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| Trump, Cruz, Rubio and Kasich square off in Republican debate – live | Trump, Cruz, Rubio and Kasich square off in Republican debate – live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 12.59am GMT | |
| 00:59 | |
| From the comments / what to talk about | |
| We asked you what you’d like in your pre-debate coverage, and we gather that none of you are warming up by watching Fox’s run-up coverage, Real Talk with Greta. | |
| Anyway here are some of your preferences and ideas: | |
| Discuss: Donald Trump and the Politics of Resentment | |
| Commenters: What do you want to do with the next 95 minutes? | |
| How about folks read this - it won't take 95 minutes - and discuss? | |
| Would Republicans really nuke Trump? Could they? | |
| Commenters: What do you want to do with the next 95 minutes? | |
| As an international viewer I am perplexed by this nomination process. | |
| Would the Republican Party really go through with a broken convention just to avoid Trump becoming their candidate (regardless of whether they went for Romney or Cruz/Rubio)? Given Trump would then very likely run independent, probably resulting in a Dem win, isn't this a suicidal tactic? Or is the risk to the GOP reputation too great to allow him to represent them? | |
| Or... are we so far into uncharted territory all the above questions are currently unanswerable? | |
| As part of any answer to these questions I’d point out that pollsters who track generic Democrats versus generic Republicans find a mood close to right down the middle this cycle. Even if the Republicans arrive at their nominee in an extremely messy way, it will still only be July (probably) and if the nominee is a big enough name, there’s no reason to think he (she?!?) would be beaten before beginning. | |
| One caveat here is that contested conventions are rare – the recent precedent most people point to is the Democrats nominating George McGovern in 1968 – and anyone who assumes there will be one should read a piece such as this from Josh Marshall yesterday: “No, there won’t be a contested convention.” | |
| Addendum: trust us, dear international viewer – this nomination process is plenty confusing right here in the good old USA. | |
| Clinton investigations and Trump as commander-in-chief | |
| >> Commenters: What do you want to do with the next 95 minutes? | |
| 1. Immunity grant to Pagliano and potential for how this plays out for Clinton2. Trump's continued threats to require military to "just follow orders" and commit war crimes if elected - this would be a constitutional crisis of major dimensions, what would military leaders do | |
| We’re enjoying the conversation below the line on this one. See here for the latest on the Pagliano immunity deal. | |
| Why does everyone hate Cruz? | |
| The news coverage in the UK has been dominated by Trump. We don't know much about Cruz over here but I keep reading that he's nasty. What's so bad about him please, Americans? | |
| We’d start the list with the fact that he is disloyal, as when he attacked senate buddy Mike Lee’s criminal justice reform bill; self-serving, as when he brought the senate to a halt to grandstand about “defunding” Obamacare which was not going to happen; underhanded, as when his campaign spread a rumor on Iowa caucus night that rival Ben Carson had dropped out of the race; and a sophist, as when he wondered aloud whether Chuck Hagel was taking money from North Korea during the former’s defense secretary confirmation process. | |
| But read the Atlantic’s Molly Ball on this, “Why DC hates Ted Cruz”. | |
| 12.26am GMT | |
| 00:26 | |
| Commenters: What do you want to do with the next 95 minutes? Talk Super Tuesday, and whether Donald Trump didn’t actually do so well? Mitt Romney, and whether he has a secret plan to snatch the Republican nomination in a contested convention? Marco Rubio’s chances in Florida? Bernie Sanders’ path to the nomination? A Trump-versus-Clinton general? | |
| We’re assuming that most of you are reasonably caught up with the news-of-day in US presidential politics. If not, you can get a quickie light roundup in today’s Campaign Minute, an incremental real-time narration in my colleague Scott Bixby’s live blog, or a full briefing delivered in news-story form and collected on our US politics page. | |
| Former top Mitt Romney strategist Stuart Stevens has been going after Trump for saying that Romney begged him, Trump, for his endorsement in 2012: | |
| In '12. @realDonaldTrump begged to moderate debate. Romney said no. He begged to be on campaign plane. No. Begged for convention slot. No. | |
| Update: from Romney’s former body man: | |
| I was with Mitt every time he saw @realDonaldTrump and guarantee Mitt never begged Trump. Wish I would've recorded Trump kissing Mitt's ass | |
