Luke Skywalker
Super Moderator
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Donald Trump speaks during a campaign stop Wednesday in South Carolina.(Photo: Rainier Ehrhardt, AP)
DES MOINES —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Republican presidential candidates gather<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Thursday for a debate that may have a hole in the center.
Front-runner Donald Trump maintained his plan to boycott the debate in downtown Des Moines, claiming Fox News and moderator Megyn Kelly are biased against him. He prepared<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to host an event for veterans across town at Drake University instead.
"Wow, two candidates called last night and said they want to go to my event tonight at Drake University," Trump tweeted early Thursday, though he did not name them.
Wow, two candidates called last night and said they want to go to my event tonight at Drake University.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2016
Trump also tweeted that<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the debate "will be a total disaster —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>low ratings with advertisers and advertising rates dropping like a rock. I hate to see this."
The "debate" tonight will be a total disaster - low ratings with advertisers and advertising rates dropping like a rock. I hate to see this.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2016
Fox News defended Kelly, saying Trump does not have the right to pick debate moderators, and pledged to move forward with the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>event in any case.
The Trump-Fox feud left other candidates planning whether to attack the absent billionaire, or go after the other Iowa front-runner ahead of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Monday's caucuses, Ted Cruz.
Some candidates and their aides, however, predicted that Trump would ultimately still appear at the debate.
"I've got a $20 bet he shows up," Jeb Bush told a crowd in Des Moines on<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Wednesday afternoon.
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With or without Trump, the debate takes place as<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a new poll shows the New York billionaire moving ahead of Cruz in Iowa, 32%-25%, with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in third at 18%.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The<span style="color: Red;">*</span>NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll also gives Trump big leads in the next two states on the GOP primary calendar, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
"Trump is positioned to run the house in these first three states," said Lee Miringoff, director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. “Will it happen? The answer depends on when or if anti-Trump sentiment will coalesce to interrupt his march to the nomination.”
In addition to Cruz and Bush, the Des Moines<span style="color: Red;">*</span>debate will feature Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, Ben Carson,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>John Kasich, and Rand Paul.
A preliminary debate will feature<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, and Jim Gilmore.
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Cruz, a Texas senator, responded to Trump's boycott by challenging the New York billionaire to a one-on-one debate before Monday's caucus. Pro-Cruz super PACs said they would pledge $1.5 million to veterans charities if Trump accepts Cruz's challenge.
In an interview on Fox, Cruz said that any candidate who wants to win Iowa "owes it to the men and women" of the state to answer questions.
Trump, who has questioned Cruz's eligibility for the presidency because of his Canadian birth, has mocked Cruz's challenge by suggesting the debate be in Canada.
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At least two participants in the preliminary debate — Huckabee and Santorum — plan to attend<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Trump's event for veterans.
"We've put in a call to his people and said that I'd be delighted to come," Huckabee told Laura Ingraham's radio show. He later confirmed on Twitter he would<span style="color: Red;">*</span>be attending.
Santorum's campaign later confirmed that the former Pennsylvania senator will also go to Trump's event.
Paul, who returns to the prime-time debate stage after being relegated to the preliminary debate two weeks ago in South Carolina (which he declined to take part in), mocked Trump for skipping the Des Moines event.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>In an interview on CNN, Paul said Trump had brought "the tenor of the debate to an historic low."
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