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| Republican debate: Trump, Cruz and Rubio square up – election live | Republican debate: Trump, Cruz and Rubio square up – election live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 1.23am GMT | |
| 01:23 | |
| Early Virgin Islands returns indicate unattached delegates headed for convention | |
| Ben Jacobs | |
| Initial returns from the Republican convention in the Virgin Islands indicate even more uncertainty in the GOP’s presidential primary, writes Guardian politics reporter Ben Jacobs from Washington, DC: | |
| With results in from the island of St. Thomas, initial numbers show a lead for three unpledged delegates as well as two pledged to Ted Cruz and one pledged to Donald Trump. | |
| The limited electorate on the U.S. Virgin Islands, which will select six of the 2473 delegates to July’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland, is composed of residents of the islands of St. Croix and St. Thomas. The results from the more populous St. Croix are not yet in. | |
| However, initial results made available to the Guardian showed that three of the six top vote getters in the Virgin Islands’ caucus are unpledged to any candidate. This means that these delegates are free to support any candidate they choose on the first ballot. In a potential contested convention, this means that these delegates have disproportionate influence as they would not be tied to any candidate on the first ballot. | |
| Further, Rule 40b of the Republican Party currently states that candidates need to win the support of a majority of the delegations in eight different states or territories to have their name placed into nomination at a convention. | |
| Party insiders have long assumed that the rule, implemented solely to block Ron Paul’s name from being placed into nomination in 2012, would be modified before the 2016 convention. However, if that doesn’t happen, unpledged delegates, combined with the territory’s three RNC members, would be able to form a majority of Virgin Islands’ delegation. This means they could potentially serve as one of the eight states needed for a candidate to have their name placed into nomination. | |
| Updated | |
| at 1.25am GMT | |
| 1.15am GMT | |
| 01:15 | |
| Here’s video documenting the other headline violence today at a Trump rally. Last night a white Trump supporter sucker-punched a black protester at a rally in North Carolina. The puncher, John McGraw, said he thought the protester, Rakeem Jones, might have been a member of Isis. | |
| “The next time we see him, we might have to kill him,” McGraw told Inside Edition. “We don’t know who he is. He might be with a terrorist organization.” | |
| “The police jumped on me like I was the one swinging,” Rakeem Jones, the protester, said. “It’s just shocking … I was basically in police custody and got hit.” The alleged puncher, John McGraw, was charged with assault and battery. | |
| Updated | |
| at 1.18am GMT | |
| 1.08am GMT | |
| 01:08 | |
| CNN is advertising the debate as moments away. It’s more like a half hour, at the earliest. | |
| Commenters: What should we talk about meanwhile? The Carson Trump endorsement? Or Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski – who denied today that he had physically aggressed a reporter, and then attempted to assassinate that reporter’s character by calling her an “attention seeker.” | |
| This despite an audio recording, a photo of her bruises and an authoritative witness account. | |
| Here’s an audio recording, first obtained by Politico, of a conversation between the reporter in question, Breitbart’s Michelle Fields, and colleague Ben Terris of the Washington Post, following the incident: | |
| Here’s a picture Fields tweeted of her bruises following a Trump campaign statement that the allegation was “completely false”: | |
| I guess these just magically appeared on me @CLewandowski_ @realDonaldTrump. So weird. pic.twitter.com/oD8c4D7tw3 | |
| And here’s a bit of how Lewandowski himself responded on Twitter: | |
| Michelle Fields is an attention seeker who once claimed Allen West groped her but later went silent. https://t.co/J86Ej42eYx | |
| Updated | |
| at 1.10am GMT | |
| 1.01am GMT | |
| 01:01 | |
| Red indicates counties where Trump was the most-searched candidate on Google in the last week. Both most-famous and most-searched – that’s traction: | |
| A wall display at the Republican debate in Miami reveals the Trump obsessed nation. Room to flee in Alaska though. pic.twitter.com/5SrV65BdsK | |
| 12.55am GMT | |
| 00:55 | |
| Former top Carson operative: 'a lot of Dr. Carson fans will be heartbroken' by endorsement of Trump | |
| Terry Giles, an old Ben Carson friend through the Horatio Alger Association who was instrumental to building Carson’s campaign and fundraising operations before being sidelined last fall in internal campaign disputes, said in a statement mailed to the Guardian that he was “completely surprised and disappointed” at the news that Carson planned endorsement of Trump. | |
| “Let’s hope it is just a bad rumor, otherwise a lot of Dr. Carson fans will be heartbroken,” Giles said. Here’s his full statement: | |
