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 With a week to go until South Carolina's Republican primary vote
on Feb. 20, the debate comes at a time of high anxiety for Trump's
opponents.
Trump, who won New Hampshire handily on Tuesday after placing second
in Iowa on Feb. 1, has a big lead in the polls in South Carolina.
Unless he is slowed down, he could be in position to roll to his
party's presidential nomination for the Nov. 8 election.
That means it is in the interests of Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Florida
Senator Marco Rubio and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush to try to
raise questions about the New York billionaire before it's too late.
"My sense is this is going to be a melee," said Republican
strategist Doug Heye.
Attempts to knock down Trump at previous debates have rarely been
successful, as the former reality TV star has been quick on his feet
and mercilessly dismissive of rivals.
Trump's use of vulgar language during the New Hampshire primary
campaign, repeating a comment from someone at one of his rallies who
said Cruz is a "pussy," may raise eyebrows in South Carolina, where
evangelicals form an important voting bloc.
 At a candidates' forum at evangelical Bob Jones University on
Friday, Bush told the crowd: "Is anybody worried about the
front-running candidate shouting out obscenities at children?"
Trump was not at the event, sending instead a surrogate to speak for
him, Pastor Mark Burns. When Burns told the crowd that Trump is
"pro-faith," someone shouted out from the audience "Trump is
profane."
'EACH HAS SOME IMAGE ISSUE'
All Trump's rivals have something to prove at the CBS-hosted debate,
particularly Rubio, who needs to show he can rebound from a
disastrous debate performance a week ago in New Hampshire. Ohio
Governor John Kasich must try to generate more momentum after a
second-place finish in New Hampshire, Cruz must solidify his
position with evangelical voters and Bush needs upward movement
anywhere he can get it.
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, whose campaign has turned anemic,
has to show he's still in the race.
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"Each has got some image issue they need to fix," said David Yepsen,
director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern
Illinois University.
"Can Trump start acting more presidential without losing what makes
him so appealing? Can Jeb continue the flicker of momentum he has
coming out of New Hampshire? Have Rubio’s bruises healed? Can Carson
show something that puts a spark back into his campaign? Has Kasich
got more than his New Hampshire game?"
Heading into the debate, Trump was taking swipes at Cruz and Bush,
who finished third and fourth in the New Hampshire primary.
Responding to an attack ad run by the Cruz campaign against him,
Trump tweeted that he might sue Cruz to try to settle any remaining
questions about whether the Texan can legally run for president
since he was born in Canada.
Cruz and many legal experts say Cruz meets the constitutional
requirements because he was born to an American mother and grew up
in the United States.
But Trump, who famously questioned President Barack Obama's
citizenship, fired off a tweet against Cruz.
"If @TedCruz doesn’t clean up his act, stop cheating, & doing
negative ads, I have standing to sue him for not being a natural
born citizen," Trump said.
The Cruz campaign dismissed the blast with spokesman Rick Tyler
saying Trump was demonstrating a "Trumper-tantrum."
(Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Mary Milliken)
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