IOWA (AP) — Jeb Bush is earnestly making the case for support in Iowa, where he has all but abandoned campaigning.
He is battling a cold after months of campaigning as he asks the debate audience for their support, calling himself “a conservative leader” with “plans to fix the mess in Washington, D.C.”
Bush is asking for support in the Feb. 1 caucuses but is pinning his campaign’s survival on a stronger finish in the New Hampshire primary eight days later.
Still, Bush says, “I will make you proud as our party’s nominee.”
Marco Rubio says he will “unite this party and defeat Hillary Clinton” and makes a reference to the Bible in his closing statement.
He says the Bible “commands us to let our light shine on the world” and says the U.S. has been shining its light on the world for more than 200 years.
He says, however, that light is “dimming after seven years of Barack Obama.”
He adds, if elected, “America’s light will shine again.” Reciting his campaign theme, he says “the 21st century will be a new American century.”
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz says the central question of the Iowa caucuses is whom voters trust.
He says in his closing statement that voters need to decide whom they trust to kill terrorists, defend the Constitution, repeal President Obama’s health care law, secure the borders and “defend life.”
Cruz is asking voters to examine the records of the candidates and “pray on it.”
Gov. Chris Christie is reflecting on the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Christie says when the World Trade Center towers collapsed, his wife was only a couple blocks away. It was hours before he heard from her and he was forced to contemplate whether she had died and he was a single parent.
With that in mind, Christie said he has focused on keeping the United States safe, noting “terrorism in this country scares everyone.”
Given his experience as a prosecutor and governor, Christie says no president will keep the country safer than he will.
An Afghanistan war veteran who lost his leg to sniper fire was among several invited guests who joined Donald Trump on stage at a rally for veterans.
Staff Sgt. John Wayne Walding spoke powerfully about his experiences in the military and about supporting veterans when they come home. Walding and other veterans later presented Trump with a ring representing the number of veterans who commit suicide after returning home.
Trump ended the rally by praising veterans, saying, “You veterans are incredible people, brave beyond comprehension.”
Trump’s team organized the rally after deciding to boycott the final GOP debate before Monday’s Iowa caucuses amid an ongoing feud with host Fox News.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is hounded by questions about his opposition to ethanol mandates at almost every stop he makes in Iowa.
And Thursday’s Republican presidential debate in Des Moines was no different.
Ethanol made from corn is huge business in Iowa, and pro-ethanol forces have been spending millions against Cruz. Longtime Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, a Republican and ethanol supporter, has called for Cruz’s defeat.
With Branstad in the audience, Cruz was asked to defend his call to phase out a mandate that all fuel contain a certain percentage of ethanol.
Cruz says his tax plan would remove all mandates and subsidies, including those for ethanol. He says, “Washington shouldn’t be picking winners and losers.”
But Ben Carson says it would be “unfair to withdraw the rug” and says promises were made to people who are counting on the renewable fuel standard being in place.
Jeb Bush was asked by a YouTube user about how to increase tolerance amid frequent discriminatory comments on social media. He responded by attacking Donald Trump.
Bush noted that given the nation’s concerns about terrorism, Trump proposed banning all Muslims from entering the country. He said “that’s not a sign of strength.”
Bush says the U.S. needs to focus on defeating Islamic State militants, not attacking Muslims who aren’t a threat.
He says Republicans should offer a broader, more unifying message.
Rand Paul is defending Democrat Hillary Clinton from those who would blame her for sticking with her husband former President Bill Clinton because of his infidelity and subsequent impeachment.
He says, “I don’t think she’s responsible for his behavior.”
Paul goes on to shame the former president in unsparing detail. He says if any CEO did what Clinton did “with a 21-year-old intern,” he would be fired and “shunned in their community.”
He says Hillary Clinton “can’t be a champion of women’s rights” with her husband’s legacy hanging around her neck.
Chris Christie doesn’t directly respond when asked if he would send U.S. troops to Libya to take out the Islamic State, turning the tables to trash Democrat Hillary Clinton.
He says Libya is another example why Clinton “cannot be commander-in-chief” because she failed to answer questions posed in a previous Democratic debate about her responsibility for Benghazi.
Republicans have hammered Clinton for her role in dealing with the 2012 attacks on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.
