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The electronic screen on the Fox Theater marquee advertises the March 3, 2016, Republican presidential debate in Detroit.(Photo: Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images)
DETROIT —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The Republican Party's final four head into a debate Thursday<span style="color: Red;">*</span>as Donald Trump's rivals and various GOP groups mobilize to try to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>deny him the presidential nomination.
Trump, who arrives in Detroit after winning seven of 11 states on Super Tuesday, said he is building up and uniting the Republicans<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in the face of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>critics who include the party's nominee in 2012, Mitt Romney.
"It's time to make a change — now —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a real change,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>by somebody who knows what he's doing," Trump said on MSNBC.
USA TODAY
How to watch the Detroit Republican debate
Campaign rivals Ted Cruz, who won three states Tuesday, and Marco Rubio, who won one, have also argued that Trump would lose a general election to Hillary Clinton<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and drag down other GOP candidates with him. John Kasich, the governor of Ohio and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the fourth candidate on the debate<span style="color: Red;">*</span>stage Thursday, has said he is the best-positioned Republican to win a general election.
The debate lineup shrunk by one candidate on Wednesday when Ben Carson announced he would not participate. The retired neurosurgeon signaled he would soon formally withdraw from the race.
USA TODAY
Carson to skip debate with no 'path forward' in race
The debate<span style="color: Red;">*</span>takes place just hours after an extraordinary intraparty back-and-forth<span style="color: Red;">*</span>between Romney — the Republican presidential<span style="color: Red;">*</span>nominee just four years ago — and the current front-runner, Trump.
In a blistering speech at the University of Utah, Romney described Trump as a "phony" and a "fraud" who will lead the Republicans to disaster.
USA TODAY
Romney blasts Trump as a 'fraud' Clinton would beat
Trump responded by calling Romney a "stiff" who lost a winnable election to President Obama in 2012.
The attacks by Romney and other Republicans echo<span style="color: Red;">*</span>those of Trump's rivals on the campaign trail, as well as independent organizations that are raising money for campaigns designed to prevent the businessman from clinching the nomination.
Cruz, who defeated Trump in Iowa on Feb. 1 and won<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Oklahoma,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Alaska and his home state of Texas on Tuesday, has said that rivals should back him in a united effort to overtake the front-runner.
"Ours is the only campaign that has beaten Donald Trump over and over again," the Texas senator<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said on Fox News, which is sponsoring the Detroit debate.
Rubio, who scored his first win of the campaign when he captured the Minnesota caucuses Tuesday, needs to defeat Trump in his home state of Florida on March 15.
The senator, who has branded Trump a "con artist," told Fox News that party members are rallying against the front-runner "because they realize how much damage Donald Trump will do to the conservative movement if he becomes our nominee."
The brash billionaire<span style="color: Red;">*</span>will be on stage for the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Detroit debate after he<span style="color: Red;">*</span>boycotted a Fox News debate Jan. 28<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in Des Moines, claiming the network had been unfair to him.
USA TODAY
GOP leaders seek to halt Donald Trump's momentum
Kasich, who is aiming to win his home state of Ohio over Trump in a March 15 primary, applauded some of Romney's critique of the businessman, but added that<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“I don’t think you beat Trump by personal attacks" and he is<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“not interested in name-calling.”
Speaking with reporters in Detroit on<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Thursday, Kasich said that if he wins Ohio, “I’m going to go to the convention, and I’m going to be the nominee ...<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Because I don’t know if you noticed, but the convention is in Ohio.”
Contributing: The Cincinnati Enquirer's Chrissie Thompson
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