Donald Trump's absence from the debate stage Thursday night allowed his Republican rivals to relax. But that didn't necessarily help his top challenger, Ted Cruz.
How Donald Trump has changed the Republican Party 鈥� and American politics 鈥� no matter what the outcome in 2016.
Ted Cruz, once an aspiring actor, mixes levity 鈥� some of it provocative 鈥� and an impression of JFK into his near-apocalyptic warnings about the future.
Political wisdom has held that religious rhetoric works in evangelical Iowa but not secular New Hampshire. But Ted Cruz is not easing up. It's one sign of how presidential campaigns are changing.
Thursday night's debate amplified issues that could loom large in the final weeks before voting starts.
At a time when fiery rhetoric appears to be ascendant, both President Obama and GOP responder Nikki Haley called for tolerance and lowered voices.
President Obama delivers his last State of the Union Tuesday night. Past two-term presidents show accomplishments are possible in the final year in office.
Marco Rubio's appeal as the Reaganesque optimist hasn't caught on, while the intense rhetoric of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz has.
GOP presidential candidates decry Obama's use of executive power 鈥� but if any win the presidency, they'd likely be just as aggressive.
One candidate is Ben Carson, who has sunk in the polls and recently called the campaign process 鈥榩retty brutal.鈥� But others have challenges, too.
Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, both rising in the polls, staged their own spirited debate on immigration and national security in Tuesday's Republican presidential debate.
Some Republicans worry that if Donald Trump or Ted Cruz wins the nomination, the party will be crushed, as Barry Goldwater was in 1964. But times have changed.
Sen. John McCain didn't go after Donald Trump explicitly, but he warned Wednesday that a weak Republican nominee could jeopardize GOP control of the Senate.
The endorsement of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie by New Hampshire's Union Leader could prompt voters to look at him differently.
Former Gov. Jeb Bush was always a policy wonk, unlike his folksy older brother. Now he's struggling in his presidential bid, but Floridians expect him to fight to the end.
When Marco Rubio cast the election as a 'generational choice,' he took a page out of the Obama playbook to portray himself as the candidate of future. It could work.
The Obama administration will appeal to the Supreme Court after a lower court blocked its immigration actions. That puts the issue front and center in the presidential race.
Both Ben Carson and Donald Trump have attacked political correctness on the campaign trail. But for Mr. Carson, it's a core political goal.
American and Russian 'citizen diplomats,' meeting near Washington, concluded it was time for a Millennial dialogue. A top US foreign policy official is all for it.
On the eve of the Republican debate, Ben Carson is now the clear front-runner in Iowa and has even pulled ahead of Donald Trump in one national poll.
