Stephen Colbert throws his own debate with dueling Donald Trumps

During that interview, Trump told Kelly that she was doing a “great job” moderating the GOP debates. The comedic game of the segment hedged on Colbert revealing polar opposite claims made by Trump over the years. With Trump’s absence from the main debate, the spotlight fell on Senator Ted Cruz.

The Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics poll also showed Trump leading by a much bigger margin among first-time caucus-goers with 35 percent to Cruz’s 19 percent.

And Colbert did not fail to question both sides of Trump about his thoughts on Fox News host Megyn Kelly.

But before leaving he did his most important task – urging his supporters to get out and vote. “I have a very good relationship with Fox, but when somebody doesn’t treat you properly, you’ve got to be tough”, he said at a rally in New Hampshire.

The debates have been such a strong draw that even though Thursday’s event had roughly half the viewership of Fox’s first debate, seen by 24 million people in August, it still ranked as the network’s second most-watched event ever.

Media analysts have said that Trump did not attend the debate due to past confrontations with Megyn Kelly. “And that goes for the country”.

He added that he believes Trump is the one candidate who can balance the budget and reduce national debt.

“Ted Cruz is an anchor baby in Canada”, Trump said Friday at his event in Nashua, New Hampshire.

One factor that confounds an easy “viewers didn’t care about Trump” conclusion: By dramatically pulling out, Trump nearly certainly increased viewer awareness of the debate running up to last night.

Unlike Cruz, who is focused on turning out low-propensity GOP voters, Rubio speaks openly about the need to win over additional voters to the GOP cause-a central component of his stump speech in the final days of campaigning. “This election is about people who are really hurting and we need a leader that will fix things and that has a proven record to do it”, said Jeb Bush, (R) presidential candidate.

“A vote for Donald Trump is a vote for Obamacare”, Cruz said.