2016-01-29

We’ve got two blogs for the price of one: follow our live coverage of the Republican debate in Des Moines and Donald Trump’s rival event across town

All today’s campaign events: Santorum and Huckabee to join Trump event

Unorthodox Trump smashes Fox News influence over rightwing media

Megyn Kelly: the journalist who dinged Trump’s ego – and got under his skin

2.05am GMT

First question is to Cruz, and about Trump: what does his absence say to Iowa voters?

Cruz starts out by thanking Iowans. “If I’m elected president, keep an eye on the tarmac, because I’ll be back.”

2.03am GMT

And here are all the top-tier Republicans... except one #GOPDebate pic.twitter.com/FoaNTAuJAz

2.03am GMT

The crowd cheerfully claps for the participants. Rand Paul is applauded wildly – he apparently brought his fan base. Baier says the crowd is very excited to be here. He gets claps and whoops.

2.01am GMT

Here we are, back inside the Iowa Events Center. The moderators are Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace. We are about to meet the candidates. Seven onstage. No empty lectern awaiting Trump.

1.59am GMT

Attendees of Donald Trump’s anti-debate event are now listening to “The Playlist,” the well-documented music set list that plays before every one of Trump’s campaign events. Comprised primarily of classic rock tunes with a smattering of Adele, Puccini arias and Broadway standards from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s CATS, the set typically plays on loop as crowds await an appearance by Trump.

Here at the Guardian’s campaign liveblog - where the campaign trail comes alive! - we bring you the chance to experience the set list from the comfort of your homes.

1.58am GMT

You asked, we answered.

Google trends is tracking the top questions about Jeb Bush posed to Google in advance of tonight’s main event debate, which is scheduled to start in about a half hour.

See the top trending questions on @JebBush before the #GOPDebate https://t.co/gmZioSFk5K pic.twitter.com/FZsXfKCWAH

1.54am GMT

Tonight’s debate is in the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, Iowa. Here are the participants in tonight’s main event debate, in alphabetical order.

Who: The main event features:

1.52am GMT

For readers playing through and for those of you just joining us – welcome! to our live-wire coverage of the seventh Republican presidential debate, plus Donald Trump’s parallel competing event.

The non-Trump Republicans are scrambling for position in second place as the Iowa caucuses loom, just four days out now. Tonight watch for aggressive closing arguments from Texas senator Ted Cruz, who is clinging closest to Trump in the Hawkeye state and Florida senator Marco Rubio, who’s in third, according to polling averages.

1.50am GMT

Donald Trump may not be participating in tonight’s debate, but the Republican frontrunner remains the talk of the town as candidates prepare to take the stage in Des Moines.

Trump’s ongoing battle with Fox News remains at the forefront of media coverage, with the real estate mogul announcing just now on CNN that the network had apologized to him. He will nonetheless hold on to his pledge to skip the debate, a move that could steer significant attention away from Trump’s opponents, who are looking to distinguish themselves in his absence.

1.50am GMT

In a just-aired interview with CNN, Donald Trump told the cable news network that an unnamed figure at Fox News “apologized” to the billionaire frontrunner for a “wise-guy” press release that the network released earlier this week.

“I was treated very unfairly by Fox. Since then they’ve been excellent, they’ve been very nice, but it’s too late,” Trump told CNN’s Brianna Keilar in an interview aboard his private plane.

1.43am GMT

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, fresh off of his (potentially final) Republican presidential primary debate performance, has officially made it to Donald Trump’s campaign rally-slash-military fundraiser at Drake University.

Huckabee waiting in the wings. #notthedebate pic.twitter.com/BIsINi0aqd

1.41am GMT

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush keeps his eyes on the opposition – not meaning Trump:

The best poster to see before tonight’s #GOPDebate pic.twitter.com/BhxFZVRJwG

1.40am GMT

While we’re warming up for the main show, the O’Reilly Factor on Fox News is talking about the importance of name recognition. But face recognition can matter too for these debates and a poll by Vox and Morning Consult suggests that Trump and Clinton are well ahead of their peers on that measure.

Of the 2,028 registered voters they polled, 97% correctly identified Hillary Clinton when shown a picture of her face and 96% identified Trump.

