BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — The Republican presidential candidates are debating for the third time in the 2016 nomination contest, this time in battleground Colorado, as they compete to narrow down the wide-open contest.
Here are the latest developments (all times local):
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6:49 p.m.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is defending his job performance against criticism from one of his constituents — Jeb Bush.
Bush is joining critics who say Rubio has skipped too many votes in the Senate as he campaigns for president.
Bush says Rubio should do his job. He says “this was a 6-year term and you should be showing up to work.”
Bush adds that if Rubio didn’t want to show up for votes, he should “just resign and let someone else take the job.”
The attack was the harshest of the debate so far and was Bush’s first chance to stand out on the crowded stage.
Rubio is pushing back hard. He says media criticism of his voting record is an example of bias against conservatives. And Bush is only piling on because “we’re running for the same position and someone has convinced you that attacking me will help you.”
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6:44 p.m.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is attacking Marco Rubio for missing Senate votes.
Critics have gone after Rubio for missing a lot of votes during his first term in Congress. Bush took it a step further in the Republican Party’s debate Wednesday night.
Bush told Rubio he signed up for a six-year term and “should be showing up for work.”
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Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson says he would get rid of all income tax deductions and loopholes if he were president.
Carson says during the third Republican presidential debate that there also needs to be strategic cutting. He says anyone who believes savings couldn’t be found in federal agencies is living in a “fantasy world.”
Carson says his tax plan would result in a flat tax around 15 percent.
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Ohio Governor John Kasich says economic proposals from his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination are “just fantasy.”
He slammed proposals from neurosurgeon Ben Carson and developer Donald Trump as unrealistic and deficit-busting. Kasich has proposed a large tax cut as well and promised to balance the budget through unspecified cuts.
Trump quips that Kasich’s poll numbers are so bad he barely qualified for the debate.
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Donald Trump sounds like he’d like to fire CNBC debate moderator John Harwood.
Harwood’s first question to the real estate mogul suggested Trump’s promises were so huge they were cartoonish. Harwood asked Trump if he was running a “comic book version of a presidential campaign.”
Trump rejected the phrase and added, “it’s not a very nicely asked question.”
Trump says his proposals are realistic. He says if China can build a 13,000-mile Great Wall, he can build a wall along 1,000 miles of the U.S.-Mexican border.
Trump also says he can force Mexico to pay for the wall. He says “a politician cannot get them to pay, I can.”
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6:37 p.m.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz says his biggest weakness is that he’s “too agreeable.” He’s kidding.
The notably fiery Cruz, who often stands against his own party in Congress, says his biggest weakness is actually that he’s a fighter who is passionate about the Constitution.
He says he doesn’t care if he’s not the guy voters want to have a beer with, because he’s the one who will make sure they get home.
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Chris Christie is wasting no time in lashing out at Democrats.
The New Jersey governor is using an opening question about his greatest weakness to clobber the three Democratic candidates for president.
Christie lists the GOP’s possible opponents as “the socialist,” ”the isolationist” and “the pessimist.”
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is a self-declared socialist. It’s not clear who is the isolationist but Christie says Hillary Clinton is the pessimist.
Christie promises “you put me on the stage with her next September and she won’t get within 10 miles of the White House.”
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Dr. Ben Carson is subtly belittling his Republican rivals at the GOP debate in Boulder, by promising not to engage in negative campaigning.
Yet he says in discussing his greatest weakness that he doesn’t really see himself “in that position” of president of the United States.
Carson, leading in Iowa and national polls, says he didn’t see himself as president until the “hundreds of thousands of people” who are supporting him persuaded him to run.
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Donald Trump says his greatest weakness is that he is too trusting.
In his first answer of the third Republican debate, Trump is responding to a question about his biggest weakness by saying that he trusts “people too much.”
But on the flip side, Trump says if people let him down, “I never forgive.”
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Jeb Bush says he’s impatient and he can’t fake anger.
The former Florida governor says those are his biggest weaknesses. Bush and the other Republican presidential candidates were asked to name their biggest weakness during the first question of their third debate in Colorado.
Bush says he believes “this is still the most extraordinary country on the face of the earth and it troubles me that people are rewarded for tearing down this country.”
He says, “It’s never been that way in American politics before and I can’t do it.”
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Ohio Governor John Kasich says proposals from his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination are “just fantasy.”
He slammed proposals from neurosurgeon Ben Carson and developer Donald Trump as unrealistic and deficit-busting. Kasich has proposed a large tax cut as well and promised to balance the budget through unspecified cuts.
Trump quips that Kasich’s poll numbers are so bad he barely qualified for the debate.
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6:17 p.m.