Christie says Clinton “refuses to be held accountable for anything that goes wrong.”
He says the U.S. must work with allies to defeat Islamic State militants in Libya, but does not say whether he would dispatch U.S. troops.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich are tangling over the nuclear deal with Iran.
Rubio says he would cancel the deal on his first day in the Oval Office, if elected.
Kasich is pushing for tougher enforcement of the deal, saying the U.S. needs to work with European allies on it. “If they violate it, we do need to move against them,” he says.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul says he opposes abortion, but whether to ban it should be left up to states, not the federal government.
Paul said during Thursday’s presidential debate that if the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling legalizing abortion were overturned, he thinks states should decide what to do. Paul says the more states that make abortion illegal, the better.
Paul says on his campaign website that giving states the right to ban abortion would “save hundreds of thousands of lives.”
Paul was asked about abortion during a segment of the debate focused on social issues important to many evangelical Christians who vote in the Iowa caucuses.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is dismissing the scandal that rocked his political ambitions after his 2013 re-election.
He says “Bridgegate,” as it became known, will not hurt him because he “knew nothing” of the politically motivated move to slow bridge traffic from New Jersey into New York.
The snarl was a traffic nightmare for thousands and was found to be politically motivated, and carried out by Christie aides.
“I knew nothing,” he says, quickly adding that he fired the people responsible. “And that’s what you expect from a leader.”
He went on to compare his record to Democrat Hillary Clinton, vowing, “She will never get within 10 miles of the White House.”
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush cast himself as the toughest candidate to take on Hillary Clinton, even as he trails in polls.
“I’m running hard and I believe I’ll be the Republican nominee,” he says, arguing that his “record of accomplishment” in his home state would help him win over voters.
His longtime political ally turned rival, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, says he’s also eager to challenge Clinton.
“Hillary doesn’t want to run against me but I can’t wait to run against her,” he says.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio says neither leading Democratic candidate has what it takes to be president.
Rubio said during Thursday’s Republican presidential debate that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders “is a good candidate for president — of Sweden.” Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, is running on a platform of offering a free college tuition and health care for all.
Rubio also says former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is not qualified to be president. Rubio says she should be disqualified because she stored classified information on her private email server and says she lied to families of people who killed in the Benghazi attacks.
Clinton says the information has been retroactively classified. She casts the controversy as a Republican-led political effort to discredit her ahead of the election.
A trio of Republicans are responding to a Mexican immigrant woman who asked how immigrants can feel welcomed given the harsh rhetoric over immigration during the GOP campaign.
Dulce Candy, an Iraq war veteran and entrepreneur who came to this country from Mexico as a child, says “some of the comments in this campaign make us question our place in this country.” She appeared via YouTube.
She specifically asked if the U.S. economy would suffer if immigrant entrepreneurs don’t feel welcomed.
Ben Carson steered away from answering Candy’s question, saying the U.S. needs to worry about terrorists entering the country.
Carson says we need to be “intelligent” on reforming immigration laws and review visa and refugee policies.
Jeb Bush applauded Candy and says she “deserves our respect” and “we should be a welcoming nation.”
Rubio also chimed in, saying “we will always celebrate legal immigrants,” but the legal immigration system is outdated.
Video clips of past statements Ted Cruz has made about immigration led to a heated exchange.
The clips showed Cruz claiming he would support immigration reform legislation if some of his amendments had been approved. But at the debate, Cruz said his intention was to ensure people in the country illegally couldn’t gain legal status.
Rand Paul responded that Cruz claims that only he is “perfect” on immigration issues.
Marco Rubio jumped into the exchange, calling Cruz’s comment about his superiority on immigration “the lie that Ted’s campaign is built upon.”
Given the importance of immigration to Republicans, Rubio said Cruz is trying to “out-Trump Trump” on immigration, referring to Donald Trump, who has called for the removal of all people in the country illegally.
Cruz said Rubio is charming and smooth but that when both men ran for the U.S. Senate, they each promised to fight amnesty. Cruz said only he was true to his word.
The two Florida Republicans are squaring off over immigration policy.
Sen. Marco Rubio says he never supported a pathway to citizenship for people in the country illegally. Former Gov. Jeb Bush says Rubio did.
