the republican primary voter who will be polled how they did and well, how much they can turn around a campaign what is now a winnowing period and the exciting first few moments before the beginning of tonight's first republican debate hosted by --. announcer: the long road to election day every campaign has the turning point. every candidate looks for an opening. and sometimes it comes in the flash of a second. >> i paid for this microphone. announcer: tonight republican candidates for president are looking to capture their moment. south carolina has history of making and breaking campaigns and this week charleston is the center of the political universe. three days from now, the

democrats debate a few miles away. here in a city older than the country itself, from the revolutionary war to the civil war, to the war by the shore, south carolina prepares once again to take center stage and the republican candidates all hope that the spotlight of the palmetto state would shine upon them. ♪ [cheers and applause] moderator: good evening, welcome to the north charleston coliseum and performing arts center. tonight we hear from 10 republican candidates vying to become the next president of the united states. i'm trish regan along with my comoderator sandra smith. >> this evening fox business is bringing you the sixth republican presidential debate

of the 2016 campaign. for the next hour three of the candidates will be answering the questions voters want answered. moderator: let's introduce them. former hewlett-packard ceo carly fiorina. [applause] former arkansas governor mike huckabee. [cheers and applause] and former pennsylvania senator rick santorum. [cheers and applause] moderator: this debate will last one hour. each candidate has up to 90 seconds to respond to each question, one minute for each follow-up. moderator: when your time is up you will hear this bell. [bell ringing] let's dig in, in tuesday's state of the union address the president said our economy is strong. he cited the significant decline we've seen in unemployment rate and millions of jobs that have

been created. what is your assessment of the economy right now? i would like to hear from all of you on this one, beginning with miss fiorina? >> well, thank you, good evening, if i may begin by saying how honored to be standing here with two former iowa caucus winners. governor, senator. and how honored i am to be talking with all of you. you know, i'm not a political insider. i haven't spent my lifetime running for office. the truth is i have had and been blessed by a lot of opportunity to do a lot of things in my life and unlike another woman in this race i actually love spending time with my husband. [laughter] [applause] i'm standing here because i think we have to restore a citizen government in this country. i think we have to end crony capitalism.

the crony capitalism that starts with both trump trillion and hillary clinton the you know -- donald trump and hillary clinton. hillary clinton sits inside government and rakeses in millions and handing out favors. donald trump makes, the state of our economy is not strong. we have record numbers women living in poverty. we have young people who no longer believe the american dream applies to them. we have working families whose wages stagnated for decades all white the rich get richer, powerful get more powerful and wealthy and better connected get more connected. citizens. time to take our country back. [bell ringing] [applause] moderator: governor huckabee, same question to you. where do you see the country right now? >> i wish i saw the country in the same place that the president presented it to be the other night in the state of the union. he talked about how great the

economy was doing and i guess for the people he hangs out with it's probably doing great but the president should have stood in the line at the lay away counter at walmart just before christmas. he would have heard a very different story about the economy of america. i wish i could introduce him to the ly who cleans the building where our campaign headquarters is located in little rock. her name is kathleen. she works all day at a local hospital cleaning. then she goes to the building where a bank and our headquarters and other offices are and she spends another seven hours. she works 15 hours a day. i guarranty you she is not working 15 hours a day because she loves scrubbing toilets and sweeping floors. she is working that many hours because that's what it takes for her to make it work. she's not alone. there are people all over this country who are working like that. many of them working two jobs. they used to have one job.

that would take care of them. but because of wage stagnation which we've had for 40 years, because of the fact that they're punished for working harder, if they work that many hours the government gets more of their second shift than they do and as a result there are a lot of people who hurting today. i wish the president knew more of them. he might make a change in the economy and way he is managing it. [applause] moderator: thank you, governor huckabee. senator santorum. >> all he has to do is listen to the democratic debate to find out how bad the economy is. all they do is complain about hollowing out of middle of america and how america is struggling so badly and have to make these radical changes in washington. they have been in control for the last seven years. what have we seen? the most important jobs i believe in this country, the ones that fill the middle, for the 74% of americans who don't have a college degree between the age of 25 and 65 are manufacturing jobs.

your positive and your legislature and your team here have done an amazing job of bringing manufacturing jobs back to south carolina. [cheers and applause] right here. right here. in charleston, right down the street at boeing. you've done a great job. what's happened? you have gone this economy. you strengthened center of your state, the middle. that is because you know that if you're really going to create wealth and opportunity you have to give jobs and good-paying jobs for everybody. so what's happened? two million jobs, manufacturing jobs, have left this country because of barack obama. regulation, epa, work place regulations things driving people offshore. all because of his number one priority, global climate change. let me tell you this, mr. president. for every dollar of gdp trying china creates five times as much pollution as we do here. you want to loyer global climate change.

