Viewer's Guide: GOP debate about Trump vs. everyone else
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.
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.
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.
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.
[...] what to expect from Trump? I can't act overly presidential because I'm going to have people attacking from every side.
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.
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.