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GOP candidates mix it up in first debate

CLEVELAND - Celebrity businessman Donald Trump refused to rule out a third-party bid for president if he doesn't win the Republican nomination, upending the first televised debate of the party's primary season Thursday with blunt talk.

CLEVELAND - Celebrity businessman Donald Trump refused to rule out a third-party bid for president if he doesn't win the Republican nomination, upending the first televised debate of the party's primary season Thursday with blunt talk.

"I cannot make the pledge at this time," Trump said in response to the first question, garnering boos from the ticketed audience of about 4,500. "I have to respect the person, if it's not me." Besides, he said, "I'm leading by quite a bit."

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul pounced. "This is what's wrong," he said, noting that Trump had donated to the Senate campaign of Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton and her family's foundation.

"He's already hedging his bets because he's used to buying and selling politicians," Paul said.

The 10 highest-polling GOP contenders tangled on a stage in the Quicken Loans Arena, home of the Cleveland Cavaliers of the NBA, from 9 to 11 p.m. It was broadcast live on Fox News, known for its reach among the conservative voters who form the grassroots base of the Republican Party, and cosponsored by Facebook and the Ohio party.

Republicans thronged this city on the shore of Lake Erie, which will host their national convention next summer, for an event that could influence the process of deciding who stands on the podium to accept the party's nomination.

Throughout the debate, the other contenders mostly trod the fine line between attacking Trump for his excesses and acknowledging that he speaks to the conservative base's frustration.

"Donald Trump is hitting a nerve in this country," said Ohio Gov. John Kasich. He added: "For people who want to just tune him out, they're making a mistake."

Frustration with 6 1/2 years of President Obama has attracted the largest field of candidates in the history of televised debates - 17 - a crowd so unwieldy that organizers decided it had to be split in two for debate purposes.

Earlier, seven Republican candidates who didn't make the cut wrangled for an hour in what was dubbed the "kiddie table" or the "happy-hour" debate.

Statisticians on Fox News' election-night "decision desk" chose the participants for the prime-time event based on their performance in an aggregate of recent polls. Similar models are expected to set the lineups for future GOP debates.

Trump, who has railed against illegal immigration and "stupid" leadership of the United States while throwing insults at his rivals and other Republicans, has surged in the polls over the last month, leading the field with 26 percent in the Fox News polling average.

Before the debate, Trump said he was going to play it low-key, but his resolve did not last long.

Pressed to provide evidence for his contention that Mexico's government was sending criminals, including rapists and murders, into the United States, Trump sidestepped and answered with a tautology.

"Our politicians are stupid," Trump said. "The Mexican government is much smarter, more cunning. . . . They send them [criminals] over."

Many Republicans have criticized Trump's language and focus on immigration as complicating the party's efforts to improve relations with Hispanics, the fastest-growing voter demographic in the nation.

Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly asked Trump about past characterizations of women as fat pigs and slobs, among other things. "This country doesn't have time for political correctness," he said.

"Mr. Trump's language is divisive," former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said. "We're not going to win by doing what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton did and divide people."

Trump responded that in a world in which groups like ISIS are beheading innocent people, "we don't have time for tone."

Though Trump soaked up a lot of the attention, Bush faced his own pressure. He has sold himself as electable, yet has had an uneven performance on the campaign trail lately.

Earlier in the week, he said, "I'm not sure we need a half-billion dollars for women's health issues." He retracted it, saying he was referring only to the $500 million the federal government gives Planned Parenthood, but Clinton ripped him, and conservative allies worried that he had given an opening for Democrats to revive the "war on women" meme.

He's also had to smooth over comments about the Iraq War and the productivity of American workers.

Bush was thrown on the defensive with pointed questions about his support for the Common Core education standards, unpopular with conservatives, and dynastic politics. He is the son and brother of presidents.

"I am going to have to earn this," Bush said. "Maybe the bar is even higher for me, and that's fine."

He said he was proud of his record in Florida for two terms of economic growth and educational improvements, and "governed as a conservative."

Gov. Christie also needed a good performance. Beginning as the putative front-runner in polls of potential candidates taken right after his 2013 reelection, his support has slipped, and he eked his way into prime time by two-tenths of 1 percent.

Christie zinged Paul, who leans libertarian, for his opposition to the National Security Agency's bulk collection of citizens' telephone data as an antiterrorism tool. Paul cited the Fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable search and seizure.

"That is a ridiculous answer," Christie said. "When you're sitting in a subcommittee blowing hot air about things like this . . . it's different when you're responsible for the protection of the American people."

Later Christie debated former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on entitlement spending for Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare.

Christie wants to raise the retirement age for Social Security over 25 years, and eliminate benefits for those who make $200,000 or more in retirement income from liquid assets, with similar changes for Medicare.

The Social Security Administration projects that the program's total trust fund reserves will be depleted by 2034.

Huckabee said Christie's plan would amount to "lying and stealing" to and from the people, noting that the government takes money out of workers' paychecks "whether they want to or not."

Retorted Christie: "The lying and stealing has already occurred. The trust fund is filled with IOUs."

Asked about some of his companies' bankruptcies, Trump said only four had gone through the process and suggested that was typical of businessmen like him.

"I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City," Trump said.

A Fox moderator also noted Trump's past liberal positions, such as being in favor of abortion rights.

"I've evolved on many issues over the years," Trump said. He said that living in New York City, which is "almost exclusively Democrat," has exposed "some of the negatives."

"It seems like this election has been a whole lot about a person who's very high in the polls, who doesn't have a clue about how to govern, a person who has been filled with scandals and who could not lead," Huckabee said in his closing statement.

"And of course, I'm talking about Hillary Clinton," he said to laughs.

"Thank you," Trump said.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described Jeb Bush as the father and brother of presidents. He is the son and brother of presidents.

215-854-2718@tomfitzgerald

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