Viewer’s Guide: GOP debate about Donald Trump vs. everyone else
And then there were four. Ben Carson‘s departure from the GOP presidential race means the quartet of remaining Republicans on the debate stage Thursday night get more time for attacks as Donald Trump treads a path to the GOP nomination and his three rivals try to trip him up. Cheered on by many Republican leaders, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Kasich are racing the primary clock to March 15, likely their last chance to stop Trump in a series of winner-take-all contests. Some things to watch Thursday night as the candidates meet at 9 p.m. EST for the Fox News Channel debate in Detroit: HE WHO WAS NOT NAMED Love him or loathe him, Trump has taught the poohbahs of the Republican Party what a power grab really is — and he’s done it by winning over large swaths of the GOP’s own core supporters far from Washington. His wobbling over whether to disavow the support of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke finally gave the Republican leaders of Congress a way to go after the billionaire publicly — without uttering Trump’s name. Trump responded by saying House Speaker Paul Ryan would have to get along with a President Trump or pay some sort of “big price.” On the eve of the debate, Ryan’s office confirmed that Trump’s campaign had contacted the speaker’s staff in a first sign of outreach. Notably, Trump has started talking about unifying the GOP. Look for Trump to be asked about the existential rift in the party and how he expects to govern. ___ RUBIO, RUDE? TRUMP, TOO? The Florida senator who once insisted on staying above the scuffling has leapt right into it, emulating Trump’s schoolyard-taunting style. At campaign events in the past week, Rubio made sometimes crude jokes about everything from Trump’s tan to the size of his hands — he even suggested that the billionaire wet his pants at the last debate. Look for whether a newly confident Rubio, emboldened by his first primary win in Minnesota Tuesday, keeps it up or takes a more statesmanlike approach. And what to expect from Trump? “I can’t act overly presidential because I’m going to have people attacking from every side. A very good man, Ben Carson’s not there anymore, so now we’re going to have more time for the fighting,” he said. “When people are hitting you from different angles, from all different angles, unfortunately you have to hit back. I would have a very, very presidential demeanor when I win, but until such time, you have to hit back,” he told NBC on Thursday. ___ CRUZ’S STAND Thanks to Rubio’s win Tuesday, Cruz can no longer say he’s the only Republican who has shown he can beat Trump. But he won three states on Super Tuesday — Alaska, Oklahoma and his home state of Texas. And the delegate math shows that Cruz is emerging as the candidate who might stop Trump. Look for some confidence from Cruz, because on Super Tuesday alone he came close to Trump. For the night, Trump won at least 237 delegates and Cruz won at least 209. Rubio was a distant third with at least 94. Even Sen. Lindsey Graham, who a week earlier joked at a dinner about killing Cruz, acknowledged on CBS that the Texas senator might be the party’s best hope to beat Trump. ___ KASICH, STILL The debate setting is likely most helpful to Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who is looking for a strong showing in Michigan in the state’s March 8 contest, to survive. __ FOX AND TRUMP, FRENEMIES Trump has uttered barely a peep about the fact that Fox News Channel is hosting the debate, and that his sometime-nemesis Megyn Kelly, is one of the moderators. This is a marked change from the upheaval that led to Trump boycotting Fox’s debate just before the leadoff Iowa caucuses. Trump had demanded that Kelly be removed; Fox refused and Trump headed a few miles away to host his own event. He later said that could have been one of the reasons he lost Iowa to Cruz. Trump has not tweeted about Kelly in weeks. In an interview with the Associated Press this week, Kelly said she thinks Trump has more confidence now. “He knows he can handle me. He can handle any interviewer,” she said. ___ TRUMP UNIVERSITY How good is a degree from Trump University? “Worthless” — as are his promises — according to former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Romney will brand the billionaire businessman as “a phony, a fraud” in a Salt Lake City speech on Thursday, as party of a push by GOP establishment figures to paint the billionaire as unfit to represent the party. Trump should have a few things to say about it. He already started slugging on Thursday morning, saying that Romney “begged” him for his endorsement four years ago, and called him a “failed candidate.” ___ REMEMBER BEN CARSON? Kelly said he wouldn’t have gotten much attention even if he had stuck around for the debate. Fox will concentrate its questions on Trump, Cruz and Marco Rubio — making for potentially awkward moments for Kasich. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Google to launch “candidate cards” feature during Thursday GOP debate
