Republicans Debate – Trump Won’t Rule Out Third Party Run

CLEVELAND (AP) — Billionaire real estate mogul and Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is making no apologies for his past crude comments about women.

At the first GOP presidential debate Fox news host Megyn Kelly sharply questioned how Trump has described women in the past, criticizing their bodies and making sexually suggestive statements on his television show.

Trump tried to joke initially, saying the statements were only about liberal actor Rosie O'Donnell. But he said testily that he didn't have time for "total political correctness."

Trump also was the only one of 10 candidates in the Fox News debate to raise his hands when asked if anyone onstage would not pledge to support the eventual party nominee.

GOP-2016 DEBATE

Lower-polling candidates take part in GOP pre-debate

CLEVELAND (AP) — He wasn't among the seven GOP presidential candidates selected by the Fox News Channel to take part in today's pre-debate, but Donald Trump was criticized by two of the candidates.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Trump is "using his celebrity rather than his conservatism."

Trump has mocked Perry by saying he wears glasses to appear smarter. When asked about Trump, former CEO Carly Fiorina responding by asking her six rivals on stage if any of them had received a call from Bill Clinton before they jumped into the election. She said that was probably because they hadn't made a donation.

All of the candidates offered similar positions on immigration, abortion restrictions and national defense. Sen. Lindsey Graham went further by saying he supports sending ground forces to fight extremists in Iraq and Syria.

Also taking part in the forum were former Sen. Rick Santorum, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former New York Gov. George Pataki and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore.

The one-hour face-off ran over about 20 minutes.