bring those jobs back to america and let american workers do that job with less pollution. [cheers and applause] moderator: thank you, senator santorum. moderator: thank you candidates. moving to the world stage. the middle east is on the brink of chaos. iran continues to provoke the united states. north korea claims it tested a hydroagain bomb and afghanistan is in falling back into taliban hands. critics of the administration say it's all due to lack of u.s. leadership. to you, miss fiorina, how do you see america's role in the world today? >> america must lead because when we do not lead, when this exceptional nation does not lead, the world is more dangerous and a more tragic place. barack obama, hillary clinton, john kerry, they all refuse to lead. worse, they refuse to respond when this nation is provoked. hillary clinton famously asked,

what difference does it make how four americans died in benghazi. mrs. clinton, here's what difference it makes. when you do not stand up and say the truth, this was a purposeful terrorist attack, when you do not say the united states of america will retaliate for that attack, terrorists assume it's open season. we have refused to respond to every provocation. the president wouldn't even mention the fact that iran had taken two navy boats and our sailors hostage. he didn't mention the fact that they violated the geneva convention. he didn't respond to the fact that iran launched two ballistic missiles just a short time ago in direct violation of a deal they had just signed. we didn't respond to the fact that north korea attacked sony pictures. when we refused to respond, over and over and over to provocation and bad behavior we will get more provocation and bad behavior.

i know most of our allies personally. i have met many of our adversaries. i know our military and our intelligence capability and i know this, when we will not stand with our allies, when we will not respond to our adversaries when we do not lead in the world the world is dangerous and tragic place. i will be a commander-in-chief who will lead. [cheers and applause] moderator: thank you. let's continue talking about the middle east, senator santorum. conflict between saudi arabia and iran certainly escalated amid accusations saudi arabia bombed the iranian embassy in yemen after the saudi embassy in tehran was attacked. as we confront an increasingly unstable middle east how will you as president navigate this administration's promises to iran of standing by our historic allies in the region? >> well the historic promises that we've made to iran in this

agreement need to be torn up on the first day in office of the next president. [applause] and let me tell you why. because iran has already torn it up. iran has not approved the agreement that president obama has said that they have approved they have approved a different agreement in their parliament. the fact of the matter they have violated this agreement. carli mentioned some of those violations. they launched ballistic missiles, tested them in clear violation. here is the pathetic part. the president announced they would impose sanctions. president rouhani went on twitter said there would be retaliation. what did we do? we backed down. ladies and gentlemen, there are 50 some citadel cadets in this audience tonight. [cheers and applause] i want to ask them to stand up if they will. here is what i want to tell each

and everyone of them as you stand. here's what i want to tell them. [cheers and applause] whether it your watching that movie this weekend that just came out where we abandoned our men and women in benghazi, whether it's we treat iran that gave courtesies to our sailors as they made them record a hostage video, let me tell you this, if you choose to serve this country, i will have your back. i will not let america be trampled money more by these radical jihadists. [applause] moderator: thank you, senator santorum. moderator: governor huckabee. in afghanistan, the taliban is strengthening. attacks are on the rise and

thousands more civilians have been wounded or killed. much of the taliban surge can be attributed to the withdrawal of u.s. forces there. you have expressed skepticism with the war there saying you see no endgame in sight. what then is your solution to the growing conflict there? >> let me put that in context. when i went to afghanistan i saw a land that looked like the land of "the flinstones." it was desolate. it was barren, it was primitive and it's been that way for thousands of years. they want to take the world back to be just like that. we don't. we need to make a clear goal as to why we want to be anywhere in the middle east and i'll tell you why we want to be and need to be is to destroy radical islam and everything that threatens civilization. it's not just a threat. [applause] to israel or to america, it's a threat to every civilized person on this earth.

and we need to be equiping not only the kurds in iraq, we need to be making sure that those who are willing to fight radical muslims will do it but we need to never ever spend a drop of american blood unless there is a clearly defined goal. and we can't make sure we win unless we have a military that's the strongest in the history of mankind. we've got to rebuild our navy. it is the smallest navy we've had since 1915 when my grandfather got on a destroyer in world war i when he was in the u.s. navy. we've got young men in the air force, b-52s, one in particular, he is flying a b-52 that his father flew in the '80s and his grandfather flew in the '50s. those planes are older than me. we have got to have a military that the world is afraid of, use it sparingly, but when we do the

whole world will know america is on their tail and they will be on their tail on the ground, never ever to rise again. moderator: if i follow up on that, do we need to be in afghanistan? >> only if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical islammists who are against us. as far as what are we going to make it look like, frankly i don't know what we can make it look like. you can't create for other people a desire for freedom and democracy. and frankly that is not the role of the united states. the role of the united states military is not to build schools, it is not to build bridges, it is not to go around and pass out food packets. it is to kill and destroy our enemy and make america safe. that is the purpose we should be there if we're going to be there. moderator: thank you, governor huckabee. [applause] moderator: miss fiorina, nearly 600 women say they were attacked in a german city on

new year's eve by men of arab or north african descent. 45% of those alleged attacks were sex i'm assaults. 22 of 32 men arrested so far are asylum-seekers. are you worried about similar problems in the united states? >> of course i'm worried about similar problems in the united states. we can not allow refugees to enter this country unless we can adequately vet them and we know we can't. therefore we should stop allowing refugees into this country. [applause] and by the way, we do not need to be lectured about why we're angry and frustrated and fearful because we've had an illegal immigration problem in this country for 25 years. we have every right to be frustrated about the fact that politicians stand up in election after election after election and problem miss us to fix the problem and yet it has never been fixed. i offer leadership that