Google is testing a new feature that provides users with unique content from presidential campaigns. As reported by USA TODAY, Google launches “candidate cards” Thursday, an experimental feature that allows both parties to deliver content through a particular window appearing on the result page of searches for related content. Content will include images, text and video in an eight-card carousel controlled by the campaigns. Newer cards will replace older ones on a rotating basis. Cards will offer everything from text snippets to YouTube videos and GIFs, which Google says will load “natively” on a search page – meaning users do not have to click a link to access the content, although there will be embedded links available. “We believe that what a candidate has to say is just as important as what others say about them,” Google product manager Joe Bose told USA TODAY. “This new, experimental feature will now allow searchers to hear directly from presidential candidates right in Google search results — whether it’s their thoughts on an issue, photos from a recent debate or their latest stump speech.” Candidate cards is still in the testing phase, with a possibility of expansion to include content beyond political campaigns. Carousels will be introduced during Thursday evening’s GOP debate, in what Google calls a “parallel debate” cosponsored by Fox News. USA TODAY reporter Paul Singer writes that searches related to the on-stage discussion will automatically get a window featuring cards from candidates, updated in real time both during the undercard and main debate to reflect active questions and answers.
Fox announces date, team for Iowa debate
Fox News Channel says it will host the seventh Republican presidential debate, taking place next month in Des Moines, Iowa, ahead of that state’s caucuses. Fox said Monday that the two-hour debate on Jan. 28 will be anchored by Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace. That’s the same team that moderated the campaign’s first GOP debate in August, which drew a cable news record audience of 24 million people. The sixth debate will be shown on the Fox Business Network on Jan. 14. Criteria for participation will be announced later. The GOP field narrowed on Monday with Sen. Lindsey Graham‘s announcement that he was ending his campaign. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Jeb Bush says Donald Trump ‘doesn’t have a plan’
Republican presidential candidate and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush says frontrunner Donald Trump didn’t come off as a strong leader on national security issues during Tuesday night’s debate. Bush appeared via satellite link on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program on Wednesday morning. The candidates participated in the fifth GOP debate, hosted by CNN, in Las Vegas. “We got to talk about substantive issues, about the future of our country and how we can keep our country safe and secure, and it was a commander-in-chief debate in many ways,” Bush said. “I don’t know if the front-running candidate fared that well in that kind of context. “You need a leader that can listen to people and draw people together to be able to create a strategy to keep us safe,” he added. “And his policies, what he’s advocated, just won’t do it. And I was pleased to be able to point that out and we had some exchanges that I think I won.” Host Joe Scarborough asked Bush where he thought he scored the most points. “Well, the simple fact is he doesn’t have a plan; he’s not a serious candidate,” Bush said. “…His policies aren’t serious proposals, and he didn’t offer anything compelling in response to that. And I offered, as did other candidates, significant, detailed proposals to protect the homeland.” But Bush still trails in fifth place in the polls with 5 percent, compared to Trump’s 38 percent, according to the latest Huffington Post survey average. He noted that Iowa voters are “latched on to a particular candidate today but by February 1st when the caucuses start they could easily vote for somebody else.” “Similarly, in New Hampshire, the exact same phenomenon takes place,” he said. “This is a wide open race … If you go campaign hard in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, you can move the needle and that’s exactly what I intend to do. “I want to make the case that I am ready from day one to be President of the United States and that I will keep our country safe, and that I have the detailed policies to make sure that’s the case,” Bush said. “As people get a sense of my determination to do that, I think I’m going to move up in the polls.” Trump, appearing last night on MSNBC’s Hardball, continued to rule out an independent run and said he would support the GOP nominee if he loses. “I would do that, with enthusiasm,” Trump told host Chris Matthews. “I mean, I’ve gotten to know most of them pretty well. I like a lot of them. I can’t say I love everybody but I like a lot of them. And I respect quite a few of them.”
