Left to right: GOP presidential candidates Dr. Ben Carson, Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush
It’s a big night tonight in the race for the Republican Party nomination, as the two top GOP heavy weights – billionaire business tycoon Donald Trump and famed neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson – are now squaring off to show America which man is more qualified to lead the nation.
The third Republican presidential debate began at 8 p.m. EST and is being hosted by CNBC at the Coors Events Center in Boulder, Colorado. The event is being broadcast live to cable subscribers. CNBC allows subscribers to watch online.
The following 10 candidates took the stage: Trump, Carson, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.
Few of the candidates have more on the line Wednesday evening than Bush, who was once widely considered a promising contender due to his fundraising potential, family name and support from the GOP establishment.
Now Bush, perhaps distressed by Trump’s observation that he’s a “low-energy candidate,” his weak fundraising and his sinking position in the polls, is slashing campaign spending and staff salaries.
Bush told a South Carolina audience Sunday: “I’ve got a lot of really cool things I could do other than sit around, being miserable, listening to people demonize me and feeling compelled to demonize them. That is a joke. Elect Trump if you want that.”
Wednesday’s debate offers Bush a much-needed opportunity to deliver a memorable performance and break out of his slump.
The main debate, titled “Your Money, Your Vote,” is being moderated by CNBC’s Carl Quintanilla, co-anchor of “Squawk on the Street” and “Squawk Alley”; Becky Quick, co-anchor of “Squawk Box”; and Chief Washington Correspondent John Harwood. Republican contenders are debating issues such as job growth, taxes, technology, retirement and health of the U.S. economy.
Earlier in the day Wednesday, Harwood declared that Obama’s economy is “the strongest economy in the world.”
One key issue could divide the GOP candidates: the debt limit. The debate takes place less than two days before the House is set to vote on a two-year budget deal negotiated by outgoing House Speaker John Boehner and President Obama that authorizes $1.5 trillion to be added to the nation’s debt and a $40 billion increase in spending. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has promised to filibuster the deal.
What do YOU think? Who won Wednesday’s Republican prime-time debate? Sound off in today’s WND poll!
Carson and Trump: Too close to call
Notably, both leading GOP candidates are political outsiders and masters of their trades. Trump, a billionaire real-estate developer and reality TV star, studied economics at the University of Pennsylvania. Carson, an outspoken critic of Obamacare and the first surgeon to successfully separate twins who were joined at the head, spent nearly three decades as director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins.
Carson now has a narrow lead over Trump, according to a New York Times/CBS News survey released Tuesday. He also has the highest favorability rating of any of the Republican candidates, according to Gallup.
In the NYT/CBS poll, 26 percent of Republican primary voters preferred Carson, while 22 percent favored Trump. Since early October, Carson has gained five points, and Trump lost five.
The two contenders are well ahead of the rest of the GOP pack. Sen. Marco Rubio garnered 8 percent. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina each received the support of 7 percent of respondents. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Gov. John Kasich of Ohio each came in at 4 percent.
However, not all polls have Carson on top.
A One America News Network poll shows Trump 14 points ahead of Carson, with 35.6 percent support. Four polls conducted in mid-October by CNN/ORC International, Monmouth, NBC/Wall Street Journal, and ABC/Washington Post all had Trump leading Carson by at least 10 points.
Trump called the latest polls “fictitious” and told Politico before the event: “I don’t expect the debate to be fair.”
For the other 12 GOP contenders, 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 Trump and Carson.
CNBC ‘kiddie table’ debate
CNBC also hosted an undercard debate earlier Wednesday that featured the following GOP candidates who met a minimum threshold of 1 percent in the polls: former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former New York Gov. George Pataki and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.
In that debate, Graham – who appeared to speak longer than anyone else on the stage – warned of what he believes to be the threat of climate change: “I’ve talked to the climatologists … we’re heating up the planet.”
Pataki agreed that climate change is real, and he blasted Americans for “questioning science.” He argued that CO2 does make the earth warmer, and “I want Republicans to embrace innovation and technology,” he said. He suggested credits for companies that pursued technologies to stop climate change.
Graham also said, as president, he would increase legal immigration, “because we’re going to have a shortage of workers over time.” He said America can’t deport 11 million immigrants, and his administration would focus on deporting lawbreakers.
Graham argued that the American workforce needs to be expanded to pay for Social Security. He said employers are having difficulty finding American workers to do jobs others will do.
Graham also declared, “I’m trying to win an election. I’m tired of losing!” Of the Democrats, he said: “If we don’t beat these people, who the hell are we going to beat?”
Santorum argued that America has brought in too many immigrants – legal and illegal – in recent years.
“We’re bringing in people to compete against low-wage workers,” he said, adding that the Obama administration’s immigration policies are “not solving problems for American workers.” “We have to make sure that we are not flooding this country with competition with low-wage workers,” Santorum said.
Jindal warned, “We’re on the path toward socialism.” He suggested repealing Obamacare and implementation of a flat tax. He also said Americans are frustrated “because nothing’s changing in D.C.”
Asked what he would do to ease income inequality, Santorum said, “I believe we need to reduce the government, but we also need to reduce our deficit.”
Other topics included beer sales, cell phone apps and whether the day after the Super Bowl should be declared a national holiday.
Graham quipped, “I think a national holiday will be the day Barack Obama, commander in chief, doesn’t have that job.”
Economic issues and federal spending
The election issue most important to voters this election – by far, according to numerous surveys spanning the past year – is the economy and jobs.
A full 54 percent of Americans believe the U.S. economy is poor, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll released Wednesday. Only 45 percent said it is good.
According to the same poll, only 36 percent of respondents said America is headed in the right direction. Sixty-three percent said the nation is headed in the wrong direction.
The sluggish, some say non-existent, recovery is an area where all the candidates may attack President Obama.
Millions of Americans still can’t find full-time jobs, and their paychecks are barely keeping up with inflation. And in October, Americans became even more apprehensive about the job market.
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index dropped to 97.6 this month, down from 102.6 in September, the Associated Press reported.
And according to a Wall Street Journal report this week, “Quarterly profits and revenue at big American companies are poised to decline for the first time since the recession, as some industrial firms warn of a pullback in spending.”
The downturn in production, sales and employment is hitting railroads, manufacturers and energy producers.
“The industrial environment’s in a recession. I don’t care what anybody says,” Daniel Florness, chief financial officer of Fastenal Co., told investors and analysts in October, according to the Wall Street Journal. Florness said one-third of his top customers for factory and construction supplies have slashed their spending by more than 10 percent, and one-fifth of them have cut spending by 25 percent.
According to the report, the aerospace and technology sectors are also experiencing weak growth. Meanwhile, companies such as Twitter Inc., Biogen Inc., Wal-mart Stores Inc. and Monsanto Co. have recently announced job cuts.
On the issue of taxes, three GOP candidates, Carson, Paul and Cruz have proposed a flat tax. Bush, Rubio, Christie, Trump and Kasich have said they will reduce income tax rates, itemized deductions, the corporate tax rate and the number of tax brackets to just three or four. Fiorina has argued that the tax code must be reduced to three pages.
Most of the candidates also support life-long Health Savings Accounts and increasing the retirement age for Social Security.
from PropagandaGuard https://propagandaguard.wordpress.com/2015/10/29/its-on-trump-vs-carson-in-gop-showdown/
from WordPress https://toddmsiebert.wordpress.com/2015/10/28/its-on-trump-vs-carson-in-gop-showdown/
No comments:
Post a Comment