understands that actions speak louder than words, that results count. we must secure our border. we must ticks our broken immigration system. we must enforce a pro-american immigration system that serves our interests, not the rest of the world. i understand what it takes to translate goals into results and that is what i will do as president of the united states. of course we should be worried, for heavens sakes, this administration has now told us they don't know who has overstayed a visa. this administration has told us they don't even bother to check facebook or twitter to find out who's pledging allegiance to jihadis. we can do better than this, citizens. we need to take our country back. [applause] moderator: i want to stay with you on this. the world shares a common enemy right now in the way of isis. russia, european union, saudi arabia, iran, china, we

all agree isis is a threat and it must be stopped. during world war ii the world partnered with joesph stalin who was arguably one of the most formidable -- despicable figures of the 20th century but they partnered with him to fight the nazis. today everyone seems to agree we need some kind of coalition to fight isis. do you agree with that? and if so, would your coalition include possibly russia and iran? >> we need to be very clear-eyed now about who are our allies and who are our adversaries. in the fight against isis saudi arabia is our ally, iran is our adversary. despite donald trump's bromance with vladmir putin, vladmir putin and russia are our adversary. we can not -- [applause] we can not outsource leadership

in the middle east to iran and russia. we must stand and lead. the kuwaitis, the jordanians, the saudis, egyptians, bahrainis, emmer rought at thises, the -- emeratis, i know all these leaders and they have asked for specific support, bombs, material, arms, intelligence. we're not providing any of it today. i will provide all of it. we have allies who will stand up and help us deny isis territory which is what we must do to defeat them. we must deny them territory. they will help us do this. yes, we need a coalition but only in the united states of america can lead such a coalition. i will lead it. but we must be clear-eyed through this fight, iran is our adversary, russia is our adversary. we can never outsource our leadership. only the united states of america can lead to defeat isis. i will. [applause] moderator: miss fiorina, thank

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♪ [applause] moderator: welcome back, everyone, to the republican presidential debate. on for the next round of questions. sandra. moderator: all right, let's get started. senator santorum, to you first. senator obama urged technology leaders to make it hard for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. hillary clinton says social media companies can help by swiftly shutting down terrorist

accounts. the companies say they're already working with law enforcement and any proposed legislation would do more harm than good. should companies like facebook and twitter be required by law to more actively, be more actively engaged in fighting terror? >> i would just say if we were doing a better job within the government we would not need the private sector to do the things we're asking them to do. [applause] i've had a little experience in this in the private sector myself and what i found was a government with layers and layers of bureaucracy, of people who had some technical expertise but they had no authority, number one. one of the things i found out about in the bureaucracy if a lot of people have authority, nobody has authority, number one, and number two, if you don't do anything, you don't get fired. it is only when you do something and something goes wrong you get fired so they do nothing. that is what is happening in our defense department right now. we have a capability they're trying to develop to play defense.

we have a lot of technologists very skilled and they're trying to figure out how to play defense but what we don't have, we don't have folks thinking about offense. we don't have warfighters. we have technologists. technologists are not warfighters. they figure outhow do i protect sigh birsecurity, how do i secure, how do i protect. how do we go after them, how do we respond? we need leadership that's willing to make sure when someone attacks us, and ladies and gentlemen, they're attacking us as we speak. they're attacking us all day every day, not just the government but they're attacking private sector companies all day every day. we they have to learn they will pay a price to do so. like every other aspect of our national security, people who attack us are not paying the price, we need a leader who will make sure that they know when they mess with america they're going to pay a price. moderator: senator, would you require anything of those companies like facebook and twitter if you were president? >> look, facebook and twitter

can teach us things. we can cooperate with them. we can share ideas and information but this is a very dicey area for the government to go in and require the industry to, to do its job. it needs to develop that capability. we need to have responsible dialogue but i don't think requirements are the order of the day. moderator: thank you, senator. [applause] moderator: miss fiorina, the president has just issued an executive order to expand gun laws and background checks and none of you on stage agree with this but recent polls show the majority of americans are in favor of universal background checks. [booing] >> not in this room. moderator: it is poll data. we. >> we all believe the poll data all the time, don't we? [applause] moderator: tell me why in your view is the president's proposal a problem?

>> oh, it's a problem for some reasons. first of all yet another lawless executive order. you see he doesn't like the fact that congress has rejected his ideas twice on a bipartisan basis. so he has decided he just gets to override them. sorry, mr. president, not the way the constitution works. secondly -- [applause] secondly, he basically admitted in that speech that he hasn't been paying much attention to enforcing laws we have. he said, gee, we need a few more fbi agents. that would have helped stop a tragedy in south carolina, dylann roof, a guy who clearly never should have been sold a gun. mr. president, you're right we need to enforce the laws we have. let's enforce the laws we have. there are criminals running around with guns that shouldn't have them. we don't prosecute any of them, less than 1%. i want to go back to the technology issue for a moment if i may, in this regard i disagree from senator santorum. i come from the technology

industry. i can tell you one thing bureaucracies don't know how to do, they do not know how to innovate. we have come seven generations of technology since 2011. we have bureaucracies that are incapable of bringing in that innovation. so yes, there are some very specific things we should ask the private sector to help us with, including making sure we have the latest and great in algorithms to search through all the databases so we find terrorists before they attack us, not after it's too late. finally we need a president who understands technology in the oval office. mrs. clinton, you actually can not wipe a server with a towel. [applause] moderator: miss fiorina, you said when you were ceo of hp you actually worked with the government to -- what did you do? >> as ceo of hewlett-packard i was asked very specifically for some very real help.

