GOP Debate: Trump remains center of attention as Rubio and Cruz look to chip into lead

Billionaire Donald Trump said in Thursday night's GOP debate that he was reshaping the Republican Party, by drawing in a wider swath of people.

'We are building a new Republican Party: A lot of new people are coming in,” Trump said, after a question about how he would attract Hispanic voters after making his calls for a mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. 'I will do really well with Hispanics. I will do better than anybody on this stage . . . I'm telling you also, I'm bringing people, Democrats over, independents over, and we're building a much bigger, much stronger Republican Party.”

In this last debate before the crucial primaries on Super Tuesday next week, Trump faced attacks from both Sen. Marco Rubio (Florida) and Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas), who challenged his business record and his shifts on issues important to conservatives.

'We're always looking for converts into the conservative movement,” Rubio said, meaning that Trump was a recent convert. He was responding to a question about the replacement a President Trump might appoint to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative icon: 'I have a doubt about whether Donald Trump, if he becomes president, will replace Justice Scalia with someone like Justice Scalia.”

Trump still seemed willing to break with conservative orthodoxy, praising Planned Parenthood, an institution reviled by many on the right because of its involvement in abortion: 'Millions and millions of women, cervical cancer, breast cancer, are helped by Planned Parenthood,” Trump said. 'I would defund it because I'm pro-life, but millions of women are helped by Planned Parenthood.”

The other two candidates on the stage - Ohio Gov. John Kasich and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson - seemed happy to be bystanders while Rubio and Cruz fired upon Trump.

Kasich repeatedly condemned the arguments onstage and used his opening statement to make a nonpolitical statement, urging children to follow their dreams. 'America is great, and you can do it,” Kasich said.

Carson, as usual, was a mild presence on the stage - but still showed a gift for vivid metaphor. Asked how he would evaluate a potential Supreme Court appointee's record, Carson responded: 'The fruit salad of their life, is what I would look at.”

Rubio launched a volley of attacks at front-runner Trump in Thursday night's GOP debate, focusing on an area of strength for Trump: his business record. Rubio criticized the front-runner's management of 'Trump University,” his bankruptcies at his companies, and his use of undocumented immigrants to work on one of his properties in New York.

'If he hadn't inherited $200 million, you know where Donald Trump would be? Selling watches in Manhattan,” Rubio said.

Trump responded by saying that Rubio had exaggerated his inheritance from his father, and by saying that Rubio had never run a business at all. He referred to a case in which Rubio sold a house to a lobbyist at a significant profit. 'He sells it to a lobbyist, who's probably here,” Trump said.

In the first hour of Thursday's debate, Rubio was strikingly more aggressive than he had been, and Trump - who had benefited as other candidates attacked one another - was the subject of a number of attacks. Earlier in the debate, Rubio and Cruz teamed up to attack Trump for switching his position on immigration - and for hiring illegal immigrants - during Thursday night's Republican debate, taking the fight to the Republican front-runner at a moment when he is close to running away with the race.

'You're the only person on this stage that's ever been fined for hiring people to work on your projects illegally,” Rubio said, referring to a decades-old legal judgment against Trump for hiring undocumented Polish workers at one of his projects in New York. At the time, Trump maintained that he did not know the workers were undocumented.

'I'm the only one on this stage that's hired people,” Trump said, in a rebuke to Rubio, who has spent nearly all of his life in politics.

'People can look it up,” Rubio said, pressing on. 'I'm sure people are googling it right now.” As the two talked over each other ('Wrong. Wrong.” 'That happened!”), Trump used the same kind of shutdown he had used on former Florida governor Jeb Bush, now out of the race: 'Let me talk.”

Cruz then picked up the attack, saying that he had battled a 2013 effort to pass immigration reform and give undocumented immigrants a legal pathway to citizenship.

'Where was Donald? He was firing Dennis Rodman on Celebrity Apprentice,” Cruz said, mocking Trump's long career in reality television. He then said Trump had donated to many of the reform bill's sponsors: 'When you're funding open-border politicians, you shouldn't be surprised when they fight for open borders.”

Trump had a comeback ready, based on Cruz's unpopularity in the Senate: 'You get along with nobody,” Trump said .”You don't have one Republican senator backing you. Not one.”

Cruz had a comeback for that, too, though it lacked some of the zing of Trump's: 'Donald, if you want to be liked in Washington, that's not a good attribute for a president.”

Rubio began the debate with a veiled attack on Trump, saying that he hoped the Republican Party would not lose the hopeful identity that came from Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

'They also appealed to our hopes and our dreams. Now we have to decide if we're still going to be that kind of party,” Rubio said. 'Or if we're going to be a party that preys on people's anger and fear.”

Rubio had signaled before the debate that he intended to be more harshly critical of Trump, who has benefitted as Rubio, Cruz and others battled in his shadow. That opening statement was a sign he might - although he didn't actually mention Trump by name. Trump has called for mass deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants, and for barring Muslim foreigners from entering this country.

Later, Rubio attacked Trump for changing his positions on immigration - and for hiring foreigners to work at his properties in Florida.

'Donald, you've hired a significant number of people from other countries to take jobs that Americans might have filled,” Rubio said, noting that his mother - an immigrant from Cuba - worked as a maid at a hotel, and that people like her would have been excluded from Trump's properties.