For Ben Carson, debates have played limited role in his rise
For some Republican presidential candidates, the party’s first three primary debates have been pivotal proving grounds that have strengthened their campaigns or shaken their supporters. Ben Carson isn’t among them. The famously mild-mannered Carson has largely avoided making headlines in the widely watched televised events, often willing to cede the spotlight to more verbose rivals and finding himself overshadowed in policy discussions. Yet the retired neurosurgeon’s standing with voters in preference polls has only gotten better. “The political language and the traditional prism through which we evaluate candidates essentially does not apply to Ben Carson,” said Phil Musser, a Republican strategist. It’s unlikely Carson will again shrink into the background Tuesday when the eight leading GOP candidates meet in Milwaukee for their fourth debate. Now viewed as a front-runner for the Republican nomination, Carson faces intense scrutiny about the veracity of his celebrated biography, which has been central to his connection with voters. His campaign manager, Barry Bennett, said Carson was prepared to be far more aggressive in the debate than he has been in the past and is “a lot more fired up” after facing several days of questions about his past. “He will vociferously stand up for himself,” Bennett said. “He’s not going to attack anybody. But if somebody goes after him, they’re going to see a lot more ‘back at ’em’ than they ever saw before.” While pieces of Carson’s background had been challenged earlier in the campaign, the questions ballooned last week after CNN reported it could not find friends or confidants to corroborate the story, told in his widely read autobiography, of unsuccessfully trying to stab a close friend when he was a teenager. Later in the week, POLITICO examined Carson’s claim of having received a scholarship offer to attend the U.S. Military Academy and The Wall Street Journal said it could not confirm anecdotes told by Carson about his high school and college years. In a GOP primary where bashing the media is in vogue, Carson could come out ahead if the moderators of Tuesday’s debate on Fox Business Network are seen as unfairly piling on. Carson’s campaign was active in the effort to change how the party’s debates are run after several candidates expressed unhappiness with moderators from CNBC at an event two weeks ago. Yet some Republicans say Carson must walk a fine line between defending himself, and sticking with the calm and quiet demeanor that has so far been a draw for voters. “Will viewers and voters see the unflappable surgeon they have been inclined to support or will a more combative Carson emerge?” said Matt Strawn, the former chairman of the Iowa Republican Party. “If the latter, his standing may well suffer if he appears to be yet another politician trying to out-outrage the others on stage.” Carson’s response will likely be influenced by the way his rivals handle the matter. So far, most have sided with Carson, saying he’s been unfairly treated by the media. “They went too far with Ben Carson,” Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said Monday. “It’s just kind of silly. They are trying to paint it to his integrity and I think that that’s not fair.” The most likely candidate in the main event to challenge Carson is Donald Trump. The real estate mogul has been at the top of Republican primary polls for months, but began to level sharp criticism at Carson after he started challenging Trump’s front-runner status. Trump has seized on the inconsistencies of Carson’s biography, repeating a long list of examples of potential exaggerations and unproven claims during recent television appearances. That includes repeating Carson’s assertion that he had a “pathological” problem with his temper. Speaking in front of thousands at a rally in Springfield, Illinois on Monday evening, Trump sharpened his criticism of Carson in a preview of potential lines of attack. “With what’s going on with this election, I’ve never seen anything like it. People are getting away with murder,” said Trump, betraying his first signs of exasperation at Carson’s success in the polls. “If you try and hit your mother over the head with a hammer, your poll numbers go up. I never saw anything like it!” Also in the main debate Tuesday are Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, a pair of senators enjoying a burst of momentum following their strong performances in the last contest; former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who is in the midst of an attempted campaign reset; and businesswoman Carly Fiorina and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Missing from the lineup are New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. Both were dropped from the top-tier debate with low poll numbers in national surveys, sparking criticism for the way networks hosting the debates have determined participation. Christie and Huckabee will instead appear in an earlier undercard debate, along with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. “We’re not whiners and moaners and complainers in the Christie campaign,” Christie said on Fox News Monday. “Give me a podium, give me a stage, put the camera on, we’ll be just fine.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
