Trump heads to Colorado Tuesday night ahead of the third Republican debate Wednesday night.
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Still, Trump’s dip in polls may spell trouble for a candidate who has put so much stock in them.
Carson, a low-key presence in the first two debates, could face a barrage of criticism from the nine other candidates on stage. Ted Cruz and Kentucky Sen.
Kasich, who touted his experience balancing budgets in Congress and in Ohio, said his plan would “create jobs, cut taxes and balance the budget”.
The main debate, featuring 10 candidates, will begin at 8 p.m. ET in Boulder, Colo., and will be broadcast on CNBC.
The group of protestors slamming the billionaire businessman’s rhetoric. But the often-volatile candidate shouldn’t spend any time on it during the debate – and if he does it could look out of place in what is expected to be a policy-heavy debate otherwise. That likely means a far more aggressive approach to the debate, up to and including landing the first punch against the likes of Trump, Ben Carson and Marco Rubio.
Ben Carson or Donald Trump? CNBC could command a premium for the ad time as research shows that the median income of its viewers, more than $70,000, is among the highest in television.
Given a second chance to answer a question about the pending federal budget agreement, Cruz continued to attack the moderators.
Carson set the table for a debate about the future of sacrosanct entitlement programs by telling “Fox News Sunday” he would use health savings accounts as an alternative to popular Medicare and Medicaid health programs for the poor and elderly.
“There’s a crack in the dominance he’s been projecting over the past few months”, Alan Schroeder, a debate expert at Northeastern University, said of Trump.
Has there ever been a disappearing act like this one?
“Quite simply, he just needs to be more serious”. In the second gathering, she had a good performance again, but hasn’t capitalized on it since and has been slipping in the polls and in the national conversation.
The economy should be her place to shine though, given her business background. Carly Fiorina failed to turn her strong debate performances into winning poll numbers.
Bush has tried to assuage concerns about his candidacy lately, but when headlines are that you’re downsizing and changing course, it’s not welcome news.
Carson’s biggest weakness may be his glaring lack of specific policy proposals. Trump may have enjoyed the vitality of the Republican race up until he arrived in Iowa, but it seems his opponents are undeterred, leaving all eyes on tonight’s debate to see who will emerge victorious. A Bloomberg/Des Moines register poll showed that a majority of GOP caucus voters agree with his stance on a Muslim president and his statements about Nazi Germany and gun control. He’ll have to defend why the deal – which would avoid a damaging government shutdown – is better than the shutdown many Republicans blame him for causing two years ago because of his protests on ObamaCare. Will he seek to play a bigger role in this debate? Now, can he make registered Republican voters of them? Huckabee has always been a proponent of the flat tax.
Also trying to make inroads with GOP voters on Wednesday will be New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Texas Sen. Sen.
Three contenders in the Senate – Rubio, Cruz and Paul – have already come out against the deal. Lindsay Graham, former Pennsylvania Sen. The fourth one, scheduled for November, will get us a lot closer to figuring out who the Republican candidate is going to be.
But Rubio is prepared to fire back, saying Bush never criticized other past GOP candidates when they did the same thing – and the only reason he is now is because he’s losing.
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Jindal – who had threatened to boycott the debate because of the polling criteria it used – could find himself on the defensive for Louisiana’s struggling economy and budget under his watch.
