different issue, he said. Plus, Republican President Ronald Reagan expanded Medicaid, he said.

Beyond a brief comment that the cost of Bush's Medicaid program in Florida had grown faster than Kasich's, at least for a time, Kasich avoided hitting back against Bush. Last week on Fox News, Kasich mentioned Bush's service on the board of a health care company that supported Medicaid expansion, but he didn't make the point during the debate. (Aides, meanwhile, made it for him on Twitter.)

"I don't want to get into all this fighting tonight because people are frankly sick of the negative campaigning," Kasich said, seeking to remind the audience of his remarks about staying positive that propelled him in New Hampshire.

Kasich a South Carolina threat?

That Bush took time from his anti-Trump strategy to hit Kasich lends credence to the threat the Ohio governor poses to Bush's presidential aspirations, especially in South Carolina, where voters will cast ballots Saturday. As the GOP nominating process continues, both candidates need the other to drop out or stop winning any meaningful share of votes in order to win the nomination.

Bush is seeking to leverage his brother's legacy to win approval from a larger-than-expected percentage of South Carolina's pro-military Republicans, who are mostly fans of the elder Bush brother. Trump is dominating polls in the state, but defeating Kasich and Rubio in South Carolina would represent a victory for Bush.

Kasich's staff, meanwhile, has downplayed his chances in the conservative state. He'll campaign next week in Michigan and Virginia, instead of spending every day in South Carolina. The campaign has targeted Michigan, which votes March 8, as a possible first win for the Ohio governor, which they hope will lead in to a game-changing win in his home state the following week.

Still, South Carolina polls taken since New Hampshire have shown Kasich with a chance of beating Bush in the conservative state, with one survey showing the Ohio governor ahead of all competitors but Trump.

The transformation of John Kasich

Kasich originally seemed flustered when Bush launched the Medicaid critique, although he recovered, said Aaron Kall, director of the University of Michigan's debate program.

Since Kasich was seeking to avoid the debate's bickering, "you’re in a really tough position when someone attacks you," Kall said. "His best responses were going to take away from that overall theme.”

'A man apart'

Elsewhere in the debate, Rubio and Cruz and then Bush and Trump clashed over immigration policies and the meaning of the words "amnesty" and "weak." Kasich then defended his belief that immigrants who lack proper documentation should be allowed to stay in the U.S. after paying a fine, but should not become citizens.

The position contrasted sharply with the crowds of Rubio-, Cruz- and Trump-supporting South Carolinians that stood outside the debate venue that evening and shouted competing chants, including a repeating "Gang of Eight! Gang of Eight!" call mocking Rubio for writing a bipartisan immigration-reform bill.

Kasich also defended his appeal to Democrats, saying he can get the vote of "blue-collar Democrats" in a general election, to light applause from the conservative crowd.

"He's just a man apart from the other people on the stage," said Kyle Kondik, managing editor for Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball political forecasting newsletter. Although polls suggest Kasich has a chance to surprise, but not win, in conservative South Carolina, "that doesn’t look like a great state for him on paper,” Kondik said.

Still, a national sample of Republicans and independents surveyed online by CBS News put Kasich's debate performance in third place, behind Rubio and Trump and far ahead of sixth-place Bush. The group said Trump most shares their values, while Kasich is most prepared to be president.

Scalia's death shapes debate

The death overnight of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia shaped the early moments of the GOP debate.

Even before the event started, candidates were parsing the kind of person who should replace Scalia on the closely divided court – and when the replacement should happen.

Kasich chastised other candidates for issuing statements saying the appointment of a replacement should wait until the next president takes office.

Cruz, Rubio: Next president should name Scalia replacement

"It's not even two minutes after the death of Judge Scalia," Kasich said. "Nine children. Here, today, their father didn't wake up. His wife sad -- I just wish we hadn't run so fast into politics."

Then, Kasich ventured into the Supreme Court appointment conversation with a dig at President Barack Obama.

“I really wish the president would think about not nominating somebody,” he said. “I would like the president just to, for once here, put the country first. … I think we ought to let the next president of the United States decide who is going to run that Supreme Court.”