No whining: Chris Christie shrugs off boot from debate main stage
Chris Christie just can’t catch a break. In the middle of what had been shaping up to be among the best weeks of his campaign for president, the Republican governor of New Jersey was kicked to the “kiddie table” when Fox Business Network said he didn’t have the poll numbers needed to qualify for Tuesday’s prime-time debate. The relegation to the undercard is the latest blow for Christie, who has struggled to emerge in a packed field led by political newcomers — most notably billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump, who has effectively stolen Christie’s tell-it-like-it-is calling card. “Did I want to throw something at the television? Yes,” said Bobbie Kilberg, one of Christie’s most loyal financial backers. But Kilberg was among the many Christie supporters who — familiar with political setbacks — said the decision would only increase their resolve and spur them to work harder to bring in the cash needed to keep Christie’s campaign going. The demotion came as Christie, whose very early front-runner status was crushed by a scandal involving aides creating traffic jams on a bridge into Manhattan, appeared on the cusp of a breakthrough thanks to a video published by The Huffington Post that shows him talking about the pain of losing a friend to drug addiction. While Christie has told the story dozens of times at town hall events, the video went viral and had been viewed more than 7.6 million times as of Sunday evening. The response to the video underscores Christie’s raw political talent: he undoubtedly has the ability to connect with an audience in ways many of his rivals cannot. After weeks of focus on New Hampshire, his standing in some preference polls there has improved recently. Christie has also seen substantial gains in his favorability ratings, both nationally as well as in Iowa, where his team is hoping a stronger-than-expected showing will position him to win New Hampshire. Meanwhile, Christie has tried to play down the impact of getting booted from the main stage of the fourth GOP primary debate. Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Christie tried to put a positive spin on the downgrade, saying, “I’ll be on a stage where I’m going to get a lot more time to talk.” And he said the true winnowing of the field will take place later, in Iowa and New Hampshire. “We’re Not Whiners, Or Moaners, Or Complainers In The Christie Campaign,” read the subject line of one email blast from his campaign. Speaking Friday in New Hampshire, where he filed to appear on the state’s primary ballot, Christie said what matters is his message. “I’ve never had difficulty making an impression. I’ll make an impression on Tuesday night, too, just like I have in the first three debates,” he said. “We are fine,” echoed Christie senior adviser Mike DuHaime in an email. “We don’t make the rules, just play by them. Our supporters and donors know that Gov. Christie has overcome a lot more than being switched to a different stage.” Some Christie supporters have gone further and tried to put a positive spin on his debate downgrade, arguing that appearing on the less crowded stage will give the governor more opportunity to make his case to viewers. “He’ll get a lot more time. He’ll get a lot more attention,” said Jim McConaha, a Republican from Concord, New Hampshire, who came to watch Christie file his paperwork. “It’s better than standing at the end of the row, leaning on the podium waiting for your opportunity to say something.” Kilberg said the downgrade was sparking new commitments from previously on-the-fence donors angry at Christie’s treatment. “People are calling me and saying, ‘this is ridiculous,’ ” she said. “People are even more energized.” Yet the decision still has the potential to set back Christie. Many believe he missed his chance to be president four years ago when he declined to run, saying he wasn’t ready for the White House. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry saw his fundraising essentially disappear after he was relegated to an undercard debate earlier in the year. He left the race soon after. Iowa-based Jamie Johnson, who served as senior director to the Perry campaign and is not affiliated with any candidate now, said Christie still has a chance to build on the momentum that Johnson says he’s seeing in the state. “If there was ever a candidate who was a fighter and could find a way to bounce back after being demoted to the secondary debate forum,” he said, “it’s Chris Christie.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
After dismal debate, Jeb Bush seeks ways to steady campaign
