Top 10 GOP presidential candidates to debate in Cleveland
By Garth Kant and Chelsea Schilling
WASHINGTON – Analysts have said Thursday night’s Republican presidential primary debate may be the biggest and most unusual in American history because the field is so large, the stakes are so high, and because the clear front-runner, for the first time in modern history, is a non-politician.
And, with as many as 15 million viewers expected to tune in, the Washington Post reports the debate could become “the most watched program in cable television history.”
The big question about Donald Trump before the debate is whether he will play it safe now that he has a double-digit lead in the polls or keep shooting from the hip and making the kind of bold statements that got him that commanding lead in the first place.
GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump
For the other nine on the stage the question is whether any of them can break out of the pack by generating a memorable moment that will leave a lasting and positive impression with voters, despite the long shadow cast by the huge personality and popularity of Trump.
The debate will be broadcast on Fox, which set the rules for the debate and limited the participants to the top 10 in an average of five national polls as of Tuesday.
Making the cut were businessman Donald Trump (23.4 percent), former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (12.0 percent), Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (10.2 percent), former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (6.6 percent), retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson (5.8 percent), Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (5.4 percent), Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (5.4 percent), Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (4.8 percent), New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (3.4 percent) and Ohio Gov. John Kasich (3.2 percent).
The debate will tip off at Quicken Loans arena in Cleveland at 9:00 ET.
A second debate for those who did not make the main event will begin at 5:00 ET. Participants will be former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (1.8 percent), former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (1.4 percent), Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (1.4 percent), former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina (1.3 percent), South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham (0.7 percent), former New York Gov. George Pataki (0.6 percent), and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore (0.2 percent).
Here’s a look at the top issues most likely to be discussed.
Illegal immigration
Trump is likely to be challenged on the issue in which he made his mark and shot to the top of the pack.
The businessman built his substantial lead by doing just the opposite of the wisdom dictated by the GOP elite.
It has been an article of faith among party bigwigs that Republicans must support some form of “comprehensive immigration reform,” including amnesty for those who entered the country illegally, in order to woo enough of the much-prized Hispanic vote to win the White House in 2016.
Instead, Trump loudly called illegal amnesty a blight upon the nation that was importing criminals and rapists, and quickly shot up the polls from far behind to far on top.
The quote that propelled him to the top while drawing loud condemnation from both Democrats and many of his fellow Republican contenders:
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
Central American migrants ride the trains through Mexico to the United States .
His call for a wall on the southern border strongly resonated with conservatives, many of whom felt a candidate was finally articulating their views.
However, Trump’s stance on amnesty is not quite so crystal clear and that is an area where he may be challenged to spell out the details of his views.
He told Fox’s Sean Hannity last week that his plan was to deport those in the country illegally, but perhaps only temporarily, for many, if not most, of them.
Trump said he would set up an “expedited” process to allow “the good ones” to quickly return and apply for residence status. Whether that is just amnesty by another name, and nothing more than a quick U-turn at the border, is something he may be pressed to flesh out in greater detail.
When asked what he would do with the 11-to-30 million illegal immigrants already in the country, Trump told Hannity:
“I’d get them out. And if they were really outstanding — because some of these people have been here for a long period of time. I’d let them back legally, they have to come through a legal system, and I’d make that system much faster, much greater. I want people to come into the country. I love the fact that people come into the country. They have to come in legally.
“[T]he bad ones, they’re gone. They never come back. They’ll never get back into this country. But, the good ones, of which there are many, I want to expedite it so they can come back in legally,” he added.
Whether those people would be allowed back in the country before those who have been waiting in line for years to enter the country legally is not something he spelled out.
As the GOP establishment’s preferred candidate, Jeb Bush strongly favors amnesty, so it may be interesting to see if Trump’s soaring popularity causes the former front-runner to modify his views.
Rubio was one of the sponsors of the doomed comprehensive immigration reform bill in the Senate and has claimed he has learned his lesson that border security must come before any talk of a path to citizenship or amnesty.
Economy and Jobs
The election issue most important to voters – by far, according to numerous surveys – is the economy and jobs.
According to a July 23-28 Quinnipiac University poll, economy and jobs ranked as the top issue this election at 37 percent, followed by health care (13 percent), terrorism (12 percent), foreign policy (9 percent), immigration (9 percent), climate change (6 percent), federal deficit (6 percent) and taxes (3 percent).
The sluggish, some say non-existent, recovery is an area where all the candidates will likely attack President Obama.
Millions of Americans still can’t find full-time jobs, and their paychecks are barely keeping up with inflation. Private job growth plunged in July, signaling slowing momentum in the U.S. economy. Employers hired 185,000 workers last month, significantly below the expected increase of 215,000 jobs.
And news came last week that the U.S. economy grew at a lackluster 2.3 rate in the second quarter.
GOP candidates are likely to stick to some form of the Reagan formula for prosperity of lower taxes, reduced regulations, less debt and a strong dollar.
Unemployed workers look for jobs
Trump, Bush and Christie all have vowed to double economic growth.
Trump, a billionaire businessman who has said he wants to be the “jobs president,” has promised to “make America great again.” He pledged to bring U.S. jobs back “from China, from Mexico, from Japan, from so many places.” When he announced his run, Trump said he’d impose a 35 percent tax on Ford vehicles made in Mexico and imported into the U.S.
Trump also opposes raising the minimum wage from the current $7.25 an hour, as he believes doing so would make it more difficult to keep American jobs from going overseas.
He has proposed the following five-part tax plan to reform the income tax code:
- Americans earning $30,000 pay 1 percent
- Americans earning $30,000 to $100,000 pay 5 percent
- Americans earning $100,000 to $1 million pay 10 percent
- Americans earning $1 million or above pay 15 percent
- Trump has recently taken to Facebook, challenging his 16 fellow Republican candidates to share their job and business plans.
