Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker are giving him a rousing send-off as the Wisconsin governor heads to Ohio for the first debate of the 2016 campaign.
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Trump, who has a wide lead in the polls, has previously threatened to launch an independent campaign.
Fireworks erupted at the outset of the first Republican debate on Thursday night, when Donald Trump said he wouldn’t pledge not to run as an independent if he doesn’t win the Republican nomination. “You’re having a hard time tonight”, Trump said. “But I’d say that he’s already hedging his bets because he’s used to buying politicians”.
Thursday’s debate is the first of six party-sanctioned forums scheduled before primary voting begins in February.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham also took a more personal shot at Clinton, criticizing her now-infamous comments that she and Bill were “dead broke” after leaving the White House. He also refused to apologize for making insulting comments about women, saying, “The big problem this country has is being political correct”.
Trump’s blunt style was in line with the approach he’s taken to his campaign throughout the summer, appealing to voters frustrated with career politicians and perplexing his rivals.
Kasich received a rousing round of applause during the debate when he said he can disagree with someone on same-sex marriage and still love them.
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley says “it would be very foolish for the DNC and bad for our party, bad for our prospects, for us to be the party that limits debates”. “What are the principles by which he would govern?” she asked. “How are you supposed to know?” “But I would hope it could be done in the context of not being offensive to people“.
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who won the Iowa caucuses in 2012, tried to do it by calling for strict new limits on legal immigration.
Bush, Walker and the other top contenders largely steered clear of tangling with Trump, focusing on their records and the conservative policies they would pursue if elected. “Rather than talking about this as a wedge issue, the next president will fix this once and for all, as a driver for high, sustained economic growth”.
“This is the most generous country in the world when it comes to immigration”, he said.
Christie, a former U.S. attorney, said he was the only person on the stage to file applications under the Patriot Act and gone before secretive courts for authority.
“I will make no apologies ever for protecting the lives and the safety of the American people”, he said, arguing the government needs more tools, not fewer.
Through the remainder of the debate, the candidates made little news, choosing instead to use their time in the two-hour session to repeat already well-known positions. He said he wanted to collect more information from terrorists, not law-abiding Americans.
But the prime-time debate attracted more attention and served as a particularly high-stakes moment for Trump, whose early dominance has both stunned – and aggravated – members of his own party.
Retired pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson says brains make people who they are, not skin colour.
With 10 candidates on stage, there were long intervals between when each got to speak. They tumbled over the issue of data collection after Paul said he was proud to stand for the Bill of Rights.
He said during Thursday’s debate he would like to see the constitution adjusted to protect the rights of the unborn. He entered the first debate leading the polls in a field filled with governors and senators.
Rubio emphasized his opposition to abortion, saying he believes future generations will “call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies”.
Along with potentially convincing a fair number of viewers that she’s the candidate to do it, she also won over one of her on-stage rivals.
The remaining seven were relegated to a pre-debate forum, a low-key event in a largely empty arena, where candidates avoided debating each other and mostly stuck to scripted responses on domestic and foreign policy.
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Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and businesswoman Carly Fiorina opened the early event with biting criticisms of Trump.