the help i was asked to provide, this is public information. i am not revealing that once was classified. we had a very large shipment of equipment, software and hardware headed to a retail outlet. and i was called by the head of the nsa, who had an urgent need for that capability, to begin laying out a program to track terrorists. we turned that truck around on a highway and it was escorted to the headquarters of nsa. in world war ii our government went to the private sector and said, help us do things that we can not do. the private sector has capabilities that the government does not have. there are some legal authorities that are required. the sony attack could have been detected and repelled had legal authorities been passed in congress allowing private networks and public networks to work together. those legal authorities have not yet been passed. yes, i was asked to help. i know the technology industry they will help again but they must be asked by a president who

understand what is they have. moderator: miss fiorina. thank you. [applause] moderator: governor huckabee, you've called president obama's executive orders on gun control unconstitutional and completely insane. [applause] >> yes i did. moderator: you even told gun store owners to ignore the president's orders. [applause] yet innocent people are dying from gun violence in cities like detroit, chicago and charleston every day. is there anything that can be done at the federal level to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals? >> well, why don't we start by making sure the justice department never does an idiotic program like fast and furious where the u.s. government put guns in the hands of mexican drug lords and end up killing

one of our border agents? they want to talk about law-abiding citizens. i just find it amazing the president keeps saying gun show loophole. there is no gun show loophole. i promise you've been to more fun shows than president obama and i bought more weapons at them you fill out forms. the president also says things it is easier to get a gun than it is groceries. again i purchased guns and i can assure you it is much more difficult to purchase a firearm than it is to get the ingredients of a salad at the supermarket. but the president keeps pushing ideas that never worked. ideas that would not have stopped san bernardino, sandy hook, aurora, and at some point you wonder, if you keep retrying things that don't work, maybe we should just see if we could resell all those used lottery tickets that didn't work real well because that's the logic of just keep doing the same thing with something that has failed.

of course we want to stop gun violence but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun-free zones where people who would have been law-abiding citizens who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it were not allowed to under the law. [applause] moderator: thank you, governor huckabee. moderator: governor huckabee, an american in san bernardino murdered 14 people while terrorists with belgium and french passports murdered 130 people. we're facing a threat within our borders and from outside the united states. those european terrorists, they could have come here at anytime, given that we have a visa waiver program that enables people to travel back and forth. it exists with those countries and 36 others. if countries around the world, including many in europe can not insure that their citizens are not jihadists, why are we

waiving the visa requirement at all? >> well we shouldn't be. one of the reasons why a lot of voices in our country are saying it is time to relook at the visa program. the european union is a failure. it has not allowed for even economic goals they were trying to achieve but what we're now seeing it is making europe less safe and it's proven not to be exactly what they all thought it was going to be. our first and foremost responsibility in this country, and first responsibility of the president of the united states is to protect america and protect americans. we have a president who seems to be more interested in protecting the reputation and image of islam than he is protecting us. and i want to be very clear that -- [cheers and applause] if this president makes comments like we did the other night we have to be so careful we don't want to offend muslims he needs to read his own fbi crime stats from last year which would show

him of the hate crimes in the country, over 5500, about 1100 were religious hate crimes, and of those, 58% were directed toward jews. only 16% directed towards muslims. maybe what the president should have talked about the other night how we ought to be more careful in anti-september mitt tick come -- anti-semetic comments going toward american jews than muslims because three times as targeted for religious hate crimes. moderator: if you get rid of the visa waiver program does it shut down international commerce. >> it does not shut down commerce but may slow it down. a slowed down commerce that makes us safer is worth it. this lady that came and joined san bernardino killer passed three background checks that's why a lot of americans didn't buy it because we'll bring in syrian refugees but don't worry we'll check them out.

we have a lot of confidence in a president who told us we could keep our doctor, we could keep our health insurance and it would cost us less. now the latest is if you like your gun and you can keep it too and we don't buy it. we don't believe it. he has lost his credibility and his inept inability to work with congress and pass legislation has led him to do what i never even imagined doing as a governor and that is just going and doing it my own way. that's why we elect a president is to lead, to be able to shepherd things through. if i can do it with a 90% democrat legislature in arkansas, there is no excuse for any president not being able to lead in washington if he knows what the heck he is doing when he gets there. [applause] moderator: thank you, governor huckabee. moderator: senator santorum, many of our military leaders believe america's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to a terrorist attack.

this is the power in our homes, the water we drink, the internet and phone systems by which we stay connected. if attacked, these essential services that underpin american society could come to a grinding halt. do you have a specific plan to protect us from this type of attack? >> well the most devastating attack that could owe your is electromagnetic pulse attack, that would be triggered by nuclear explosion number atmosphere of our country. the best way to stop that happening make sure those contemplating and war gaming talking about using it, iran, doesn't get a nuclear weapon so they can't explode thatdevice. [applause] the president of the united states has put iran on a path to a nuclear weapon and we have done nothing to do anything to harden our grid. there is actually a bill in congress that would put money forward to try to put redundancy

and harden our electric grid so it could actually survive an emp. an emp is a devastating explosion that sends a pulse that knocks out all electric, everything, everything that is connected to, that is wired, that has a circuit board gets fried out. everything is gone. cars stop. planes fall out of the sky. this is devastating attack and this president has done nothing, number one to take the most probable person, probable country to launch an attack and stop them and has done nothing to try to defend us, particularly our electric grid. the bottom line is, i put the original sanctions on the iranian nuclear program when i was in the united states senate. i've been fighting for 12 years with one thing in mind, that we must stop iran from getting a nuclear weapon. and -- [applause] because they're different than every other country. they do not want a nuclear weapon to defend themselves.

