Tonight, the Republicans still running for president will gather in Boulder, Colorado, for a debate hosted by CNBC. This is the third Republican debate of the 2016 election cycle, and it’s a potentially momentous one. According to the most recent round of polls, Donald Trump is no longer the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, having fallen behind neurosurgeon Ben Carson. Since we know that Trump is thin-skinned and prone to lashing out at perceived enemies, his second-place status could lead him to act out on stage, thereby creating an opening for another candidate to make inroads over the course of the evening.
Contenders of particular interest include Jeb Bush, who is keen to assert himself as a viable candidate after a dispiriting summer of campaigning; Ted Cruz, who is taking an increasingly hands-on approach to rolling up onetime Trump supporters; and Marco Rubio, who is being dinged as the media-appointed frontrunner in wake of a spate of news analyses pointing out that Rubio is the strongest candidate running on the Republican side.
Alternatively, those of us who are longing to “Make America Great Again,” as Trump’s hat falsely promises, might prefer to watch the San Antonio Spurs, who open their season tonight in Oklahoma City. Both events are at 7 p.m. central time. Feel free to follow along with either in the comments section.
