Gone were the outbursts and assertions from the charismatic billionaire who has upended the Republican nomination process. Trump has also criticized him for failing to disclose large loans from Wall Street banks on his financial disclosure forms.
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Still, the candidates couldn’t resist mocking or impersonating Trump, who boycotted the final debate before Iowa kicks off voting in the 2016 campaign on Monday.
“It gives you some credibility when you say, ‘I jumped on a plane from Georgia and came on my own expense, ‘” said Kathy Hildebrand, 62, of Snellville, Ga., hauling a box of Iowa-shaped Cruz sugar cookies at a recent event. And Ben, you’re a bad surgeon.
Trump’s hastily scheduled rally “for the veterans” drew huge crowds that waited for hours to get through a lone metal detector. That, too, seemed to elicit catcalls as well as applause.
Continuing to promote the supposed benefits of Trump’s move, Wright ruled: “It’s also possible Trump is being strategic, using his feud with Fox News and Megyn Kelly as an excuse”.
The network said Mr Trump had made a late offer to appear at the debate if Fox News contributed $5 million to charity, which it refused to do.
Adding to the spectacle, rival Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who is languishing in polls and attended an undercard event before the main debate, joined Trump at his veterans’ event, as did low-polling former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum.
Asked whether the crowded establishment lane was putting Trump in position to be the nominee, Bush said, “We’re just starting out”.
With that, he tried to set expectations so that if Rubio finishes better than third, it can be proclaimed a great performance and if Cruz doesn’t win, it will be seen as a great failure.
Meanwhile, Trump maintains a commanding lead in New Hampshire polls despite his decision not to follow traditional rules of campaigning in the first primary state. He has done so while spending a fraction what his deep-pocketed intraparty opponents have spent. Yet despite the thinned herd of reporters, the Internet slowed to a crawl during the event as hundreds struggled to stream the Trump event across town as the debate played over big-screen TVs. But Brownell, an evangelical who backs Sen.
Donald Trump held court in New Hampshire Friday, while his presidential competitors in both parties hustled through Iowa in a last-minute scramble to win over fence-sitters before the state’s crucial caucuses.
Sage thought Rubio did well and seemed more relaxed, but Sage remained concerned about how the senator broke with his 2013 support of legislation creating a path to citizenship for many immigrants who are already in the USA illegally, a point Rubio’s rivals stressed. One ad said darkly of Rubio: “Tax hikes”.
Political handicappers such as Jennifer Duffy, a senior editor at the Cook Political Report, say either Trump or Cruz atop the GOP ticket in November will hurt the party’s chances of keeping the Senate majority. There is little doubt he helped his rivals by not showing up.
Rand Paul pledged to stand up for civil liberties; John Kasich said he would reach out to moderates.
The only truly revealing performance was that of Jeb Bush. “I wouldn’t judge anything by it”, said one senator who backs Bush.
It was the second-smallest audience of the seven GOP primary debates and about half of what Fox News scored with its first Republican debate in August.
Beyond a few playful jabs, the two-hour debate was a Trump-free zone, one of the few such events in the race so far.
Also clearly invigorated was Kentucky Sen. “Cruz assumes being a conservative means an ideological checklist”.
“Chris, let’s begin by being clear what this campaign is about”. Bernie Sanders planned to keep the heat on Hillary Clinton, focusing his efforts on rousing a big turnout from his young supporters and other first-time caucus goers. Only 12.5 million viewers. Carson again emphasized the social and moral ramifications of various policy solutions and brought an nearly spiritual air to his answers.
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She testified to her husband’s warmth, and to his commitment to the Second Amendment, states’ rights and other conservative causes.
