It will be huge. The top seven candidates, all in one room. The time is here. We are going to preserve this nation for our children and grandchildren. Its make or break. We are not waiting any longer to take our country back. So, what will happen tonight . We will make America Great again. On the eve of the biggest Football Game of the year, the biggest debate of the season. From abc news and wmurtv, live from st. Anselm college in manchester, New Hampshire, the republicans debate. Moderated by david muir and Martha Raddatz. Now reporting, george stephanopoulos. Good evening. And welcome to manchester for this pivotal debate before the New Hampshire primary. It has been a scramble since iowa. And with less than three days to go before the voting here, this is what the race looks like right now. Donald trump, still on top, despite falling short in iowa. There at 28 . Marco rubio climbing into second place finish in iowa. Hes had a lot of momentum all week long. Ted cruz tied for third here with Ohio Governor john kasich and jeb bush at 9 . The debate is just minutes away. Were here to break down the action tonight. Matt dowd, i want to begin with you. Donald trump tweeting again, he said, so many things to say, so much at stake. Especially for donald trump. He saw the lead evaporate in iowa after skipping the debate. He cant afford that again. The surprise wasnt that he tweeted. The surprise is that he didnt attack somebody in the tweet that came in. Im amazed about the tone of that tweet. He seems more excited about this debate than any other. I think this debate for donald trump its pivotal for everybody. Its crucial for everybody. I think donald trump has the most to lose. He comes into this debate tonight having been ahead in 70 straight polls in New Hampshire since july. And if he comes out of here and doesnt do well tonight and loses on tuesday night, its together after two losses. Hard to see how he can go forward. Marco rubio has the momentum, jon karl, and that means hes going to be the big target tonight. I think this is rubios moment. Hes not the frontrunner. Thats clearly trump. But rubio is the hottest candidate in this race right now. He has zoomed to the fastest rising, second place in New Hampshire, and that means he is the biggest target. And i think the harshest attacks may come from the guy right next to him, jeb bush. Lindsey graham said, if jeb bush gets at him tonight, marco rubio is toast. Big swings at the last minute here in New Hampshire. A third of the voters here say they could make their minds up in the next couple of days. And go to either primary. The saturday before the tuesday primary in 1980, Ronald Reagan came into his debate with his internal polls showing him 21 points behind george bush, who had just won iowa. Debate that night. Where reagan famously said, i am paying for this microphone. And from there on, he took off and won New Hampshire by more than 20 points. Minute. The debate is just minutes away. Well be right back. New hampshire Republican Debate will continue in a moment. I take pictures of sunrises. Its my job and its also my passion. But with my back pain i couldnt sleep. So i couldnt get up in time. Then i found aleve pm. Aleve pm is the only one to combine a safe sleep aid plus the 12hour pain relieving strength of aleve. And now. Im back. Aleve pm for a better am. Day to feel alive jake reese, day to feel alive hey, need fast heartburn relief . Try cool mint zantac. It releases a cooling sensation in your mouth and throat. Zantac works in as little as 30 minutes. Nexium can take 24 hours. Try cool mint zantac. No pill relieves donkey sound elephant sound theres a big difference between making noise, tapping sound and making sense. elephant sound donkey sound when it comes to Social Security, we need more than lip service. Our next president needs a real plan to keep Social Security strong. elephant noise hey candidates. Enough talk. My favorite thing to do on the day of the debate is play plants versus zombies on my iphone. What questions will david muir be asking at the hp hn debate . Im ready. I take these hundreds of pieces of paper. They have all the advice that them on fire. I try to talk to every single voter in New Hampshire. Of here. Were going to have some fun. Of their pregame prep with the independent journal review. Im here with bill crystal, editor of the weekly standard. Donna brazile, former Campaign Manager for al gore. What are you watching for tonight . Above all, donald trump. The man that was not there in iowa. Remember this, some of us thought, its probably a mistake not to show up a couple of days, in the state, before the caucus. And oh, no, trump has changed all the rules of the game. Hes decided its a good idea to show up. Theres a lot of pressure on him now. Hes never had that kind of pressure on him. On the democratic side, donna, the two democrats, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton really going at it. Bernies got a doubledigit lead here. They set the themes for what could be a Long Campaign going forward. Theres no question. Senator sanders is not just what i call the next door neighbor. Hes the favorite son of progressives and liberals in this state. Hillary clinton knows she has to close the gap with young people. Shes