What to expect from the candidates in tonight’s GOP debate

Everything’s bigger in Texas – and that’s true of the stakes at CNN’s Republican debate in Houston Thursday night, just days before Super Tuesday. Here’s what to expect from each of them.

At a CNN-hosted debate at the University of Houston, Trump’s rivals will have one of their last best chances to try to derail the blunt-spoken political outsider before Super Tuesday.

The New York billionaire predicted that the relative civility between Marco Rubio and himself would fall away in the frantic grasp for hundreds of convention delegates in the 11 states that hold Republican primaries Tuesday.

But Rubio has gained ground against Cruz, as it appears that Texas Senator is losing traction in the state as Trump continues to rise.

But Rubio’s campaign advisers believe the only way to lessen Trump’s lead is to eliminate the remaining candidates and create a two-man race between Trump and Rubio. “Cruz and Rubio need to tag-team to cause Trump problems”. Lindsey Graham of SC, showed no reluctance Thursday to assail Trump head-on, calling him “a nut job” who’s likely to win the Republican nomination but lose the general election.

One of the early casualties of the Republican presidential race, Sen.

Rubio on Trump – On Wednesday, Rubio said Trump “like parts of Obamacare”, and that he should reveal specifics of what he intends to do in office because voters, “deserve to know exactly what the next commander-in-chief is going to do”. He is unlikely to win any of the Super Tuesday or March 8th states and will be lucky to finish second in anything but a handful of them. Jeb Bush, who suspended his campaign on February 20, 2016, received 7 percent in the first poll, and was not included in the second poll.

Rubio heads into next week with his sights set on the establishment mantle.

It’s the last meeting between the contenders, who now are down to Donald Trump, Sen.

One thing Rubio doesn’t seem keen to do is go on the attack against Trump, even as the GOP front-runner racks up more and more delegates.

Republican Party leaders and major donors are starting to get annoyed at John Kasich.

“These guys have to figure out how to turn their fire on Trump”, said Ford O’Connell, a Republican strategist in Washington.

On the debate stage Thursday night, Kasich will be under more pressure than ever to prove why he’s still here. Running on a more moderate – and positive – message, the governor is eying possible victories in Southern and Midwestern states, including Ohio. Carson remains in the contest and, although he has been reluctant to attack, he also has been angry with Cruz.

The conservative firebrand senator came in first-place in the Iowa caucuses but has not been able to notch another win since. “Two questions already – this is great”.