As seven other Republican presidential candidates debated nearby, Donald Trump stuck to his pledge Thursday night to hold a separate event benefiting veterans.
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Unlike a primary, which is a traditional election featuring secret ballots on polling day, the caucuses in Iowa is a meeting of registered party voters and activists where they discuss the candidates and then vote.
However, Fox News in a statement said the network’s CEO Roger Ailes had “three brief conversations” with Trump, where he “acknowledged his concerns about a satirical observation we made in order to quell the attacks on (anchor) Megyn Kelly, and prevent her from being smeared any further”.
“I’m a maniac, and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat and ugly”, he joked, adding “Now that we’ve gotten the Donald Trump portion out of the way”.
In a swipe at both Trump and Cruz, Rubio chimed in: “Don’t worry, I’m not going to leave the stage no matter what you ask me”.
Absent Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidates strained to take advantage of a rare opportunity to step out of the front-runner’s shadow in Thursday night’s debate – a staid, policy-heavy contest that offered a glimpse of what the contest might have been without the unpredictable businessman.
“He was a little teddy bear to me”, said Jeb Bush, a former Florida Governor.
Mr Trump also felt the ire of former Florida governor Jeb Bush.
The GOP candidates focused heavily on threats from Islamic extremists. Ted Cruz, Trump’s closest rival. “I’ve got to be honest I didn’t want to be here tonight, ‘ he said”. Stopping him in Iowa, a state packed with evangelical voters who may prefer a more devout candidate, is perhaps the surest way to ensure Trump doesn’t win the GOP nomination. At one point, Trump named some of the biggest donors, including billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who contributed $500,000.
“Right now people are very fascinated by someone else in this race and is drawing all this attention, and I feel like I’m running a marathon breathing through a swizzle stick”, Santorum said.
Mr Rubio struck an aggressive posture, pledging that as president he would go after terrorists “wherever they are”.
The debate was largely overshadowed by frontrunner Donald Trump’s decision to sit out the exchange because of a feud with Fox News Channel, the network that broadcast the debate. ‘And Ben (Carson), you’re a bad surgeon’.
“The days of the Clintons in public housing are over”, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said in one of the best-received zingers before an audience of 1,600 at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. Rick Santorum and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore.
Bush applauded Dulce Candy and said “we should be a welcoming nation”.
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But in Iowa, a super PAC supporting Rubio began an ad that essentially calls Bush old and outdated. Trump has continually broken the rules of modern politics, but his supporters have not broken with him.
