Donald Trump was a no-show at the final Republican debate

The debate was the type of event Republicans would routinely have without the flamboyant Trump on stage, and it lacked the electricity that he brings to the party’s search for a nominee for the Nov 8 election.

Mr. Trump skipped the debate over disagreements with Fox News that hosted it, particularly over one of the moderators, Megyn Kelly. Those other cable news networks, neither of which blanketed the time period with the event, averaged a respective 1.76 million viewers (CNN) and 1.02 million viewers (MSNBC) between 9 and 11 p.m. ET. He holds large rallies rather than initimate town halls where voters can ask pointed questions and grab a photograph or handshake. Campaigns worked aggressively to set those expectations in their favor (meaning, lower them) for Iowa, next-up New Hampshire and beyond.

“If you guys ask one more mean question, I may have to leave the stage”, Cruz said. Contrary to the implication from some of the most vocal Trump critics in both parties, Trump supporters are not mostly bigots or morons. The Iowa Poll, published by The Des Moines Register and Bloomberg, also found Clinton with 45 percent support to Sanders’ 42 percent in the Democratic race. Mr. Trump turned his ire on Ms. Kelly after the debate, saying that “she had blood coming out of her eyes… or wherever”. And it did so because the front-runner in the 2016 nomination fight, Donald J. Trump, did not attend.

Cruz again followed Trump’s lead on the matter of the war against the so-called Islamic State.

Bush said he had laid out his own immigration plan for legal status, not citizenship, in his book. He has complained that Kelly insulted him at a debate in August and that a statement from the network earlier this week had belittled him. That’s higher than the returns for the last Republican debate, January 14 on sister net Fox Business Network, and marks the No. 2 telecast in FNC history. Not so former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore. “He was a little teddy bear to me”, Bush said. A proponent of a more isolationist foreign policy, Paul also raised concerns about the US getting involved militarily in Syria, where the Islamic State group has a stronghold. “And they’ve wanted me there”, he said at the beginning of the fundraiser for veterans. “When you’re treated badly, you have to stick up for your rights – whether we like it or not”.

Trump dominated social media during the debate, leading the entire Republican pack in Twitter mentions throughout the first half of the debate, according to data from social media analytics firm Zoomph.

“Mr Bush, whose campaign has markedly failed to ignite despite him being an early favourite, also slapped at his fellow Republican candidates, who he said were “in the witness protection programme” while he alone:went after [Trump] on behalf of what the Republican cause should be – conservative principles, believing in limited government, believing in accountability”.

This was the last GOP debate before the Iowa caucus Monday, and candidates tried to make the most of one of their last chances to impress voters there.