| I am completely surprised and disappointed--if it is true. If so, it sounds like a typical political move where Mr. Trump was the highest bidder. It certainly cannot be because Ben and Donald are in alignment on the issues, politically or spiritually. Let’s hope it is just a bad rumor, otherwise a lot of Dr. Carson fans will be heartbroken.” | |
| With Ben Carson wanting to hit his mother on head with a hammer, stab a friend and Pyramids built for grain storage - don't people get it? | |
| Updated | |
| at 1.02am GMT | |
| 12.15am GMT | 12.15am GMT |
| 00:15 | 00:15 |
| Hello, and welcome … | Hello, and welcome … |
| … to our live-wire coverage of the 12th Republican debate in the 2016 race for the White House. | … to our live-wire coverage of the 12th Republican debate in the 2016 race for the White House. |
| This race feels like it’s about to change, a lot. If Donald Trump dominates voting this coming Tuesday – some 350 delegates are at stake in five big states, including the home states of two Trump rivals – the nomination could effectively be his. | This race feels like it’s about to change, a lot. If Donald Trump dominates voting this coming Tuesday – some 350 delegates are at stake in five big states, including the home states of two Trump rivals – the nomination could effectively be his. |
| The job of the three candidates onstage with Trump tonight – senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio and Ohio governor John Kasich – is to try to make something happen that could dampen Trump’s prospects in Ohio, Florida and elsewhere. | The job of the three candidates onstage with Trump tonight – senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio and Ohio governor John Kasich – is to try to make something happen that could dampen Trump’s prospects in Ohio, Florida and elsewhere. |
| Anyone who doubts on principle that it could happen might talk to Rubio about his collapse in support after New Jersey governor Chris Christie torched him at a New Hampshire debate last month. | Anyone who doubts on principle that it could happen might talk to Rubio about his collapse in support after New Jersey governor Chris Christie torched him at a New Hampshire debate last month. |
| On the other hand, Trump’s rivals have been trying to knock him off balance for months, and that hasn’t worked. | On the other hand, Trump’s rivals have been trying to knock him off balance for months, and that hasn’t worked. |
| Guardian Washington bureau chief Dan Roberts and politics reporter Sabrina Siddiqui are at the scene of the debate at the University of Miami. We’ll have comment along the way from bright lights Megan Carpentier, Lucia Graves and Jeb Lund. | Guardian Washington bureau chief Dan Roberts and politics reporter Sabrina Siddiqui are at the scene of the debate at the University of Miami. We’ll have comment along the way from bright lights Megan Carpentier, Lucia Graves and Jeb Lund. |
| Host network CNN says it will start at 8.30pm ET but they’ve been known to fib about start times to lure viewers for longer. Tsk, tsk. | Host network CNN says it will start at 8.30pm ET but they’ve been known to fib about start times to lure viewers for longer. Tsk, tsk. |
| Last time we did this, just one week ago, Rubio and Cruz tag-teamed Trump while Kasich tried to score points as the one above the fray. Then Rubio failed to win a single delegate in voting this past Tuesday, and said he regretted having indulged in Trump-style insult artistry. Cruz won in Idaho and did not express any such regret. | Last time we did this, just one week ago, Rubio and Cruz tag-teamed Trump while Kasich tried to score points as the one above the fray. Then Rubio failed to win a single delegate in voting this past Tuesday, and said he regretted having indulged in Trump-style insult artistry. Cruz won in Idaho and did not express any such regret. |
| Carson to endorse Trump | Carson to endorse Trump |
| There’s some breaking news as we go to press: retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who dropped out of the race last Friday, will endorse Trump in an appearance in Florida tomorrow. | There’s some breaking news as we go to press: retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who dropped out of the race last Friday, will endorse Trump in an appearance in Florida tomorrow. |
| The pair haven’t always been simpatico. In a riff once on Carson’s description of his childhood temper as “pathological”, Trump drew a child molester comparison. Water under the bridge now, it appears. | The pair haven’t always been simpatico. In a riff once on Carson’s description of his childhood temper as “pathological”, Trump drew a child molester comparison. Water under the bridge now, it appears. |
| Ben Carson should lend some coherence to Trump's policy prescriptions.https://t.co/oDumnIDmec | Ben Carson should lend some coherence to Trump's policy prescriptions.https://t.co/oDumnIDmec |
| Thanks a lot for joining us this evening, and as always, please pitch in in the comments with who you think is up, who’s down and who’s next on the way out. Twelfth time’s a charm! | Thanks a lot for joining us this evening, and as always, please pitch in in the comments with who you think is up, who’s down and who’s next on the way out. Twelfth time’s a charm! |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 12.20am GMT | at 12.20am GMT |