out there with one message im going to fight for you, im going to stand up for you. We are expecting a big turnout on tuesday. Matthew dowd, seven candidates up on that stage tonight, but realistically, only three, maybe four will be viable candidates after this primary here on tuesday. I think theres four tickets out of this debate tonight and out of New Hampshire and the voting goes forward as it goes forward. I think the one person, also to watch in this, is john kasich. John kasich has put all of his chips on the table here in New Hampshire. Hes done 100 town halls. And i think you see, and you through . And there is a possibility, if john kasich does well tonight, that he breaks into the top three and gets a ticket out. He was making a plea to democrats. Today, he said, i should be primary. Because he sees so many people say, im a democrat, but youre the one republic i can support. And actually, in New Hampshire, you can. Because democrats and independents can vote in the republican primary. Democrats, it has to be an dependent on the day coming in, tuesday. Debates just a second away. Well be right back. Abc news live coverage of the New HampshireRepublican Debate will continue in a moment. Theres a voice of a daredevil in all of us. That urges us to shake things up, to turn up the heat, and take bigger risks. Why should damaged hair silence that voice . New dove regenerative nourishment with red algae complex in a formula that nourishes to regenerate extremely damaged hair. 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The candidates are all here and the New HampshireRepublican Debate starts now. The time is here. Its make or break. Starting now. The republicans debate. Manchester, New Hampshire. David muir and Martha Raddatz. Good evening, again. Everyone. This is the First Time Since iowa and the only time before the New Hampshire primary that the republican candidates will have the opportunity to face each other. The people of iowa have been heard. Now its New Hampshires turn. In just three days, voters here will decide who they think should be the republican nominee for president. Questions of leadership and character have dominated the news ever since the Iowa Caucuses a few days ago. Here with us to question the candidates this evening, josh mckelvin from wmur here in manchester, and author and commentator Mary Katherine hamm. Lets welcome the candidates for the republican nomination for president. New jersey governor Chris Christie. Texas senator ted cruz. Businessman donald trump. Florida senator marco rubio. Former florida governor, jeb bush. And Ohio Governor john kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, the republican candidates. And dr. Ben carson, please come out on the stage. Hes standing there, as well. And donald trump. And lastly, we welcome back to the debate stage, donald trump. I can sbo introduce kasich . Yes, yes, were going to introduce Ohio Governor john kasich. The applause so loud here in the hall. The applause you couldnt hear, we couldnt hear, either. Thats a good sign for the excitement this evening. Gentlemen, thank you for being here tonight, just days before voters here in New Hampshire make their decisions. The rules are simple. And have been agreed to by all the campaigns. There will be 60 seconds to answer and if another candidate is mentioned in that answer, seconds to respond. There are green, yellow and red lights that each candidate will see to signal when time is up and they will also hear this sound. So, lets get started. We welcome you all to the debate stage here tonight. Were going to tackle the issues americans are most concerned about, the economy, isis, homeland security. And here in New Hampshire, some of the most heated rhetoric yet over who is best suited to step in on day one, who has the experience, who has the temperament to be commander in chief. Mr. Trump, senator cruz has said about you right here in New Hampshire this week, quote, i dont know anyone who would be comfortable with someone who behaves this way, having his finger on the button. Were liable to wake up one morning, and if he were president , he would nuke denmark. Temperament to keep this country safe. I think i have the best temperament. I built a massive corporation. I employ thousands and thousands of people. Ive gotten along with people for years and years, have tremendous relationships with many people, including politicians on both sides. And no matter how you cut it, when i came out, i hit immigration, i hit it very hard. Everybody says, oh, the temperament, because i talked about illegal immigration. Now, everybodys coming to me, theyre all trying to say, well, hes right, we have to come to him. I hit other things. I talked about muslims. We have a problem. Nobody else wanted to mention the problem. I brought it up. I took a lot of heat. We have to have a temporary something, because theres something going on thats not good. And remember this, im the only one up here, when the war in iraq i was the one that said, dont go, dont do it, youre going to destabilize the middle east. Im not one with the trigger. Im not one with the trigger. Other people up here, believe me, would be a lot faster. But ill build the mill arbitrary stronger, bigger, better, and nobody is going to