1.37am GMT

Carly Fiorina said some pretty offensive things about Hillary Clinton that were sexist and disappointing – especially coming from another woman, writes Lucia Graves.

Fiorina was asked about her earlier comment: “Unlike the other woman candidate in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband.”

1.31am GMT

You asked, we answered.

Google trends is tracking the top questions about Donald Trump posed to Google in advance of tonight’s main event debate, which is scheduled to start in about a half hour.

Here are the top trending questions on @realDonaldTrump ahead of the #GOPDebate https://t.co/gmZioSFk5K pic.twitter.com/kWxExthLEK

Trump campaign just confirmed to me that he WILL NOT participate in Fox News debate tonight

1.24am GMT

Donald Trump is holding an event next week in a state that is not holding a primary anytime in the near future. The Republican frontrunner will be headed to Little Rock, Arkansas, on Wednesday.

The event, combined with former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee’s appearance at Trump’s event tonight, will be sure to get tongues wagging about whether the Republican candidate might drop out and endorse Trump there. Huckabee has set his hopes on a strong performance in Iowa, but the former Iowa caucus winner has been lagging in the polls in the Hawkeye State.

1.20am GMT

The concert hall where the Trump event is taking place is an old-fashioned venue with red velvet curtains and wooden chairs and is filling up with a mix of Trump supporters and veterans. The headgear is a blend of Make America Great Again hats and caps representing various American Legion posts that veterans belong to and naval ships which they served on.

Many attendees had come from out of state to be there like Doug Banker, a Marine veteran from Los Angeles. The long haired bearded veteran was sitting calmly wearing a white and gold Make America Great Again hat and checkered blue suit. He had flown out to Des Moines to support his fellow veterans at the event.

1.12am GMT

You’ve weighed in – some of you - on the undercard victor. But browsing through the comments in fact there is not a rich store of enthusiasm for any of the candidates onstage tonight. Or for their positions. Or anything about them, really.

Here’s a sampler:

I'm all for Gilmore, Schrödinger's candidate.

Both of these events are right wing pantomimes with no intellectual worth.

The moderators are the only possible undercard winners. If they do well, Megyn and Trump will both look silly in comparison.
The main debate will surprise almost everyone by making the leftovers appear almost palatable - if they all resist the temptation of taking potshots at Trump.

1.01am GMT

That’s it. The undercard is over. Who won? We’re joining you below the line right now.

1.01am GMT

Fiorina took a swipe at Hillary Clinton when she said that she would never forgive her husband if he did what Bill Clinton did. We assume that’s a reference to Clinton’s infidelity rather than that time he laughed his head off with Yeltsin.

A lot of Americans would say the same as Fiorina. In Gallup survey in 2008, 38% of respondents said they would not forgive a spouse who had a sexual affair with someone else and 26% said they would probably not forgive.

1.00am GMT

Gilmore: Son of a meatcutter and a secretary. My father talked character. I’m not about to go across town tonight and carry the coat for some billionaire. Second amendment.

Santorum: Thanks to the people of Iowa. I have done 700 (million) events here. A pastor gave me a stone to slay Goliath. Good people of Iowa: pick the leader you know is best.

12.58am GMT

Some of the candidates in the kid’s table debate are clearly touchy about being ignored. Jeb Lund thinks they need to get over it.

The undercard debate should be renamed the H Ross Perot Memorial Can I Finish? Can I Finish? Can I Finish? Debate. I think at least one quarter of all comments addressed to the moderators and America so far have been about the candidates’ inability to deliver comments to America.

12.54am GMT

On abortion, these Republican candidates are largely trying to speak to the estimated 44% of Americans who describe themselves as “pro-life” according to Gallup’s data.

For the past 15 years, though the percentages have wobbled, the overall picture remains the same: America is deeply divided on the issue.

12.54am GMT

Final commercial break in the undercard. Last chance: Who, if not Gilmore, is winning the undercard ?

12.53am GMT

Santorum says Obama is the “most divisive president” in his lifetime. “He personally attacks people... and then he tears them down,” Santorum says.

