Ted Cruz, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Sen.
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“We’ll see how Ben holds up to the scrutiny”, Trump said Tuesday on MSNBC.
The Republican presidential candidates are debating for the third time in the 2016 nomination contest, this time in battleground Colorado, as they compete to narrow down the wide-open contest.
How candidates were divided: The prime-time debate will feature candidates in the top 10 according to national polls.
The stakes seem especially critical for Bush, who recently slashed campaign spending after slipping further behind in national polls and surveys in key early states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. The former HP CEO shot up in the national polls after September’s debate, but since then has simmered down and was polled at 7 percent in the same CBS/NY Times poll.
It’s something that’s obviously getting under Trump’s skin, as he’s taken to cable and Twitter to insist he’s not dropping.
How can a debate that has taken place yet be unfair?
Former Gov. Jeb Bush (Fla.): Bush has gone through a brutal few weeks.
But others on the stage felt that it was Carson who was living in a fantasy world. It does include meaningful reforms to strengthen our safety net programs, including significant changes to bolster Social Security. “John, I play on a fantasy football team, and let me just say-the only Pole that matters is Rob Gronkowski”, Bush said, referring to the New England Patriots tight end.
Graham says the goal of his presidency is to grow the economy, and the best way to do that is to grow the middle class and rebuild the military. He will also be forced to defend his plan to replace Medicaid and Medicare. Carson can also match, or even surpass, Trump on two of the former reality game show host’s favorite selling points to GOP primary voters: Carson has a much better claim to being a self-made man than Trump does, and he can also give the belligerent billionaire a run for his money when it comes to finding frightening and creative ways to break politically incorrect ground. After playing bit parts in the first two debates, Carson has become a higher priority for his rivals, particularly those chasing the antiestablishment vote. Now, as one of the frontrunners who’s on the rise, he can’t disappear again. He needs to demonstrate self-assurance when discussing policy, notably immigration. I think that Iowa is his state but he will need a good night to remind other voters why they should care about him.
Fiorina surged after her commanding performance in the first debate – despite being relegated to the “kiddie table” debate – and did well enough to earn her a promotion onto the main stage.
The economy should be her place to shine though, given her business background.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fl.) is also expected to receive a fair level of attention as a potential establishment candidate following the hardships in former Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s campaign.
Carson’s biggest weakness may be his glaring lack of specific policy proposals.
The last time voters favored a Republican presidential candidate was 2004, with George W. Bush. “Forget for a moment that CNBC usually doesn’t use opening and closing statements, and consider that to give each of the ten candidates one minute to open and one more minute to close would add 20 minutes to the debate without a single question being asked”.
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Paul Ryan to support budget deal: Finally, Speaker-to-be Paul Ryan issued a statement this morning saying that he will support the budget deal that outgoing Speaker John Boehner struck with the White House and congressional Democrats.
