Donald Trump and Carly Fiorina will dominate the second Republican presidential debate on Wednesday, with Jeb Bush and Scott Walker potentially losing more ground, Michael Reagan tells
Newsmax TV.
"Carly was the big winner back in the last debate. What's going to happen this debate? It's going to be Carly against Trump," Reagan, a political commentator and son of Ronald Reagan, said Tuesday to J.D. Hayworth and Miranda Khan, hosts of "Newsmax Prime."
"Both them business people, both of them successful. She may be the only one that can really take him on on the dais tomorrow night ...
"Where is Ben Carson going to fit in? He's going to have more than one answer at the end of the night. The big losers again could be Jeb Bush, could be Scott Walker.”
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In a
New York Times/CBS News survey of GOP primary voters released Tuesday, Trump remains the frontrunner with 27 percent. But retired pediatric neurosurgeon Carson is closing in with 23 percent — a statistical tie when the margin of error of plus or minus 6 percentage points is weighed in.
The poll also shows Bush, the former Florida governor in second place with 13 percent last month, now with just 6 percent support. That places him in an uncomfortable three-way tie for third with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.
Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, has plummeted from 10 percent and third place in August, to just 2 percent, or 10th place, in the latest poll.
Reagan said Trump called him to chat on Monday.
"I said, 'If you think you're going to win the nomination of this party, Donald, the reality is you can't blow the building up on the way through it and expect all these people to come together behind you if you want to win the election next November. You have got to learn to tape it down and go forward,'" Reagan said.
The billionaire developer tried to justify his take-no-prisoners bluster, according to Reagan.
"What he said to me [was] 'I don't attack first, I attack after people attack me.' And I said, 'Donald, people are attacking you on the issues, you're attacking them, personally. It's hard to come back from attacking people personally. You've got to find, in fact, another way,'" Reagan said.
"I was kind of glad to hear the way he spoke yesterday in Dallas, he toned it down a bit. How much will he tone it down tomorrow? Don't know."
"In the political world, if you listen, you win. If you don't listen, [it's] the ash heap of history."
Reagan said for Walker, the CNN debate is a "make it or break it" moment.
"It's really interesting, Scott Walker's people keep on calling me, but Scott Walker's never on the phone," Reagan said.
He said he told Sen. Ted Cruz's campaign handlers that the Texas Republican has to "quit being the attorney, quit trying to sell the package to the jury every time and closing this deal."
Reagan added that Huckabee made a "huge mistake" by identifying with Kentucky clerk Kim Davis and her battle against issuing same-sex marriage licenses.
He said Huckabee was wrong in cozying up to "that little segment within the Christian community and trying to lay his groundwork there, [thinking] that's going to get him through Iowa."
Watch Newsmax TV GOP Debate Special starting tonight at 10 pm ET with exclusive commentary and analysis from Dr Ben Carson, Michael Reagan, Scott Walker, and Dick Morris.