| Here’s our news coverage of Romney’s big attack this morning on Trump, in which he called Trump dangerous to the economy and national security, impugned Trump’s intelligence and business acumen and direly warned that “this is the very brand of anger that has led other nations into the abyss”: | |
| Related: Mitt Romney says Trump's 'third-grade theatrics' not worthy of presidency | |
| In other news, Bernie Sanders tamed his famous mane in Kansas, which caucuses Saturday: | |
| Just getting a trim - @BernieSanders stops for a haircut in Lawrence, KS. Press corp in tow pic.twitter.com/yWmhk1BOTn | |
| Updated | |
| at 12.35am GMT | |
| 11.27pm GMT | 11.27pm GMT |
| 23:27 | 23:27 |
| It's debate night | It's debate night |
| Hello and welcome to our live-wire coverage of the umpteenth (read: 11th) Republican presidential debate. | Hello and welcome to our live-wire coverage of the umpteenth (read: 11th) Republican presidential debate. |
| There are only four candidates onstage tonight so it should be a quick one. Kidding: it’s scheduled to start at 9pm and run for two hours. | There are only four candidates onstage tonight so it should be a quick one. Kidding: it’s scheduled to start at 9pm and run for two hours. |
| Notably absent from tonight’s debate will be retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who announced on Wednesday that he was rethinking his campaign after an underwhelming Super Tuesday performance (four last places; seven second-to-last places). | Notably absent from tonight’s debate will be retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who announced on Wednesday that he was rethinking his campaign after an underwhelming Super Tuesday performance (four last places; seven second-to-last places). |
| What we can count on is another two-pronged attack on frontrunner Donald Trump by the determined senatorial duo of Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. | What we can count on is another two-pronged attack on frontrunner Donald Trump by the determined senatorial duo of Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. |
| Remember what happened last time (summary here), just one week ago in Houston? Rubio accused Trump of repeating himself, Cruz tied Trump to Dennis Rodman and Trump called Cruz a “basket case” and a “liar” and said Rubio was a “choke artist”. | Remember what happened last time (summary here), just one week ago in Houston? Rubio accused Trump of repeating himself, Cruz tied Trump to Dennis Rodman and Trump called Cruz a “basket case” and a “liar” and said Rubio was a “choke artist”. |
| Who wouldn’t come back for more? Ben Carson, that’s who. Had he participated tonight, the surgeon would have enjoyed a home-court advantage: the debate will be held at the Fox Theatre (that’s how they spell it, the British way) in Detroit, where Carson grew up and where he launched his campaign. | Who wouldn’t come back for more? Ben Carson, that’s who. Had he participated tonight, the surgeon would have enjoyed a home-court advantage: the debate will be held at the Fox Theatre (that’s how they spell it, the British way) in Detroit, where Carson grew up and where he launched his campaign. |
| In the hall tonight for the Guardian will be Sabrina Siddiqui, backed by Ben Jacobs in Washington and a team of reporters and commentators here in New York and elsewhere. | In the hall tonight for the Guardian will be Sabrina Siddiqui, backed by Ben Jacobs in Washington and a team of reporters and commentators here in New York and elsewhere. |
| Onstage tonight will be: | Onstage tonight will be: |
| Fox News is hosting. Of mild interest tonight is the fact that the moderators include Megyn Kelly, the Fox host who so rankles Trump that he boycotted a January debate sponsored by Fox when the network wouldn’t nix her. Asked about the Kelly rematch Thursday, Trump said: “I’m ready.” | Fox News is hosting. Of mild interest tonight is the fact that the moderators include Megyn Kelly, the Fox host who so rankles Trump that he boycotted a January debate sponsored by Fox when the network wouldn’t nix her. Asked about the Kelly rematch Thursday, Trump said: “I’m ready.” |
| Are you ready? What do you think is at stake tonight? Who do you expect to excel, and who to botch it? As usual, share your thoughts in the comments, please, and we’ll get some in the blog. Thanks for reading and participating! | Are you ready? What do you think is at stake tonight? Who do you expect to excel, and who to botch it? As usual, share your thoughts in the comments, please, and we’ll get some in the blog. Thanks for reading and participating! |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 11.50pm GMT | at 11.50pm GMT |