Jeb Bush emerged from the third Republican debate as a candidate in crisis, with supporters struggling to understand why he keeps underperforming and advisers promising a turnaround before it’s too late. Campaigning in New Hampshire Thursday, Bush insisted his White House bid was “not on life support.” Still, advisers concede November will be his campaign’s most crucial period to date, a stark contrast to their previous assertions that Bush was best-positioned to outlast rivals in a long campaign. Millions of dollars in TV advertising must start yielding stronger poll numbers, advisers say, and Bush himself must find a way to stop being overshadowed by competitors in the large GOP field. “The intensity is going to increase,” declared Sally Bradshaw, Bush’s senior adviser. To some supporters, that may ring hollow on the heels of Bush’s lackluster performance in Wednesday night’s debate. Aides have spent weeks promising more forceful performances from the bookish former Florida governor, only to see him repeatedly fall flat. The contrast between expectations and reality was particularly striking on the debate stage in Colorado. Bush appeared to land a sharp jab on friend and political mentee Marco Rubio, suggesting the senator should resign if he’s going to keep skipping votes on Capitol Hill while he campaigns for president. But Bush was glaringly ill-prepared for Rubio’s sharp comeback and quickly faded into the background for the rest of the two-hour contest. It was a painful moment for a candidate once seen as the GOP’s best hope for reclaiming the White House. And it deepened concerns about a campaign that less than a week ago was forced to drastically cut its payroll, travel costs and other expenses amid slower-than-expected fundraising. “He was poorly served by whatever campaign adviser told him to go down that path with Marco,” said Brian Ballard, a major fundraiser for both Bush’s campaign and super PAC. “It’s not the kind of ideas campaign that he has promised.” Ballard said he still believes Bush would be the most capable commander in chief of anyone in the race, but he acknowledged he is “really worried” about the campaign trajectory. Bush’s finance team was fielding so many calls from worried donors in the hours after the debate that a special briefing was hastily scheduled Thursday afternoon. After Bush made small talk about his trip to New Hampshire, Bradshaw began by addressing the debate head-on, telling donors, “It was not our best night.” As part of the campaign’s fall revamp, Bush is moving staff out of his Miami headquarters and into early voting states, particularly New Hampshire. The shift ramps up pressure for him in the first-in-the-nation primary, making it essentially a make-or-break state for his campaign. Aides say Bush will spend longer stretches of time there, including a bus tour next week. While he still plans to hold town hall-style meetings, he’ll also add more informal events to his schedule, such as stops at VFW halls for beer and lengthy discussions with veterans. Bush also plans to release a book that chronicles his time as Florida governor through email correspondence with constituents, another move aimed at helping personalize the son of one president and brother of another. Supporters in New Hampshire welcome the promise of more campaign resources in their state, but they aren’t ready to declare the new strategy the answer to the candidate’s problems. “People are sitting on it and watching to see how it evolves,” said Carlos Gonzalez, a New Hampshire state representative and Bush backer. Another key to Bush’s turnaround strategy, according to aides, is getting a return on his team’s early investment in television advertising. Right to Rise USA, the main outside group backing Bush, has spent $14.7 million on ads in New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina, and has reserved an additional $30 million in television time through the first week of February. Advisers say the biographical TV spots have improved Bush’s image, especially in New Hampshire, where the campaign’s internal polls show more than half of voters now have a favorable impression of him. At some point, his super PAC is expected to air advertising critical of other Republicans in the race, especially Rubio, who is seen as the top challenger for Bush’s share of the GOP establishment. However, officials with the group would not say when such ads might begin to air. Campaign and super PAC officials insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the internal planning. As he travels through New Hampshire and other early states, aides say, Bush will argue that his record in Florida, including cutting taxes, balancing the budget and managing the state through eight hurricanes, best prepares him for the demanding job of president. In a campaign season where voters are voicing frustration with Washington, he’ll be cast as a problem solver who can get the nation’s capital on track. As part of that message, Bush’s campaign tested a new slogan at the event in New Hampshire Thursday: “Jeb Can Fix It.” Anxious Bush supporters can only hope that’s the case. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