Santorum says that when he was in Washington he passed “a whole laundry list of things... because I was able to be respectful in disagreements.”

12.51am GMT

Huckabee is asked about Democrats who identify as socialist. “Guess you could say they’re feeling the Bern!” says Hemmer, the moderator.

He is rightly and justly booed.

I’m not feelin’ the Bern, Bill.

12.51am GMT

Against all odds, presidential candidate Jim Gilmore is trending nationwide on Twitter.

12.49am GMT

This election has been turned on its head by populists. Jeb Lund takes a look at which candidates are best at talking to the people.

Santorum is a good populist. Apart from Trump’s defense of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, he and Huckabee are the strongest on this issue. He really genuinely wants to bring back a functional economy for high-school graduates in rust belt America, where you can buy a house and send your kids to college.

12.49am GMT

There it is: the Gilmore Google spike.

This just in: searches for @gov_gilmore are up 700% during the early #GOPdebate. pic.twitter.com/hH40gB6vsd

12.48am GMT

Santorum is asked why he did not attend this year’s March for Life, the anti-abortion rally. He says he’s been the last 20 years but it was snowing a bunch this year so he skipped.

“Twice in my life we were counseled to have an abortion,” says Santorum, whose youngest daughter, Bella, has a rare genetic disorder. He says he and his wife never once considered it.

It is outrageous, frankly, that Fox News, and you, would question the pro-life credentials of Rick Santorum. That is outrageous.

12.46am GMT

Fiorina says that most Americans find Clinton’s and the Democratic party’s position on abortion “horrific.” She says as president she would fund women’s health.

12.45am GMT

They’re back. Question for Fiorina. She had said, “Unlike the other woman candidate in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband.” Why didn’t she stick with an earlier vow not to level personal attacks?

“It wasn’t a personal attack. I was pointing out the fact that Hillary Clinton will do anything to gain and hang on to power,” Fiorina says.

If my husband did what Bill Clinton did, I would have left him long ago.

She’s escaped prosecution more times than El Chapo... the woman should be prosecuted!

Carly Fiorina: I don't do personal attacks . . .but Hillary Clinton is just like El Chapo

12.40am GMT

Jim Gilmore’s “when I’m president of the United States” line is starting to look more and more unfeasible, according to ABC’s Ryan Struyk.

Gilmore has already missed ballot deadlines in: GA, AL, AR, ID, OK, OH, MI, UT, TX, AZ, ME, MO, IL, LA, KY, DC, NV, VT, MS, KS.

12.40am GMT

Commercial break! Who’s winning? Still Gilmore?

12.39am GMT

Santorum is asked how his flat tax would create jobs. He doesn’t say that it’s not the job of the tax code to create jobs. But he turns to regulation, saying he would cut “every single Obama regulation, including Obamacare.” He lists ozone regulations, mercury regulations and emissions.

“You want to help the environment?” Santorum says. “Bring jobs back to America.”

12.38am GMT

Huckabee takes a familiar question, about the anti-tax Club for Growth’s negative appraisal of his governorship. They say he raised taxes. He says he did not.

“Look at the overall record, and it’s fine,” he says. Maybe. But in any case, Huckabee raised taxes in Arkansas.

12.36am GMT

When Jim Gilmore’s president of the United States, gun control is not going to be an issue.

He says he’d veto gun control legislation as “fast as it takes Hillary Clinton to delete her emails.”

12.35am GMT

Gilmore gets his question. He’s asked whether he’d rip up the Iran nuclear deal.

“You know Martha, [the horse] may well be out of the barn,” Gilmore says, because Iran is embarked on a nuclear weapons program, in his view.

12.32am GMT

The Guardian’s Ben Jacobs, on the scene at Donald Trump’s anti-debate event in Des Moines, Iowa, is finding a recurring theme among young Trump supporters: They’re really, really mad.

#fuckhillary is the name tag of this high schooler at Trump event pic.twitter.com/uE1r6nM1Ed

Attendee at Trump event thinks "Bernie is a commy" pic.twitter.com/FHDcmYtie5

12.31am GMT

Next question goes to Huckabee– and Gilmore does not like it.

