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 Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and former New York Governor
George Pataki led the charge against Trump at a debate of four
candidates who did not have enough strength in opinion polls to make
it to a prime-time debate later.
The so-called "undercard" debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential
Library of four candidates immediately preceded the main event
featuring Trump and 10 other Republicans who are doing the best in
the polls.
In their bid to stop Trump's rise, a variety of Republican
candidates have piled on the billionaire businessman as a politician
who has supported Democratic priorities in the past, such as higher
taxes. Jindal, one of Trump's sharpest critics, quickly picked up on
that theme.
"Let's stop treating Donald Trump like a Republican," Jindal said in
response to a question about his criticism of the Republican
front-runner.
"He's not a conservative. He's not a liberal. He's not a Democrat.
He's not a Republican. He's not an independent," Jindal said. "He
believes in Donald Trump."
Pataki was similarly biting in his criticism of Trump, whose
unexpected rise in the polls has put pressure on the other 15
Republican candidates to respond. Pataki has vowed not to support
Trump if he is the nominee for the November 2016 election but
insisted he does not think Trump will get that far.
 "Donald Trump is not going to be the Republican nominee, period. I
guarantee you that," said Pataki.
He said Trump's experience in the casino business in Atlantic City,
New Jersey, was instructive of the type of businessman he is.
"Every one of those casinos went bankrupt, over 5,000 Americans lost
their job," Pataki said. "He didn't lose anything. ... He will do
for America what he did for Atlantic City and that is not someone
who we will nominate."
Tempers flared as the candidates debated what to do about illegal
immigration, Trump's signature issue.
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who has backed
comprehensive immigration reform, said it would be impractical to
try to deport 11 million illegal immigrants.
He mocked former Senator Rick Santorum's own failed attempt at an
immigration plan when Santorum was still in office in 2006.
“It went nowhere,” Graham told Santorum.
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The former senator from Pennsylvania shot back: "You’re right,
Lindsay, it went nowhere because we had a president back then who
was for more comprehensive immigration reform than I was,” Santorum
said.
Responded Graham, "George W. Bush! Who won with Hispanics!”
Santorum replied, “We need to win fighting for Americans.”
“Hispanics are Americans,” Graham said, getting applause.
All four candidates declared Democratic President Barack Obama's
handling of Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq as a disaster.
Graham was insistent in saying the United States should raise its
troop level in Iraq from 3,500 to 10,000 to more effectively take on
Islamic State, and called for sending American troops into Syria as
part of a regional army. He expressed concern about the ability of
militants to strike targets within the United States.
"We're in a war, folks," he said.
For a graphic on positions expressed by the candidates in the
debates, see
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/15/election-repdebate/ .
For more on the 2016 presidential race, see the Reuters blog, “Tales
from the Trail”. (http://blogs.reuters.com/talesfromthetrail/)
(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton in Washington; Editing by
Jonathan Oatis)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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