After strong debate, Christie, Bush resume attack on Rubio

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie at a NH town hall. The debate at St. Anselm College was the last face-off of the candidates before the vote.

Rubio is trying to fend off challenges from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Ohio Governor John Kasich and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

Overall, 33% of likely Republican primary voters say they back Trump, giving him a 17-point edge.

Unlike previous Republican debates, Trump was not the center of attention on social media on Saturday.

“Let me talk. Quiet”, replied Mr Trump to boos in the audience. “You stayed there for 36 hours and then he left and came back”, Mr Rubio said.

Polls show Trump leading in New Hampshire, the second of the state-by-state nominating contests to select candidates in the November 8 election, with Rubio coming fast after a surprisingly strong third-place finish on Monday in Iowa, behind U.S. Senator Ted Cruz and Trump. His candidacy has alarmed the Republican establishment and has been marked by rows, including over his calls for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States. His problem is it may be too late.

ThinkProgress found at least four examples of Rubio saying virtually the exact same thing in just three Republican presidential debates. “Barack Obama doesn’t know what he’s doing”, Rubio said.

Rubio’s defense was that his and Obama’s world views are different, not that Obama has simply led the country down the path it is on because of inexperience. “This notion that Barack Obama doesn’t know what he’s doing is just not true”.

Opponents in both parties circulated video clips of Rubio repeating his claims about Obama during the debate, enabling Christie and others to argue that he relies on canned, rehearsed sound-bites and speeches.

“There it is. There it is”. There it is. The memorized 25-second speech.

Noting that Kasich had a Republican legislature, where he has Democratic majorities, Christie added that Kasich had also spent far more time in Washington as a congressman than as a governor, calling Kasich “a creature of that culture” in Washington. Eminent domain is a frequent target of criticism from conservative and anti-government groups. “But what Donald Trump did was use eminent domain to try to take the property of an elderly woman on the strip in Atlantic City”. That is not public objective.

“It’s a sign of weakness when you make fun of the disabled”, Bush said. “And I chose to engage last night”, Christie said to applause from the roughly 200 people who packed the school cafeteria.

“This is the greatest country in the history of mankind because of a set of principles”.

When the crowd booed, Mr Trump said: “That’s all his donors and special interests out there”.

“I saw an opportunity to do the best we could” in a Senate that at the time was controlled by Democrats, he said. “You want somebody who is a pure executive who has the fight”, he said.

Trump captured the biggest share of the conversation on Twitter during the debate, winning 33 percent of the conversation followed by Rubio at 20 percent and Cruz at 15 percent.