With the Iowa Caucuses and New Hampshire primary behind them, a smaller field of Republican presidential candidates will meet in South Carolina Saturday for the party’s ninth debate of the campaign season. But the state, which holds its Republican primary vote on February 20, is well known as a venue for dirty tactics employed by candidates who campaign there – and Trump is making no secret of calling Cruz out for his.
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The US senator from Texas, who won the Iowa caucuses last week and placed third Tuesday night in New Hampshire, wasted no time slinging mud against Trump as a fake conservative, as Cruz fights to be the evangelical and right-wing standardbearer for the 2016 Republican nomination.
According to exit polling data, Trump ran strongest among Republican voters who were anxious about immigration, the fate of the economy, and the threat of a terrorist attack in the US. But in a sign of how he is facing challenges on two flanks, Mr Cruz has also begun airing ads against Senator Marco Rubio as well as Mr Trump.
“My sense is this is going to be a melee”, said Republican strategist Doug Heye.
Cruz adviser Rick Tyler stated that Trump says “nothing about immigration, nothing about job creation, nothing about what’s going on in North Korea right now, nothing about defeating ISIS”.
Trump was not at the event, sending instead a surrogate to speak for him, Pastor Mark Burns.
Trump told the audience he is turning his greed as a businessman toward improving the country.
Tonight’s Republican presidential debate will air on CBS. Lindsey Graham. Following relatively weak performances in Iowa and New Hampshire, Bush is looking to rebound in SC, but the poll suggests his momentum has been blunted, showing his support falling to 10.9 percent.
“The polls don’t mean anything if you don’t get up, don’t get out, don’t vote”, he said.
“And if he wants to make this election about experience, well, the most important job of the president is to be commander in chief”. Can Carson show something that puts a spark back into his campaign? Kasich (mostly) maintains that he’s a nice guy.
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For Kasich, though the second-place finish in the New Hampshire was a vital winning for him, his success in New Hampshire came at a costly price. As a result, he’s started to run ads trashing Trump’s character in the state, in hopes of changing the dynamic. “The bottom line is he didn’t get accomplishments done, neither did President Obama”.