Rubio was challenged to defend his past statements as a candidate for Senate where he opposed “blanket amnesty,” but then went on to lead a bipartisan Senate group that would have allowed people to seek citizenship after a series of other requirements.
Bush says that once Rubio was in the Senate, he came to Bush to seek his support for legislation that would allow a pathway to citizenship.
“Then he cut and run because it wasn’t popular with conservatives,” Bush added.
Accusations of flip-flopping ensued.
Bush supports a process that would allow people in the U.S. to seek legal status, not citizenship. Rubio says that’s a change from Bush’s 2013 book, “Immigration Wars.”
Rubio says Bush “used to support” a path to citizenship.
Bush responds, “So did you, Marco. You shouldn’t cut and run.”
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is defending his push for a statewide program to cap carbon emissions and curb climate change.
As the speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Rubio oversaw the passage of legislation establishing a cap-and-trade program — a proposal deeply unpopular with the Republican primary base.
Rubio says he was trying to modify the program, which was being pushed by then-Republican Gov. Charlie Crist.
“I have never supported cap-and-trade and I never thought it was good idea,” he says. “I do not believe we have to destroy our economy in order to protect our environment.”
Rubio is promising that should he be elected, “there will never be any cap-and-trade in the United States.”
Ohio Gov. John Kasich says the key to responding to a crisis like the Flint, Michigan, water contamination is to “be on top of it right away.”
Kasich was asked during Thursday’s Republican debate how he would have reacted to lead contamination crisis in Flint differently than Gov. Rick Snyder, who is facing heat for failing to do more.
Kasich says, “Every single engine of government has to move when you see a crisis like that.”
Kasich says during his tenure as governor he’s had to react to emergencies like school shootings and storms and when those occur “you’ve got to go the extra mile.” He says: “People have to be alert. They have to be alert to problems and when you see a problem you must act quickly to get on top of it.”
Jeb Bush talks about self-determination, one-way tickets to Orlando and “structural reforms” when asked if America should bail out Puerto Rico.
The U.S. territory is in crisis over a $72 billion debt its governor says cannot be repaid.
Bush didn’t address the debt crisis directly. Instead, he says Puerto Ricans have a right to self-determination, an issue debated for decades on the island.
He says many Puerto Ricans are fleeing the economic crisis with “one-way tickets to Orlando.”
He says Puerto Rico must deal with its structural problems to solve its economic problems.
Jeb Bush is spinning a question about policing charity organizations for veterans into his plans to police the Department of Veterans Affairs.
He says “the first duty of the next president of the United States is to fix the mess” at the VA.
He says he would make sure to fire those responsible for the VA’s “sheer incompetence.”
Bush says veterans have died for failing to get proper treatment at VA hospitals while only three VA employees have been fired.
Two of Donald Trump’s presidential rivals have taken the stage at a rally Trump is hosting to benefit veterans as he skips the Republican debate
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum attended the rally after participating in the early undercard debate for candidates whose poll numbers were too low to make it on the main stage.
Santorum joked that he didn’t want his picture taken with the Trump campaign sign. He quipped that he’s “supporting another candidate for president,” but said he was happy to come out to support veterans.
Huckabee had earlier stressed his appearance should not be seen as an endorsement of Trump. He told the audience gathered at Drake University that he, Santorum and Trump may be presidential race competitors but said “tonight we are colleagues” in supporting veterans.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich says the United States can’t be the policeman of the world.
Instead, Kasich says in Thursday’s Republican debate that the U.S. must work with other countries in the Arab world and in Europe to confront Islamic State militants. He says the only solution is to build a coalition similar to the one that came together in the first Gulf War. Kasich says destroying the Islamic State will have to involve both an air war and a ground war.
Kasich says the way to bring together a winning coalition is to convince other countries that terrorism poses an “existential threat” to all of them. Kasich says he believes it can be done because he saw former President Ronald Reagan and others do it.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is casting himself as the most experienced at combating domestic terrorism.
He’s saying law enforcement can combat threats at home without racial profiling, by using law enforcement tools.
Christie says, “That’s the difference between someone who knows how to do this and someone who hasn’t done this before.”
