Cruz was born in Canada to an American mother, and many legal scholars believe that is enough to qualify him as a “natural-born” citizen under the Constitution.
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The businessman was booed by the audience when he referred to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released hours before the debate that showed him widening his lead over Mr Cruz at a national level.
Rubio went even further, saying Clinton was “disqualified for being commander in chief”, accusing her of mishandling classified information and lying to the families of Americans killed in the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya.
Separately, Christie warned, “If you’re anxious about world being on fire, you can not give Hillary Clinton a third term of Barack Obama’s leadership”.
Voters in the group said Cruz “handled” Trump, and referenced the Texas Senator’s delivery as “eloquent” and “level headed”.
In a twist from previous outings, moderators didn’t direct a question to Trump until the 19th minute of the debate.
While Cruz has noted that he’s been rising in the polls, Trump countered on Friday that the Texas Senator isn’t doing well nationally, in SC or in New Hampshire. “You have a big lawsuit over your head; why are you running?”
Canada wasn’t the only place that Ted Cruz and Donald Trump fought about.
The three remaining candidates in the undercard debate came out swinging with fierce facial expressions to match their attacks.
“Unfortunately, Governor Christie has endorsed numerous ideas that Barack Obama supports, whether it is Common Core or gun control or the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor or the donation he made to Planned Parenthood”, Rubio said. “This is the difference between being a governor and being a senator”, Christie said.
Rubio will likely take fire for his role in the 2013 immigration debate, while even a strong performance from Bush may not be enough to allay concerns that his campaign is at risk of faltering. “We said everyone is welcome”. “She’s under investigation with the FBI right now”, Bush said, adding that the country should avoid a situation with a president who “might be going back and forth between the White House and the courthouse”.
Trump, the Republican front-runner, also had an aggressive exchange with Cruz over his claim that Cruz might not be eligible to be president. He consistently used his time to criticize Obama and Clinton harshly. That certainly seems to be what every candidate except Ohio Gov. John Kasich wants.
But the barb dramatically backfired when an emotional Trump recalled his hometown’s response to the September 11 terror attacks.
“Sending that makes it impossible for us to be serious about taking out ISIS and restoring democracy in Syria. He’s very strident”, Trump said.
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After weeks of increasingly hostile jabs that have been thrown on the campaign trail and in TV ads, the candidates had a chance to deliver their hits in person – and they did, big time! Carson’s campaign has lagged amid a staff shake-up and troubles addressing complex policy issues.