they want a nuclear weapon to have theological ends to bring about their mahdi so they can control the world. that is the most serious threat facing this country right now. moderator: senator santorum, i want to stay with you on this, moving to jobs and the economy. in his state of the union address the other night president obama touted his record on jobs citing more than 14 milliond boasted of nearly 900,000 manufacturing jobs added in the past six years. do you dispute his track record of creating jobs? >> well, the numbers just don't add up. they have not added manufacturing jobs. manufacturing jobs have been lost in country, two million of them. the bottom line this president has done more to take jobs away from the hard-working people who are struggling the most and that's folks who are, as i said the 74% of americans who don't have a college degree. they're out there talking about what we'll provide free college

for everybody. who is going to pay for it? the 74% that don't have a college degree. nobody's focused. let's be honest, nobody's focused on people who are struggling the most in america today. we talk about immigration. talk about the president's immigration plan. he wants to bring in more and more people into this country. let people who are here illegally stay in this country. almost all the people who are here illegally, most of the people who came here legally over the last 20 years, they're working in wage-earning jobs. that is why wages have flat-lined. we unfortunately two political parties with most of the candidates in this field for some form of amnesty, some form of allowing people to stay here even though they're here illegally and for increasing levels of illegal immigration. i'm someone who believes we need to be parity stands for american worker. we need to send people back, i mean send people back, let me make one point. i was in storm lake, iowa, near a tyson's plant.

91% of the kids that go to elementary school are minority kids. they said, what are you going to do with all these people. they are families lived hire for a long time. [bell ringing] i will give them a gift, being able to help the country they were born in. i will export america, the education they were able to see. they learned english language. they learned about capitalism. they learned about democracy. you want to stop flow of immigrants. send six million mexicans, hondurans, guatemalans, back into their country to start a renaissance in their country so they won't be coming over here anymore. [applause] moderator: senator santorum. thank you. moderator: governor huckabee, former chairman of the joint chiefs, admiral mike mullen, has said the greatest threat our security is our national debt. our national debt is now on pace to top $19 trillion. yet you as well as miss fiorina

have laid forward no plan to reform entitlements. how can you say you're going to pay down our country's debt without cutting social security or medicare? >> well, first of all, remember social security is not the government's money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of their checks involuntarily their entire working lives. [applause] for the government to say well it is fault of working people that we have a social security problem, no. it is the fault of a government that used those people's money for something other than protecting those people's accounts. let's not blame them and punish them. [applause] but here is a fact, i sometimes hear republicans say we'll cut this and extend the age. a lot of times when i hear people say, let's make people work to their 70. that sound great for white-collar people sat at desk most of their lives. ever talk to anybody that stood on concrete floor for first 40 years of their working life. do you think they can stand another five, 10, many are retired or virtually crippled

because they worked hard and we'll punish them some more? i don't think so. here's the facts. [applause] 4% economic growth we fully fund social security and medicare. our problem is not that social security is just too generous to seniors. it isn't. our problem is, that our politicians have not created the kind of policies that would bring economic growth and i still support strongly that we get rid of the 77,000 pages of the monstrous tax code, pass the fair tax, supercharge this economy with the rocket fuel that happens with the consumption tax and we don't have to cut social security to any senior who has worked their lifetime for it. [applause] moderator: thank you, governor huckabee. moderator: we'll continue this conversation. we're taking a quick break. coming up the candidates plans for strengthening the middle class. we're live in north charleston with the republican presidential

debate. we'll be right back. [applause] ♪ ♪ i built my business with passion. but i keep it growing by making every dollar count. that's why i have the spark cash card from capital one. i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy for my studio. ♪ and that unlimited 2% cash back from spark means thousands of dollars each year going back into my business... that's huge for my bottom line. what's in your wallet?

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♪ [applause] moderator: welcome back to the republican presidential debate live from north charleston. we want to jump right back in. sandra is kicking it off. moderator: thanks, trish. let's get started with miss fiorina. today the middle class represents 50% of the u.s. population, down from about 61% back in 1971, according to pew research. the same research reveals a widening income gap in america. the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. what will you do to strengthen middle class that is no longer the majority? >> for decades the professional political class of both parties has been talking about the

middle class. for decades republicans in particular have been talking about reducing the size and scope of government, spending less money, reducing the complexity, yet for 40 years the government has to then bigger and more expensive. we have now 75,000 plus page tax code although politicians run for decades promising reform. all the while middle class incomes have stagnated. you see when government gets bigger and bigger, more powerful, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and middle class getses sized. we -- gets squeezed. we need more jobs to grow the middle class and grow the wages of the middle class. who creates jobs? small businesses, new businesses, family owned businesses. [applause] they create 2:00 heards of the new jobs in this -- 2/3s of the new jobs. i started out with a nine person firm and my husband frank

