Clinton allies: Cruz ‘more dangerous’ than Trump

Thursday’s debate – in North Charleston, S.C. – is the Republicans’ sixth overall debate, their first one of 2016, and their next-to-last one before the February 1 Iowa caucuses. As college students and the future of this country, the most important thing for us to do this election is vote.

As usual, attention is focused squarely on Donald Trump, who appears to have taken aim at front-runner Ted Cruz. Cruz is also coming into tonight 24 hours after it emerged that he took several loans of hundreds of thousands of dollars from Goldman Sachs to fund his first Senate race, something he had not disclosed before.

The Texas senator is no longer playing Mr. Nice Guy when it comes to his chief competitor. “Dems will sue!” he tweeted on Wednesday.

But some observers have called the attacks a sign of desperation from a flailing campaign – Trump called it “a desperate attempt to stay relevant by attacking me” – and have questioned their effectiveness. And today, for better or worse, Ted Cruz is one of “we the people” as surely as Donald Trump. Trump passionately denied knowing the journalist or mocking his disability, but the reporter in question, The New York Times’ Serge Kovaleski, said Trump knew exactly what he was doing.

“Right now Donald Trump is losing to Hillary Clinton in national polls”, Cruz said. But candidates who have gone down that path have little to show for it, including Jeb Bush, who trails badly, and Rick Perry, who was forced out of the race months ago.

And with Christie emerging as a potential threat in New Hampshire, Rubio has been forced to fend off a series of attacks from the New Jersey governor questioning his preparedness to serve as president. Tea party flame-thrower Ted Cruz is showing voters his softer side during his presidential campaign in Iowa, whether through his joke-laced stump speech or one-on-one interactions.

A Monmouth University poll released Monday in New Hampshire has Trump leading at 32%, followed by Cruz and Kasich at 14%, Rubio with 12%, Christie at 8% and Bush.

Heading into the debate, RealClearPolitics shows Trump still enjoying a comfortable lead with a 35-percent average in three polls. Paul may not be at the undercard, however, as he is actively trying to get back to the main debate and previously said that he would not be on the early stage.

The stage this time will be notably less crowded. Instead, the duo were invited to participate in a 6 p.m. undercard debate with former Pennsylvania Sen. Paul is boycotting the event altogether after failing to meet the national and early state polling threshold for entry. It’s not even the most intense. As Rubio, Bush, Christie and Kasich all vie for that spot, party leaders are anxiously looking on, hoping that someone will be able to dampen Trump and Cruz’s momentum. We are a couple weeks out from Iowa, and New Hampshire, then SC. He’ll then be seen as a candidate who can operate with cool while under pressure and build up the public’s perception of him as a man of confidence and direction.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has been among the few establishment Republicans jabbing Trump in recent weeks – a fact his campaign is quick to point out.

Seven volunteers worked the phones at the Iowa headquarters of Senator Marco Rubio of Florida in a Des Moines suburb one night last week. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on the immigration reform bill.

Republicans know they can’t control Rubio but Cruz and Rubio are all they have left since Dr. Ben Carson has fallen out of the popularity seat due to his absurd and ridiculous comments regarding history, religion, and science.