Many other GOP candidates favor a flat tax or a tax on purchases instead of income.
Bush and Christie have said they’ll grow the economy by 4 percent a year – a rate not seen in the U.S. since 2000, just before the dot-com bubble burst and the U.S. plunged into recession.
In July, Bush said America must become more productive to reach that goal, so “people need to work longer hours.”
Bush later clarified that he was referring to Americans who don’t work full time.
“High sustained growth means people work 40 hours rather than 30 hours and that by our success they have disposable income for their families to decide how they want to spend it rather than standing in line and being dependent on government,” he said.
Christie presented a five-point plan to reach his 4 percent goal: lower taxes, cut regulation, revamp energy, make the research and development tax credit permanent and abolish payroll taxes for Americans under 25 and over 62.
Iran
Candidates are likely to unanimously condemn Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran.
After attending a briefing on the deal Wednesday, Cruz said, “[H]earing the specific details, this deal is not materially different than simply calling the Iranian supreme leader, asking if they’re developing nuclear weapons, and taking his word for it when he says ‘no’”
Of particular concern will be side deals that have been made with Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency that will not be made public and lawmakers will not be allowed to see.
The most important of those side deals spells out the inspection terms, perhaps the most crucial aspect of the entire deal. Republican, and some Democratic, lawmakers have been particularly scornful over the secrecy of such a critical provision.
Candidates may be pressed to describe what they would do about the deal if they became president.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini
President Obama made another impassioned push for Congress to support the Iran nuclear deal Wednesday, saying it’s the toughest possible agreement and the alternative is war, an assumption that even some loyal Democrats find infuriating.
During an hour-long speech at American University in Washington, Obama insisted the deal would mean Iran would never get a nuclear weapon, that inspections are air-tight and that opposition is largely a product of “kneejerk partisanship,” despite the misgivings of many Democrats.
Obama also noted that the most radical political elements in Iran also oppose the deal, linking them to congressional critics.
“They’re making common cause with the Republican caucus,” Obama said, drawing scorn for the comparison from even such liberals as Prof. Alan Dershowitz.
Planned Parenthood
A series of five undercover videos, with nine more promised to come, that apparently show the nation’s biggest abortion provider selling baby body parts for profit, a felony, have led to calls for the defunding of Planned Parenthood, which received $528 million from taxpayers last year.
A bill to defund the agency cannot be passed in the Senate because there are not enough Republicans to overcome the 60-vote threshold to avoid a filibuster by Democrats.
Candidates may be asked, or volunteer, whether they would be willing to risk a government shutdown over defunding Planned Parenthood if an amendment to do that is attached to the spending bill that must be passed before October to keep the federal government running.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked an amendment by Cruz to defund Planned Parenthood last week, saying it wasn’t sufficiently related to the highway bill, yet allowed a non-related amendment to reauthorize funding for the Export-Import Bank, which conservatives revile as corporate welfare and a waste of taxpayer dollars.
That move so infuriated conservatives, and Cruz in particular, he was moved to break protocol and call McConnell a liar on the Senate floor.
McConnell claimed a stand-alone bill to defund Planned Parenhodd would stand a greater chance of passage, but it was promptly, and predictably, shot down by Senate Democrats.
Trump, who called the sale of baby parts “disgraceful,” has said Republicans should shut down the federal government rather than continue sending taxpayer funds to Planned Parenthood.
Cruz and his fellow conservatives in Congress are most likely to attempt to do just that. McConnell has vowed to avoid any government shutdown on his watch.
As WND reported, Democratic White House hopeful Hillary Clinton has come out swinging against Republican rivals Bush and Walker for their opposition to Planned Parenthood, saying defunding the organization is tantamount to an attack on women.
Obamacare
Bush is the one major Republican candidate who has not promised to repeal and replace the president’s signature achievement, his healthcare law.
Bush has said only that he will “make fixing our broken healthcare system one of my top priorities,” so he may be grilled about that.
The New York Times reported last year that Bush netted more than $2 million as a board member with Tenet Health Care, a major hospital owner which, the paper said, “supported President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, aggressively encouraged Americans to sign up for insurance under the program and trumpeted the legislation as a boon to the company’s finances.”
Other candidates, committed to repeal and replace, may be pressed to spell out what kind of replacement plans they would favor.
Trump has called Obamacare a disaster, warning that its worst effects will kick in after 2016.
Cruz led a government shutdown over an attempt to defund Obamacare in 2013.
As WND reported, while most 2016 Republican presidential contenders are on record opposing Obamacare and some have offered market-based alternative proposals, Trump has been on record for four years with a plan to on how to begin to rebuild the nation’s medical and insurance systems after repealing the healthcare law.
The details, largely ignored by the news media, were contained in his 2011 book, “Time to Get Tough: Making America #1 Again.”
Speaking Monday on “Fox and Friends,” Trump revealed that if elected, the first items on his agenda would be to get rid of Obamacare, saying, “I would absolutely repeal and replace Obamacare.”
President Barack Obama
Working to repeal Obamacare was a central campaign pledge during the 2014 midterm elections when Republicans captured both chambers of Congress. In the run up to the polls, GOP politicians ran a reported 35,000 television ads promising to scrap the law.
Yet no concrete steps were taken to block Obamacare. Instead, McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, eventually worked with the Democrats to fund the healthcare law.
Rubio has pushed a “consumer-centered plan.”
Walker has called upon Republicans in Congress to “redouble their efforts to repeal and replace this destructive and costly law.”
Cruz tweeted “I remain fully committed to the repeal of Obamacare – every single word of it.”
Paul has repeatedly called for the defunding of Obamacare.
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