started out driving a tow truck for family owned auto body shop. we're crushing small businesses and destroying the middle class. here is my blueprint to take back america. let us first actually reform the tax code from 73,000 pages down to three. there is 20-year-old plan to do exactly that. let's begin piece by piece to focus on every single dollar the government spend so we will spend overall and still have enough for our priorities. that right requires the government to budget way you do home. examine any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. the fancy term is zero based budgeting but i call it common sense. citizens, we have to take our country back. [applause] moderator: thank you, miss fiorina. moderator: governor huckabee, it used to be you could graduate from high school, get a pretty good job at a local factory, enough to take care of your family and yourself. those days seem to be gone. pretty hard to do that now adays. businesses are increasingly

turning to automation to increase their productivity levels. it is happening right here in fact at the boeing factory in north charleston. the president says automation threatens workers ability to get higher wages. do you agree with that? if so, do you have a solution? >> let me go back to the reason so many people are having a hard time getting ahead. the tax system punishes them. think about this. if you work really hard and you start moving up the economic ladder, you get bumped into a different tax bracket so the government thinks it deserves more of your hard work than you do. one of the reasons no matter how many different reforms you have to a tax on people's productivity, you're still taxing their works, their savings, you're taxing their capital gains, inheritance, dividends. taxing everything that produces something. it is why i really believe it's time to do something bold. not something minute.

this is no time for tap of hammer, twist of a screwdriver. time for something big. that is why the fair tax transforms our economy and we don't punish workers. it is only way we get middle class people moving ahead again because the harder they work the more they keep. no payroll tax deducted from their checks. they get their entire paycheck. and one of the most important parts, it is built on the common sense with which we raised our kids and trained dogs. you reward behavior you want more of. and you punish behavior you want less of. that is how i raised kids. it is how i trained our dogs and folks it is not that difficult. we now punish behavior we want more off, by taxing it and reward the behavior we want less of. if you make a good investment, we punish you with a tax. if you make a bad investment you can write that off and rest of taxpayers help subsidize you and help bail you out. [applause] moderator: thank you very much, governor hick bee.

senator santorum, 40% of babies born today are born to single moms. that's twice as high as reported back in 1980 and it's a 11 times as high as in 1940. studies show that children are always better off economically, most often and emotionally with two parents in a household, from a policy perspective, should the government be doing anything to encourage family formation? >> we had this debate about the economy. we haven't talked one issue now increasingly even the right, and the left are coming to agree with. i have run around doing 300 town hall meetings talking about a book written by a liberal harvard sociologist. not normal thing for me to be talking about, by the name of robert putnam, he wrote a book called "our kids." he wrote a book ostensibly support democratic argument middle of america hollowing out and income gap is widening and

rich is getting richer. when he studied all the information what was going on he realized that the biggest reason we're seeing hollowing out of middle of america is breakdown of the american family. the reality is, that if you're a single parent, child of a single parent and you grew up in a single parent family neighborhood and went to that single parent family school, the chance of you ever, ever, reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in america. ladies and gentlemen, i don't know about you, but that's not good enough. we have been too politically correct in this country because we don't want to offend anybody. to fight for the lives of our children. [applause] you want to be shocked? you read the first few chapters of dr. putnam's book. he talks about poor clinton, ohio, growing up there in the '50s, how poor kids actually survived and did well, even though they were poor and disadvantaged. he goes to towns today, and these kids are failing and failing miserably.

they don't have a shot! we won't even have the have courage to have leadership at federal level, not with legislation but the most powerful tool a president has, bully pulpit to encourage each and everyone you churches, businesses educators and community leaders have a national campaign to rebuild the american family and give every child his birthright which is a mom and dad who loves them. that will change this economy. [applause] moderator: thank you, senator. moderator: thank you, candidates. we're not finished yet. more from the republican presidential debate in north charleston. [applause] at every turn... when you're engineered to literally to drive circles around the competition.

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. moderator: welcome back, it's time for the closing statements. candidates will each get one minute, starting with senator santorum. >> thank you very much, i want to thank the people of charleston, which is a little bit of a second home to me, because i'm very privileged to have two young men who go to the citadel here, my son john and my son daniel. [cheering and applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, america is frustrated and angry and looking for someone who's a fighter but someone who's a winner, someone who can take on the establishment and make a difference, and take on someone who's going to be the person who's going to be between a republican holding the presidency and that's hillary clinton. and there's one person in this stage, one person in the race who's done it and done it

repeatedly. i've taken on hillary clinton on the issues you care about. partial-birth abortion. go and google rick santorum and hillary clinton you'll see a five-minute debate. i'll let you decide who won the debate. i'll tell you who won, i know i'm out of time, i'm going to take some of rand paul's time here for a second. [applause] >> if you're looking for someone who fought hillary clinton on iran sanctions, she was one of four deciding vote who voted against iran sanctions, i fought battles against her, in 1994 i ran against the clinton machine, when i took on the author of hillary care, and each one of those battles i won. you want a fighter, you want a winner, i'd appreciate your vote. thank you. [cheering and applause] . moderator: thank you, senator santorum. governor mike huckabee.

