US Election 2016: Cruz and Rubio attack Trump in debate

Republican presidential hopefuls Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio have unleashed a barrage of attacks on front-runner Donald Trump in the last debate before next week’s pivotal primaries. But like previous occasions, the debate quickly disintegrated into long periods of shouting and personal insults.

For more than two hours, Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz took turns throwing hay-makers at the New Yorker. They attacked him on his business record; they mentioned hypocrisy; they questioned his conservative credentials; and they criticized the lack of detail in his policies and his reliance on bluster. Both Mr Cruz and Mr Rubio drew blood with their attacks, but Mr Trump will likely emerge unbowed.

Mr Trump is currently leading in 10 out of 11 states holding contests on Super Tuesday. Mr Trump has been extremely popular despite his controversial comments about deporting millions of undocumented workers and banning Muslims from traveling to the US. At long last the Republican candidates have come to the realization that Donald Trump can actually win this race, but it may be too late.

Next Tuesday, known as Super Tuesday, millions of voters in 11 states will cast ballots. A quarter of the total numbers of delegates needed to secure the Republican nomination will be up for grabs. He has 82 Republican party delegates, Mr Cruz has 17 and Mr Rubio has 16. To become the Republican party’s nominee, a candidate has to have 1,237 total state delegates.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will compete for 1,004 delegates on Super Tuesday. So far, Mrs Clinton has 505 delegates and Mr Sanders has 71.

Each party formally announces their presidential candidate at conventions in July, four months before the presidential election.

The challenge for the men who would unseat the leader, however, is that the best time to bludgeon a candidate is before it’s clear circumstances are forcing you to act. In a campaign where authenticity is worshiped above all, Thursday’s fireworks could smack of the kind political expediency many associate with traditional politicians.

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