And by the 45-minute mark, as the candidate railed against USA trade policy, numerous undecided voters and college students in the crowd were streaming toward the exits to catch the Super Bowl.
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But his rocky performance gave impetus to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and Ohio Governor John Kasich, who are all vying with him to become the favoured candidate of the Republican establishment. Noting he had far less speaking time than the others (less than of Rubio and Cruz), Carson said the format favors candidates who are mentioned by other candidates (giving them an opportunity to respond). “Barack Obama wants us to abandon them”. She called the water crisis “immoral” and urged Congress to approve $200 million in emergency aid for the city whose population is predominantly black, saying that “repairing trust is as important as repairing pipes”.
Another interesting finding was that two-thirds of likely Republican primary voters expected a Trump to win on Tuesday, slightly up since Iowa. Pointing out that Cruz has in the past said that “torture is wrong, unambiguously, period”, Muir asked, “Senator Cruz, is waterboarding torture?” “I think the experience is not just what you did but how it worked out”. Kasich’s entire strategy has seemed to hinge on a strong showing in New Hampshire – and the Rubio misstep might have been exactly what he needed to stay in the race.
Bush spoke hours after mixing it up in a heated exchange with Trump during Saturday night’s Republican presidential debate, hosted by ABC.
Christie, however, turned the attack against Rubio, saying “there it is” as Rubio launched into his rehearsed Obama attack once again…and again…and again.
Rubio wavered in defending his decision to walk away from the sweeping immigration bill he originally backed in the Senate and said he wouldn’t pursue similar legislation as president.
“Actually, I would pay them to keep running that clip, because that’s what I believe – passionately”, he said.
Marco Rubio wilted in the spotlight as he came under sustained fire from rivals in a debate days before a key vote in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Rubio has sought to appeal both to mainstream Republicans and those eager to upend the status quo. Though his own poll numbers are slumped in fifth place while Rubio’s have surged to second, Christie argued that everything had changed with last night’s debate.
Cruz was the victor in Iowa, triumphing over billionaire Trump by drawing heavily on the support of evangelical voters.
Trump’s lead shrunk to 11 points after finishing second in the Iowa caucuses, where Texas Senator Ted Cruz managed to defeat him by a 3 point margin.
“Washington ethics basically says, ‘If it’s legal you do what you need to do in order to win, ‘” Carson said at the debate.
His absence in that debate has since been credited by Trump as a reason why he came in second place at the Iowa Caucuses on Monday.
“It is at the core of our campaign”, Rubo said.
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But in the new dawn, given the reality of the debates’ limited audience and the general competition for voters’ attention, the exact extent of the damage was less clear.