>> i'm sure i did fight the clinton machine because every election i was ever in, in arkansas, i assure you they were behind it helping finance and campaign for every opponent, and i share with you the understanding that it's going to be a tough battle. but i spent the first half of my adult life in the private and nonprofit sector, raising a family, understanding how tough it is for people to make it, and that first half of my life is what led me to believe that america needs a different kind of leadership, not people who spent their whole life running from one office to the next, and living off the government dime, and i got involved because i got sick of what i saw. i also believe that there's got to be some leadership that not only addresses the monetary and military issues of this country, but the moral issues of this country. at the end of every political speech, most of us say god bless america, but how can he do that when we continue to slaughter 4,000 babies a day?

and i want to be the president that treats every person, including the unborn, as a person. and protect them under the 5th and 14th amendments of the constitution. i close with this word from a gentleman in east texas named butel lucre, 100 years old, and i met him in east texas. he said this to me, i sure wish, mike, we had the days when the ten commandments were in all of our capitols and in every school, and we prayed again. you know, he may be 100 years old, but i believe some of those old ideas to get this country back where we unapologetically get on our knees before we get on our feet, might be the best solutions we ever saw as a country. and i ask for your support and your vote. thank you. [cheering and applause] . moderator: thank you, governor. carly fiorina?

>> my husband, frank, they mentioned i love spending time with, he's down there, he was excited the other day, in new hampshire he was introduced as my eye candy. [ laughter ] >> you know everybody out there watching knows this, you cannot wait to see the debate between me and hillary clinton. you would pay to see that fight. [applause] >> that's because you know you will win, that's important. we got to start by beating hillary clinton. all of my life, i have been told to sit down and be quiet, settle, settle, don't challenge the system. that's what the american people are being told now, and we have been told that for way too long. sit down and be quiet, about our god, about our guns, about the abortion industry. settle for illegal immigration that's been a problem for decades as so many of our problems have festered for decades. accept a system of government and politics that no longer works for us.

i will not sit down and be quiet and neither will you. so i ask you to stand with me, fight with me, vote for me. citizens, it is time to take our future back. time to take our politics back. it is time to take our government back. citizens, it is time. we must take our country back. [applause] . moderator: thank you, to all the candidates. that does it everyone for the first debate right here in north charleston. in just about two hours from now, at 9:00 p.m. eastern, seven more candidates are taking to the stage. right now, though, special coverage of the republican presidential debate continues right here on fox business. [applause]

. lou: and there it is! the first presidential debate, the first republican presidential debate of this new year, and another in store in one hour and 57 minutes. good evening! i'm lou dobbs, coming to you from the north charleston coliseum and performing arts center in charleston, south carolina, the first republican debate wrapping up with a vigorous debate. the first three candidates of the evening and among the biggest issues, jobs, as you expect, the economy, the war on radical islamist terrorism. we're going to go to our panel

for reaction in just a moment. we're less than two hours away from the beginning of the second debate which seven candidates will be taking the same stage and presenting their ideas, again, to the american people and voters. governor john kasich, governor chris christie, senator marco rubio, donald trump, senator ted cruz, dr. ben carson, former governor jeb bush. my colleagues maria bartiromo and neil cavuto will be moderating the second debate of the evening. but first, let's get reaction to tonight's first debate among governor mike huckabee, carly fiorina, and senator rick santorum, joined by fox news digital editor chris stirewalt, steern editor for the weekly standard steve hays. these candidates, debaters i thought made the most of the time allotted to them, convincingly on so, persuasively so to the voters. what do you think?

>> look, the unique situation with two former iowa winners who wanted to recapture that magic moment, and in her own way, carly fiorina was looking to recapture a magic moment too, because this is a replay of cleveland when the first fox news channel debate, the first debate of the cycle, and carly fiorina missed the cut for the main stage. had to do the early debate and won, and won decisively. and really was the winner of the whole day because nobody -- lou: and for a time changed fortunes. >> definitely changed her fortune and fought her way to the main stage. the problem here is that the vote share is so locked up among the top tier is touch a clear top tier, there i mean rubio, cruz and trump, that i don't know if there's enough elasticity in the vote to change, i'm not sure. lou: do you think it's that hardened, steve, immutable, one could conclude from what chris

is saying? >> i don't think it's immutable, i think there's a lot of change between now and iowa, the caucus is february 1st. chris is right, the prospects of all likelihood any of these three is going to have a second moment either from this year, from 2012, from 2008, the prospects are pretty dim. lou: let's talk about one moment and certainly the first moment was seized by carly fiorina, when she did a spousal comparison, if you will, if we could look at that video of carly fiorina. >> i'm not a political insider. i haven't spent my lifetime running for office. the truth is i have had and been blessed by a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things in my life, and unlike another woman in this race, i actually love spending time with my husband. [ laughter ] >> there was some hesitation

there on the part of the audience, but an enthusiastic response. chris, the line, the play. >> look, carly fiorina's argument all along has been some version of this, you know you want me on the debate stage with hillary clinton. that has been some part of -- because she can get away with saying things that other candidates of the male persuasion cannot say, or at least until donald trump came along and started saying whatever he wanted to at any given second of the day and fiorina demonstrated effectively there she could do that. lou: and each of the candidates, steve, one way or another, talked about the anger, the frustration of the american voter, and in some cases trying to -- if you will -- project that frustration in their remarks, this is the first time we've seen it unanimous, that there is a recognition of the anger and the frustration which donald trump recognized from the very beginning going back seven months.

