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Republican U.S. presidential candidates (L-R) Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich pose together at the start of the U.S. Republican presidential candidates debate in Detroit, Michigan, March 3, 2016. Reuters

UPDATE: 10:55 p.m. EST — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said he wants to send a message to police officers: "I will have your back."

UPDATE: 10:45 p.m. EST — The next president of the United States will have a foreign political mess to clean up, and Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are not up to the task, Marco Rubio said. Trump responded by saying Rubio is not a leader. Rubio then said Trump didn't want to answer the question.

"When I say they will do as I tell them, they will do as I tell them," Trump said.

UPDATE: 10:35 p.m. EST — Sen. Ted Cruz said he would leave the question of gay marriage and adoption to states after the Supreme Court "wrongfully" tore down the laws of all 50 states with last year's decision to legalize gay marriage. "When it comes to core principals and convictions... I will never compromise away your religious liberty," Cruz said.

UPDATE: 10:20 p.m. EST — Shouting about penis size and height -- is this the type of discourse America wants in a general election? That's what Texas Sen. Ted Cruz asked viewers during Thursday night's Republican debate in Michigan after an hour of Donald Trump making angry comments about his rivals.

UPDATE: 10:05 p.m. EST — Ohio Gov. John Kasich says voting for outsiders is part of the problem but lawmakers need to be able to work together and compromise. "We must pick someone who has a record of achievement, not just talk," Kasich said.

UPDATE: 9:55 p.m. EST — Hillary Clinton's campaign is keeping a close eye on the nasty barbs exchanged during Thursday's Fox News Republican debate. “Shouting and chest-beating are not strategy,” her campaign tweeted.

UPDATE: 9:44 p.m. EST — Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said he will try again to pass immigration reform after his plan in the U.S. Senate was denounced by conservative Republicans. "It's not going to be an executive order and we are not going to jam it down their throats," he said.

The topic of immigration surfaced amid reports Donald Trump told the New York Times he isn't very serious about his plans to deport undocumented immigrants. Trump said he won't make recordings of that private interview public, but vowed to build a wall on the Mexican border even if he compromises with Congress on immigration policy. "I'm not playing to anyone's fantasies," he said.

UPDATE: 9:30 p.m. EST — Donald Trump defended his record of supporting Democrats in the past by noting that business leaders need to get along with different types of people. He said Washington should follow that example. "We need people to get along," he said minutes after repeatedly calling Marco Rubio "little."

UPDATE: 9:22 p.m. EST — Vote for Donald Trump because he became even richer after his father gave him $1 million. He said Thursday he turned that investment into $10 billion, a figure that has been widely disputed by fact-checkers.

“I say it not in a bragging way,” Trump said of his wealth, “but that’s the kind of thinking we need.”

UPDATE: 9:15 p.m. EST — Ohio Gov. John Kasich says the media wrote him off, but he is ready to win the White House as the elections moves to the Midwest, or “my turf,” as he called it. "People say everywhere I go, 'You seem to be the adult on the stage,'" he said.

UPDATE: 9:10 p.m. EST — After Marco Rubio made fun of Donald Trump's small hands and all that might imply, Trump reassured the nation Thursday night that he and his lady friends have nothing to worry about. That's right. The Republican front-runner just talked about his penis size in a debate.

UPDATE: 9:05 p.m. EST — The first question of the Republican debate Thursday centered on Donald Trump's growing feud with Mitt Romney. Trump was asked if he would respond to Romney's criticism with substance. Trump responded by calling Romney a failure

Trump was then asked about Ku Klux Klan supporters who have backed his campaign. He said he "totally" disavows the KKK. "Take a look at my Twitter account," he said.




UPDATE: 8:55 p.m. EST — Protesters gathered outside the Fox Theatre in Detroit Thursday night ahead of Thursday's Republican presidential debate to champion a minimum wage increase and equal human rights. "We're here today protesting the hateful rhetoric that has been spewed by the Republican Party, particularly Donald Trump," Hassan Sheikh, a member of the Michigan Muslim Community Council, told The Detroit News.

UPDATE: 8:20 p.m. EST — Donald Trump named Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., as chairman of his National Security Advisory Committee Thursday night as GOP leaders were pleading with voters to not take him seriously. “It is an honor to have Jeff as a member of the team. I have such great respect for him and I look forward to working with him on the issues most important to Americans," Trump said.

Sessions is considered a fierce critic of illegal immigration, while Trump has promised to build a wall on the Mexican border. The Alabama senator endorsed Trump last week, one of the few members of Congress to do so.

Original story:

With few wins between them, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz needed solid showings Thursday night as the remaining Republican presidential contenders took to the Fox News debate stage in Michigan. The televised showdown comes as GOP leaders scrambled to take down front-runner Donald Trump. The business mogul has been on the offense this week as a horrified Republican establishment angled to persuade voters to embrace anyone but Trump just days before a burst of new states weigh in.

The debate moderated by Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace begins at 9 p.m. EST live from Detroit's Fox Theater. Wallace described the last debate as "an embarrassment" for Republicans that lacked sufficient policy details.

"There were a lot of shots taken, a lot of shots scored," Wallace told Fox News' Bill O'Reilly earlier this week. "But there was precious little vision and almost no discussion of the issues. What are you going to do, how are you going to improve people's lives?"

Trump has become the top target of Republican leaders, even more so than Democrat Hillary Clinton, as he has dominated in the polls and at the ballot box. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the GOP's 2012 Republican nominee, upped the ante and gave a speech in Utah Thursday morning detailing a long list of reasons why Trump shouldn't be president, calling him, among other things, a con man and a liar.

But thousands of voters have shown that they are more than eager to see Trump in the White House — or at the very least send a message to the GOP that they want change. As Trump easily picked up seven wins across the nation Tuesday, Cruz won just three contests in Texas, Oklahoma and Alaska, while Rubio came ahead only in the Minnesota caucuses.

Rubio and Cruz are looking ahead to winner-take-all contests in Florida and Ohio on March 15, with their big hauls of delegates. Meanwhile, Michigan voters head to the polls next week, while voters in Puerto Rico, Maine, Kentucky and other states will cast ballots in contests held Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday.

Fox News' previous two GOP debates were the highest-rated telecasts in the channel's history. A record-breaking 24 million viewers tuned in for Fox's August 2015 debate. Social media users will be closely watching the showdown and chiming in using #GOPDebate. A live stream of the debate can be watched here.

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