“Did you miss me?” Gilmore interrupts, accusingly. “Did you skip me?” He’s angry.

12.30am GMT

Taxing instructions

Fiorina’s ambition for a three-page tax code might sound completely impossible but this wasn’t always the case - she’s right that the tax code has got increasingly complicated.

12.30am GMT

Santorum is asked about the woman at a Bernie Sanders rally who broke down this week talking about the duress of living on the minimum age. What would he tell her?

Santorum says he’d say that America needs jobs. He promises a renaissance in American manufacturing. “Most folks don’t talk about what they’re going to do to create jobs for people.”

12.28am GMT

Fiorina is talking about a three-page tax code. She is wearing a prominent golden cross around her neck. She says that instituting the code would challenge the status quo. “Take out your smart phones. If you agree with me that the three-page tax code has to pass... press 1 for yes, citizens, press 2 for no.”

We tried it. It does not work. We’re not saying how we voted. We’re not sure what we were voting on.

12.27am GMT

Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee says that “you can’t win” unless you meet the people of Iowa - but if the most popular Google search questions about Huckabee are any indication, you can’t win unless people are totally sure that you’re still running for president.

12.26am GMT

It didn’t take long for Guantanamo Bay to come up in the conversation. But Republicans have a conspicuously selective history about the detention facility’s record of success.

Prior to January 2009, Republican president George W Bush oversaw the transfer of 532 detainees out of the prison, 110 of whom are confirmed to have re-engaged in terrorism and a further 68 are suspected of having done so.

12.26am GMT

Question for Huckabee, with a nice Biblical gloss:

Is this presidency simply too small a David to slay the Goliath of government?

12.23am GMT

They’re back! The moderator says, ominously, “this is debate number one in what will be a long night here.” He sounds sort of tired already.

12.21am GMT

First commercial break. Who’s winning? Any Gilmore takers? Let us know in the comments!

12.21am GMT

Gilmore, who is running for president and is in this debate, says he would not close the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Then he rattles off resume highlights, for the few in the audience for whom he may not be a household name. Let’s check in with Google trends...

Google hasn’t published info yet on how many people are searching “Jim Gilmore,” but it appears from the blue spike in the chart below that there was robust search interest when his participation tonight was announced.

Realtime data from the #GOPDebate https://t.co/jDhLsPt7zV pic.twitter.com/pg5ReuMqgH

12.18am GMT

Huckabee is asked whether it’s foolish to be open to working with Russia in Syria, as the former governor has proposed.

“I don’t trust [Putin],” Huckabee says, but if they’re confronting the enemy in the Middle East, let them.

And with any kind of cancer, you don’t contain it, you eradicate.

12.16am GMT

Fiorina’s asked whether Obama is right to say that Isis does not pose an existential threat to the United States.

“News flash president Obama. New flash, Mrs Clinton,” she says. “Climate change is not our most pressing national security threat.”

12.14am GMT

Santorum takes a question about stopping terror attacks around the world.

He says the president needs to get real in confronting “Islamic” terrorism. Then he explains that Isis has “established a caliphate.” Then he explains that a caliph rules a caliphate like a king rules a kingdom.

The answer is we must take their land and make them illegitimate in the eyes of the Muslim world.

12.14am GMT

While the undercard debate is underway, just a mile and a half away, much of the American media is piling into a room adjacent to a college classical music venue.

Donald Trump is boycotting the main event in order to hold his own rally at the Sheslow Auditorium on the campus of Drake University. The event is supposed to be a benefit for veterans, though the Trump campaign has yet to make clear how the money is being raised and which veterans organizations are benefiting.

The American media gathers for Trump pic.twitter.com/eU1D37rWGM

12.13am GMT

Huckabee is invited to contrast “New York values” with conservative values. He passes on the question, sort of, in favor of a diatribe about big money in politics.

“I’m not going to get into an argument with all those New Yorkers because there’s a lot of them,” he jokes. First joke. Wins laughter in the hall.

When I say I wish they had, I’m glad they didn’t.

12.11am GMT

Here's who you could have won... The undercard debate #GOPDebate pic.twitter.com/5cEJViXc2L

12.11am GMT

Now, the first question ever for former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore in a GOP presidential debate. He had not visited Iowa at all, as of one week ago.

