Tonight it will be “the new hands debate.” After the last get together in Detroit the GOP candidates are likely to try to be more civil in their battle this evening in Miami.
Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, John Kasich and Marco Rubio will face off at CNN’s presidential debate tonight in Miami. With Florida and Ohio holding their winner take all primaries on Tuesday night a Trump sweep would clear his path to the Republican nomination, while a loss for either Kasich in Ohio or Rubio in the Sunshine State would likely spell the end of the line.
This is a critical debate for all four men left in the race as there will be 350 delegates up for grabs with two winner take all contests in Ohio and Florida. If both Kasich and Rubio could win their home states, then this fight could go all the way to the convention in Cleveland.
Florida is critical as Trump and Rubio, both men feel they will win the states key 99 delegates. The Rubio campaign is on life support so a good debate for him tonight is not only a must, it may be too little too late.
Cruz and Kasich will also take the debate stage at a crucial moment in their campaigns. Cruz is aggressively trying to convince the Republican Party to coalesce around him, arguing he is the only candidate other than Trump capable of reaching 1,237 delegates; Kasich, who still has not won a single state, is eying his home state of Ohio with fresh optimism after a new poll this week showed him ahead of Rubio nationally. A Fox News poll released Wednesday showed Kasich leading Trump in Ohio, but the front-runner topping Rubio in Florida.
You can bet that Trump will be the target tonight but look for Rubio and Cruz will stay away from the low brow antics of the last debate. Also expect Rubio to take fire from all sides because knowing a loss in Florida would end his hopes for the Republican nomination Cruz, Trump and Kasich will be on the attack.
Even though Kasich is head to head with Trump in Ohio he will get heat but nothing like what Rubio is expected to get.
Trump will get grilled by Cruz like a prosecutor and he will keep away from the uncivil discourse of the last debate. Rubio, will try to pin Trump down on foreign policy and paint him as a fraud.
I expect Trump to stay on point and maybe lay back a bit allowing more of a Rubio vs. Cruz fight to take place.
