Attacks fly at GOP undercard debate

There were plenty of attacks on Hillary Rodham Clinton and President Obama in Thursday's early GOP presidential debate, featuring the seven candidates who didn't qualify for the 9 p.m. prime-time event in Cleveland.

But perhaps the more revealing moments in the hour-long event, referred to by some as the "happy hour" debate, came when second-tier candidates took shots at 2016 rivals who are performing better in the polls, such as Donald Trump and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

Carly Fiorina, former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, said Trump had tapped into Americans' frustration with "politics as usual."

But she asserted that Trump, who leads the 17-candidate field in the polls, had changed his positions on "amnesty" for illegal immigrants, abortion, and health care.

"What are the principles by which he will govern?" Fiorina asked.

Asked by a Fox News moderator if Trump had gotten the better of her thus far, Fiorina replied, "I didn't get a phone call from Bill Clinton before I jumped in the race," referring to a Washington Post report that the former president had spoken with the real estate mogul before he announced his candidacy.

"Did any of you get a phone call from Bill Clinton?" she asked.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has described Trump as a "cancer" on conservatism, asked of Trump, "How can you run for the Republican nomination and be for single-payer health care?"

Trump in the past praised single-payer systems but more recently said he did not think they would work in this country.

Perry also waded into the immigration debate, which Trump has seized as part of his message to "make America great again."

"Nobody on either one of these stages has done more than I have done, and the people of the state of Texas, to deal with securing that border," Perry said.

The federal government needs to secure the border before it can address immigrants living here illegally already, he said.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal criticized Bush's stated strategy of being willing to risk losing GOP primaries to win the general election.

"That's the establishment telling us to hide our conservative principles to get the left and the media to like us," Jindal said. "That never works. If we do that again, we will lose again, and we will deserve to lose again."

Taking a dig at Bush's moderate stance on immigration, Jindal said the GOP must insist that "immigration without assimilation is an invasion."

Jindal also said states should not expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, as Gov. Christie did in New Jersey and Gov. John Kasich did in Ohio.

Also on stage was former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, the runner-up to GOP nominee Mitt Romney in 2012.

He sought to cast himself as the lone champion of the working class, saying he would reduce immigration to help Americans and place a greater emphasis on the manufacturing sector.

"There's nobody out there looking out for the American worker," he said. "I'm looking out for the American worker."

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham articulated a muscular foreign policy, declaring that any candidate who wouldn't commit to sending American ground troops to Iraq and Syria was "not ready to be commander in chief" and "not serious about destroying ISIL," also known as the Islamic State or ISIS.

He later added, "These mythical Arab armies . . . that are going to protect us don't exist."

Rounding out the seven-member field in the early debate were former Gov. George Pataki of New York and former Gov. Jim Gilmore of Virginia.

Pataki argued that he was best positioned for the presidency because of his experience governing in "deep blue" New York, while Gilmore cited his experience as governor of Virginia during the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon.

"It's time for real substance and real experience," Gilmore said.

Even though the candidates missed out on the main event, analysts said they had much to gain Thursday.

"I think it's going to get more press, more publicity, more recognition than people think," said G. Terry Madonna, a pollster at Franklin and Marshall College.

"Anything they can do to raise name recognition" and develop their profile among GOP primary voters is important, Madonna said.