“I have been in Iowa, but this is not the place where I am beginning my campaign. I am beginning my campaign in New Hampshire,” Gilmore says.

12.08am GMT

Fiorina is now up. “Is your party in crisis?” is the question.

Fiorina says that she started at the back of the field but now “hundreds and hundreds” of Iowans show up at her every event.

12.06am GMT

Good follow-up question: If you’re complaining so much about Trump, why are you going to his event after this? Do you plan to endorse him?

Santorum says he’s being invited to throw mud. “I’m not going to attack Donald Trump,” he says.

12.05am GMT

Santorum now: He’s asked whether Monday night in Iowa is his “last stand.”

Santorum scoffs. He complains that the debate now begun was not advertised. He is blaming the network for his failure to register in the polls. He’s a hot potato.

12.03am GMT

First question is for Huckabee. He’s asked why his message is not punching through “this time.” Huckabee won Iowa in 2008.

He says his message is not getting out, implying a conspiracy against him. Then: “Let’s get rid of abortion once and for all.” Also he wants a fair tax.

12.01am GMT

Here we go! The undercard debate broadcast has begun. Live from downtown Des Moines. The candidates are onstage and are introduced. They are:

12.00am GMT

As part of political media’s never-ending quest to answer the question, “Just who is voting for Donald Trump?”, CNN talked to more than 150 people around the country about why they’re throwing their support behind the billionaire Republican frontrunner.

Of those 150, the three bros featured in “Going to College, Voting for Trump” are undoubtedly the most (unintentionally) hilarious.

11.54pm GMT

What will it be like to watch the Republican presidential candidates take the stage without frontman Donald Trump? Will the act be as good? Will they deliver the same boost that fans have come to expect and love?

Or will the thrill not quite be the same? The pixie dust gone? The old hits tinged with loss?

11.50pm GMT

The Guardian’s Ben Jacobs has confirmed that Donald Trump will not be making a last-minute change to his schedule and will not be attending tonight’s Republican primary debate in Des Moines - sorry, Jeb Bush.

Trump campaign just confirmed to me that he WILL NOT participate in Fox News debate tonight

11.25pm GMT

While we wait for the undercard debate, scheduled to begin in about half an hour, you can get caught up on the day in politics news by scrolling through Alan Yuhas’ live blog:

Related: Huckabee and Santorum join Trump's debate alternative – as it happened

Related: Unorthodox Trump smashes Fox News influence over rightwing media

Related: Marco Rubio's Iowa closing argument: forget Trump – I'm 'Defeating Hillary'

Related: Marco Rubio: from 'Republican savior' to prophet of gloom … and back again

Related: I worked on Wall Street. I am skeptical Hillary Clinton will rein it in | Chris Arnade

11.13pm GMT

Once again, after political analysts and media experts declared for months that there was no possible way that Donald Trump was going to do the thing that he was threatening to do, Donald Trump did the thing that he was threatening to do. You’d think we’d have learned by now.

Here’s what you need to know about Donald Trump’s debate counter-programming:

Donald Trump Campaign Rally in Des Moines, IA – LIVE at 9pm ET on C-SPAN https://t.co/f5BE5lmLKz #iacaucus pic.twitter.com/SdqPRLBEcv

10.29pm GMT

Hello! And welcome to our live-wire coverage of the seventh Republican debate in the 2016 race to the White House. Tonight we’re in Des Moines, Iowa, where voters will set the wheel of history in motion when they gather to caucus in just four days.

Donald Trump, the free-floating GOP frontrunner, has ostentatiously ditched tonight’s debate as a demonstration of his disgust with host network Fox News and one of its moderators, Megyn Kelly.

It’s going to be a huge (yooge!) night in Des Moines, where only three miles from Fox News’ prime-time Republican presidential debate, Trump will be hosting a concurrent “special event”. Like a journalistic Katniss Everdeen, I have volunteered as tribute to bring you analysis and insight into the real estate tycoon’s every utterance, eye roll and insult from a rally every bit as unmissable as the Hunger Games.

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