The third debate of the GOP nomination fight is underway, 17 minutes after it was set to start.
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6:14 p.m.
The GOP debate that was scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. is getting off to a late start. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus (ryns PREE’-bus) is talking to the crowd and the candidates are taking the stage.
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5:25 p.m.
As Republicans debate, Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton is wooing supporters in New Hampshire by describing the match-up as “a little scary” and saying she “feels sorry” for her would-be challengers.
The debates, she says, are like a “reality TV show, but the cast of characters are out of touch with actual reality.”
The Republican candidates, she tells Democrats gathered in Bartlett, New Hampshire, for a party dinner, “compete to insult each other.”
But, she adds, “for those of you masochistic enough to want to watch we’ll try to get you out” of the event in time.
Clinton is in the midst of a two-day campaign swing throughout New Hampshire.
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5:16 p.m.
The undercard debate among the four lowest-standing GOP presidential hopefuls has concluded. The prime-time debate among the top 10 competitors begins at 6 p.m.
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5:15 p.m.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is using his closing remarks at the debate to take a swipe at Hillary Rodham Clinton.
He says the former secretary of state would take the country further down the road toward socialism. He says, “My message is to conservatives: This is our hour.”
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham is making a reference to fellow Republican Donald Trump’s campaign slogan “Make America great again” in his closing statement. Graham says: “America is great. I intend to make America strong again.”
Former New York Gov. George Pataki says he wants to put aside partisan differences to get things done. Pataki says in his closing: “We are one America. We work together across party lines.”
And former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is referencing the steelworkers he represented in Congress. Santorum says he is aligning himself with working men and women who feel Washington doesn’t care about them.
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5:12 p.m.
Can you tell a presidential candidate by his smartphone apps?
The four low-polling Republican presidential candidates rattled off their favorite apps during the third GOP presidential debate.
Lousiana Gov. Bobby Jindal says he must be “the last American” who doesn’t have an iPhone. Instead he uses a BlackBerry.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham says the only reason he has an iPhone is because he gave his cell number to Donald Trump. Graham had to get another phone after the real estate developer read his number at a rally. He likes the Fox News app.
Former New York Gov. George Pataki uses ride-hailing app Uber and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum clicks on the NHL app and the Wall Street Journal’s.
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5:10 p.m.
Lindsey Graham is taking a personal approach to answering a question about Social Security.
The South Carolina senator says he understands better than most how the program keeps people out of poverty.
He says without the government payments his family “wouldn’t have made it” after his father — a bar owner — died.
He says he “will save Social Security because I know why it exists.”
Graham is proposing to shore up the program by asking the well-off to give up some benefits. He also says young people would have to work longer to help pay for benefits.
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5:05 p.m.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal says if former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum wants to concede the tax-cut wing of the Republican Party to him, he’s fine with that.
Jindal says during the early Republican presidential debate that Republicans should be willing to say they want to cut taxes in order to grow the economy.
Jindal’s jab comes as Santorum says he wants to reduce the size of government and the deficit, and adding a trillion dollars in tax cuts isn’t the way to do it.
Santorum says the key to addressing poverty is focusing on the family economy. He says not enough is said about how important stable families are to making middle America safe.
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5:00 p.m.
Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum isn’t worried about a lack of competition in the nation’s beer industry. Health care, though, is another story.
Anheuser-Busch is in the process of buying its top competitor, SABMiller, the largest merger in the beer industry. But Santorum says the people of Colorado need not worry, as the state’s active craft brewing industry provides plenty of options for beer lovers.
On corporate competition as a whole, Santorum is taking a shot at the health care industry. He says the Affordable Care Act reduces competition in the insurance market, pushing out small insurers. He says it’s part of Democrats’ plan to lead the nation to a single-payer health care system.
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4:54 p.m.
Rick Santorum is defending his support for reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank, an unpopular position with some fiscal hardliners, such as the influential anti-tax group Club for Growth.
Santorum is calling the government entity that provides loans to firms seeking business overseas a way to keep U.S. businesses competitive.
Santorum says the Ex-Im Bank’s purpose is not to protect corporate giants like General Electric or Boeing.
Sticking with his blue-collar conservative emphasis, Santorum says: “The American workers. That’s why we need to have a level playing field to compete with the rest of the world.”
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4:51 p.m.
Rick Santorum says immigrants are partially to blame for sluggish wage growth.
The former Pennsylvania senator was asked about jobs and wages at the Republican undercard debate Wednesday night.
He argues that the immigration policy backed by his rival, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, would allow more immigrants in the country and depress wages.
He says “we have to make sure that we’re not flooding this country” with low-wage workers.