mess with us. Mr. Trump, thank you. I want to bring this to senator cruz then. You did said of trumps behavior, thats not the tempt program of a leader to keep this country safe. Why not . Well, the assessment the voters are making here, they are evaluating each and every one of us. They are looking to our experience. They are looking to our knowledge. They are looking to our temperament and judgment. They are looking to our clarity of vision and our strength of resolve. The world is getting much more dangerous. Weve had seven years with barack obama in the oval office, a commander in chief that is unwilling even to acknowledge the enemy were facing. This is a president who, in the wake of paris, in the wake of san bernardino, will not even use the word radical islamic terrorism, much less focus on defeating the enemy. I am convinced, every individual standing on this stage, would make a much better commander in chief than barack obama or Hillary Clinton or bernie and the primary voters are making the assessment for each of us, who is best prepared to keep this country safe, to rebuild the military, to rebuild our navy, our air force, our army, our marines, and to ensure that we keep america safe. Senator cruz, i did ask about mr. Trum. You said he doesnt have the temperament. Do you stand by those words . I think that is an assessment the voters are going to make. They are going to assess who is levelheaded. Who has clear vision. Who has judgment. Who can confront our enemies, who can confront the threats we face in this country. And who can have the judgment when to engage and when not to engage, both are incredibly important for a commander in chief, knowing how to go after our enemies. In the case of iran, for example, who has the clarity of vision to understand that the ayatollah, when he chants death to america, he means it. We need a president with the this country safe. Senator cruz, thank you. Were going to continue on this notion of readiness am i allowed to respond . I have to respond. If you would like to. I respect what ted just said, but if you noticed, he didnt answer your question. And thats whats going to happen its okay. Thats whats going to happen with our enemies and the people we compete against. Were going to win with trump. Were going to win. We dont win anymore. Our country doesnt win anymore. Were going to win with trump. And people back down with trump. And thats what i like and thats what the country is going to like. Mr. Trump, thank you. And were going to continue on this notion of readiness and on experience, but i want to ask about a headline that was back in the papers again this morning. Dr. Carson, on the day of the Iowa Caucuses, the Cruz Campaign sentous messages saying dr. Ben carson will be planning to suspend his Campaign Following tonights caucuses. As we can all see, you are Still Standing here tonight. Late this week, your campaign sent this email, quote, this kind of deceitful behavior is why the American People dont trust politicians. If senator cruz does not act, then he clearly represents d. C. Values. What kind of action do you think senator cruz should take . Well, you know, when i wasnt introduced number two, as was the plan, i thought maybe he thought i already had dropped out, but but you know, today is the 105th anniversary, or 105th birthday of Ronald Reagan. His 11th commandment was not to speak ill of another republican, so, im not going to use this opportunity to savage the reputation of senator cruz. But i will say i will say i will say that i was very disappointed that members of his that they thought that after having hundreds, if not thousands of volunteers and College Students who sacrificed their time and were dedicated to the cause, one even died, to think that i would just walk away ten minutes before the caucus and say, forget about you guys i mean, who would do Something Like that . I dont think anyone on this stage would do Something Like that. And to assume that someone would would, what does that tell you . So, unfortunately, it did happen. It gives us a very good example of certain types of washington ethics. Washington ethics, basically says, if its legal, you do what you need to do in order to win. Thats not my ethics. My ethics is, you do whats right. Thank you. Senator cruz, you have said that dr. Carson and his wife have become friends of yours. Im curious why you didnt call ahead of time to either the doctor or his wife or had your Campaign Check in before sending out those messages. Ben is a good and honorable man and ben and candy have become friends. He has an amazing life story that has inspired millions including me. When this transpired, i apologized to him then and i do so now, ben, im sorry. Let me tell you the facts of what occurred for those who are interested in knowing. On monday night, about 6 30 p. M. , cnn reported that ben was not going from iowa to New Hampshire or South Carolina, rather, he was, quote, taking a break from campaigning. They reported that on television television, cnns political anchors, jake tapper and dana bash and wolf blitzer said it my Political Team saw cnns report breaking news and they forwarded that news to our volunteers, it was being covered on live television. Now, at the time, i was at the caucuses, i was