Less GOP debate seen by 12.5 million people
Despite the Trump event’s lousy viewership, his ratings prophecy was at least partially correct: The Thursday night debate was the second-lowest rated this season.
Donald Trump demands attention at the debate stage.
“Asked about the ‘elephant not in the room” by Fox News moderators, two rivals -Texas Senator Ted Cruz and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush – poked fun at the the tycoon. I kind of miss him.
Citing early data from measurement company Nielsen, CNN said the Fox News debate in Iowa on Thursday had a household rating of 8.4, beating only an earlier debate on the less-prominent Fox Business Network.
Trump refused to appear onstage because of his ongoing feud with Fox News and female journalist Megan Kelly. Apparently, not so much.
The Republican frontrunner ditched a live Fox News battle with other leading candidates after a row with the TV station.
Fox said its chairman, Roger Ailes, “acknowledged (Trump’s) concerns” in three phone conversations with the candidate Thursday, but wouldn’t agree to Trump’s conditions for coming to the debate.
Carly Fiorina, also in the undercard debate, said what surprised her the most about running for president was “the chasm, the yawning chasm, between what the national media talks about and what the people of Iowa and the people of this great nation talk about”.
“I said I’m not going to do the debate out of respect for myself”, he said to cheers from the overflow crowd, adding: “But I love Iowa”.
Mr Cruz accused Mr Rubio of making a “politically advantageous” decision to support a 2013 Senate bill which included a pathway to citizenship, while the Florida senator claimed his rival was “willing to say or do anything to get votes”.
During Thursday’s debate, Trump held an event in Des Moines aimed at raising funds for veterans.
Local Republicans who attended a debate watch party at the Cinema Grill in New Hope said they actually welcomed an opportunity to see the other candidates spar about issues.
Introducing himself, he said: “I’m a maniac and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat and ugly”. “I did the right thing, and I know I did the right thing because we were raising money for veterans”.
‘He was a little teddy bear to me. I don’t think he’s going to gain any supporters because of this.