Graham says it’s not realistic to deport 11 million immigrants.
Santorum says workers need to be trained in the skills that are needed, adding “we don’t have the right match.” He advocates for more job training and better education.
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4:50 p.m.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham is dodging a question about whether companies owe anything to their country in addition to their shareholders.
Graham is avoiding the question during the early Republican presidential debate, saying corporate taxes need to be lowered so companies don’t leave.
But then he pivots to say his goal is to help people who earn too much to be on public assistance but are still living paycheck to paycheck.
Graham says the purpose of his presidency is to grow the economy, and the best way to do that is to grow the middle class and rebuild the military.
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4:46 p.m.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal says it’d be nice to have universal family leave, but the government can’t mandate it.
Jindal is debating in the undercard round of the third Republican presidential debate. He is responding to a question about whether Washington should mandate paid maternity leave.
Jindal says, “The government can’t wave a magic wand and make that happen.” He adds that government regulations already hurt job growth in many ways.
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4:38 p.m.
Former New York Gov. George Pataki says he would eliminate “virtually every single” corporate tax loophole in an effort to take on Wall Street. But he’s not giving specifics on which, if any, he’d keep.
Instead, Pataki says he’d reduce the tax rate on manufacturing to 12 percent, the lowest in the world. He also says he’d create a fairer tax system for all Americans.
Pataki says it’s essential to end the “corrupt connection” between Washington and Wall Street, and says his record passing tax cuts through a Democratic legislature shows he can get it done.
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4:36 p.m.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham is launching into a spirited defense of his Republican credentials.
Asked if his acknowledgment of climate change and support for a path to citizenship for immigrants in the U.S. illegally disqualified him from the GOP, he responds, “I’m tired of telling people what they want to hear.”
On climate change, he says, “I just want a solution that will be good for the economy, that doesn’t destroy it.”
On immigration, he says, “We’re not going to deport 11 million people.”
He says it’s time for Republicans to embrace reality because that’s how they will win and fix problems.
Taking on insurgent Democratic candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, Graham says he “went to the Soviet Union for his honeymoon, and I don’t think he ever came back.”
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4:34 p.m.
The first attack on Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton in the early Republican presidential candidate debate comes from former New York Gov. George Pataki.
He says the former secretary of state should be disqualified from being president because she maintained an email server at her home and “We have no doubt that was hacked.”
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham piled on, saying President Barack Obama’s foreign policy needs to be completely replaced and Clinton should be the last person to do that.
Graham says if he’s president “the party’s over” for the world’s dictators.
He says, “Make me commander-in-chief and this crap stops.”
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4:30 p.m.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal promises to do for the United States what he’s done for his state: cut spending and taxes.
Jindal is one of four longshot presidential contenders speaking at the GOP presidential debate. Even Republicans in his state have criticized him for cutting spending too much and refusing to raise any taxes or fees to close deficits. The Republican seeking to replace Jindal as governor, Sen. David Vitter, has pointedly said his tax policy will not be like Jindal’s.
Jindal stands by his record, saying he’s proud he cut taxes in Louisiana and will cut them more in Washington.
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4:24 p.m.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal says the budget deal making its way through Congress is “a very bad deal.”
Jindal was the first candidate to rail against the bipartisan deal at the GOP undercard debate — just hours after it passed the Republican-led House.
Asked if he’d rather see the government shut down, Jindal says that’s a “false choice.” He says the deal includes the promise of budget cuts down the road, but “tomorrow never seems to happen.”
New York Gov. George Pataki and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham say they would back the deal.
Graham says he’s focused solely on military spending, asking, “Will it restore our ability to defend this nation?”
The bipartisan deal calls for approximately $112 billion in additional spending over two years, with about $80 billion offset by spending cuts elsewhere in the budget.
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4:07 p.m.
The first question of the undercard debate went to Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who was asked why his experience in the government is more valuable than that of outsiders who are leading the nomination fight.
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2 p.m.
Donald Trump is complaining about the fairness of Wednesday night’s debate before it even begins.
Trump said on Twitter Wednesday morning that he’s “looking forward to what I am sure will be a very unfair debate!”
He’s also accusing CNBC, the network hosting the debate, of reporting on “fictitious” poll numbers — that don’t happen to favor him.
A handful of opinion surveys in early-voting Iowa and one national poll now show Trump in second place behind retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.
Trump has complained repeatedly about the two previous debates, taking issue with the moderators’ questioning and how long they stretched.
He and Carson wrote a joint letter to CNBC threatening to boycott the debate unless the network limited it to two hours and allowed candidates to make opening and closing statements. The network agreed to the demands.
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Source: businessinsider.com
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