Republican candidates invoke Reagan, evade Bush

Republican White House hopefuls Thursday night frequently invoked the name of former President Ronald Reagan during the first GOP presidential debate but avoided mentioning the current president by name. Until the final question, which specifically asked the ten candidates how they would be different from President Bush, the name of the commander in chief was uttered only once by a candidate, according to a transcript of the event. In fact, they mentioned Bush’s brother Jeb and his father George H. W. Bush as many times as the current chief executive.
While avoiding Bush, candidates embraced Reagan during the debate, which was held at the 40th president’s library in California, and they mentioned his name 19 times in their answers. All top tier candidates, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, invoked Reagan at one point or another.
— Klaus Marre and Sam Youngman of The Hill.com