On a night where the presidential frontrunners stuck to business and personal finance issues during their third national debate, long-shot hopeful Sen. Lindsey Graham made headlines with his continued bashing of the current administration's military policy and foreign policy strategy.

"When it comes to dealing with me, you've got a clenched fist or an open hand. You pick," the South Carolina lawmaker said Wednesday during the afternoon debate session at the University of Colorado. "The party's over, to all the dictators. Make me commander-in-chief and this crap stops."

Graham, an Air Force veteran, has been unable to crack the top 10 in a crowded Republican field, thereby forced to deliver his military-heavy platform to smaller national audiences.

But his comments on those topics stood out on a night where debate moderators from the business news channel CNBC eschewed defense and national security questions in the main event in favor of the candidates' tax code details and corporate résumés.

Graham fielded those questions, too, but said that "without national security, there is no economic security." He lamented the shrinking defense budget and called President Obama "an incompetent commander in chief" during his two terms. During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday, Graham berated the Pentagon's top two leaders — Obama appointees — over what he called the United States' "half-assed" approach to a deepening challenge in Syria.

"I'm most worried about … the 1 percent of Americans in uniform who have been fighting this war for 14 years," he said. "They need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing."

Graham also argued for increased defense spending, a proposal that Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul seemed to oppose later in the evening. He said the new budget deal reached by lawmakers this week is "taking money from Social Security, and going to spend it on the military."

In response to a gun control question, business mogul Donald Trump talked about the five service members killed in July by a lone gunman who opened fire on two military installations in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump waits for the start of the CNBC Republican Presidential Debate, October 28, 2015 at the Coors Event Center at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado. AFP PHOTO / ROBYN BECK

Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump talked about the five service members killed in July by a lone gunman who opened fire on two military installations in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Photo Credit: Robyn Beck/AFP

"They weren't allowed on military base to have guns, and somebody walked in and killed them," he said. "If they had guns, they would have been able to (stop the shooter)."

Military officials have said at least two of the service members killed were armed and unsuccessfully tried to stop the rampage. The attack has prompted a debate among lawmakers and military leadership about whether more military personnel should be armed while on duty. Some in Congress say yes, but the Pentagon remains opposed.

The only other passing defense comments during the prime-time event were from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who blasted the Justice Department for its prosecution of former Army Gen. David Petraeus, and from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who cracked a joke about the runaway military blimp, which made a stir on social media Wednesday, being a metaphor for the "hot air" pervasive on Capitol Hill.

None of the candidates was questioned on last week's combat death of an American service member in Iraq, the first since U.S. forces left the country in 2011, or Obama's decision to keep troops in Afghanistan longer than he had previously planned.

Graham also brought up Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton's recent comments, calling the scandals at the Department of Veterans Affairs exaggerated by Republicans, the first significant mention of veterans at any of the Republican debates so far.

The next Republican debate will be held in Wisconsin on Nov. 10, one day before Veterans Day.

Leo covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White House for Military Times. He has covered Washington, D.C. since 2004, focusing on military personnel and veterans policies. His work has earned numerous honors, including a 2009 Polk award, a 2010 National Headliner Award, the IAVA Leadership in Journalism award and the VFW News Media award.

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