>> yes, absolutely. i think the candidates are trying to do two things. one was to present him or herself at the face of the anger, to show they get it and articulate the concerns that we're seeing propel somebody like a donald trump or ted cruz to the top of the polls. the other thing they wanted to do is have a breakout moment, and clearly carly fiorina plans to say that, she knew it would get the audience going, a big reaction. and the whole hour for me felt like one after another after another of the candidates trying to say something that would be that breakout moment, and i didn't think there was a breakout moment. lou: so it would be, perhaps, given your statement, and chris, wagging his head in agreement, i have to say i'm hesitant to ask you who the winner of the first debate was, but courageous as i am, i'm going to -- [ laughter ]

>> go with it, go with it. i think carly fiorina probably did the best, it was a bit reminiscent of her debate performance that propelled her onto the main stage. the question is whether it's enough. and i think it's a big hill for her to climb right now. >> the american people because of representative democracy continuing to chart its course. >> wow. lou: hays is looking at you. >> the fox business network? and the great anchors for the great questioning? lou: the moderators were as always, perfect, and we're also going to have sandra smith and trish regan join us here in the next block to give us their sense of the evening and the way in which the candidates handled the stage. as we get ready for the second debate of the evening, seven candidates standing tall here in north charleston, and that's now just about, i can do quick math about, a minute --

>> about a minute? about an hour and 51 minutes away. reaction on social media and fox business reporter jo ling kent has been tracking that. jo, tell us what is happening online, what is the wisdom we can derive from social media this moment? >> reporter: lou, you see the question of who may drop out next, even though people were listening intently to the moderators' questions and what the candidates were saying. the question is what happens next for the candidates? a very strong statement from rick santorum. he hit on the issues that are the top trending issues on facebook. you can see regular, iraq, isis and syria. the economy is the third most important issue talked about on facebook over the last few weeks, and santorum, fiorina and huckabee hitting that very hard. homeland security and terror really is the take home point for a lot of facebook users and

those on twitter. that's what really matters when it comes to choosing these from the primaries and caucuses coming up, and the top five issue, the fifth one rounding out the facebook discussion is guns, and we certainly heard that in carly fiorina's closing statement saying she does not want her guns taken away in that closing statement. but what's interesting here is looking ahead to the debate coming up, lou. you've got the top five candidates trending on facebook, and it runs actually counter to the polls we've been seeing, of course, donald trump no surprise as the top trending candidate on facebook. he's got 18 million people talking about him. 103 million times. he really is take the cake in terms of the social media conversation, but then you have ted cruz, and he really is a fraction of that conversation. on twitter, google, facebook, across the board. lou, i want to bring you to number three, ben carson, dr. carson very much dropped precipitously in the polls but still being discussed on

facebook with a lot of passion. people wondering about his issues. rounding out the top five, rubio and paul. lou? lou: all right, jo ling kent, thank you very much for that inside into social media. at least at this point, it's still coming in, and we'll be updating the patterns and the results as we divine them on social media. joining me presidential candidate, former pennsylvania senator rick santorum, and i have to say, you look like you were enjoying yourself. >> i was. lou: i heard a number of people talking about the fact that you are a man who seemed very comfortable on that stage tonight. i thought that it was -- you should know that you were getting a lot of applauded. >> i've done dozens of town hall meetings in the last couple of weeks. when you have the give-and-take and the energy you feed off of it.

you know, the closer you get to the election, the more real it gets, and for me, this is make or break time, people are making decisions right now, and they've got to see, is it a fire in you to take on this job and to take on hillary clinton and what's necessary to win this race? and i want to make sure people know we're ready to go. lou: and you went tonight. you were strong. you were emphatic. you were succinct. direct. all of the things one would expect of a senator, or a former senator, and presidential candidate. there was not, it seemed to me, the anger that we've seen in you. there was, if i may say, even a certain grace in the way you presented yourself, and i do mean that to be compliment and to commend you. >> i appreciate that. you know, as i mentioned the book that liberal book that i referred to with robert putnam, and you know, the more i've

thought about what's at stake in this country, the people whose lives are affected and the fact that government is -- is not the answer, by and large, and that we have to have someone who can put together some ideas for the government can certainly be involved. tax policy and all these other things. immigration policy. but someone who understands the real problem, the real hurt that's out there in america and what we can do as a party that's been, in my mind, tone deaf to those hurting the most in america. those who are trying to live the american dream. or want to live the american dream, and it's not there for them. i just felt like i need to reflect that. i can't -- i can't be someone who says this is right and this is what we're going to do. this is who we need to help and this is what it's all about. lou: we're going to have lots of people giving you -- perhaps not the answers you want, but we'll be critiquing you throughout the evening here. i want to hear your critique of

your performance, if you will, succinctly as you can, and what you think you accomplished against your goals tonight? >> well, what we -- what i wanted to accomplish is i wanted people to see a fighter and someone who was in touch with the values that made our country great and was willing to stand up and articulate those in a way that connect with people. and again, the process of going through these town hall meetings and meeting the iowans, that's the town i was in, meeting the iowans is an invaluable thing to pull out of you what -- what -- the trait us that need to lead this country. lou: you've gone into iowa trailing. you've emerged winning. >> i have. lou: not entirely different. >> three weeks ago i was at 3 or 4%, newt gingrich was at 30 something percent, he finished fifth and i was first. it can happen.

i'm not making predictions, but rises can happen when people start to look and make decisions and see who has what it takes to president, and who has the vision to get this job done. lou: and has the opportunity to present himself or herself to the american people as the three of you did tonight. >> thank you. lou: rick santorum, great to have you with us. >> my pleasure. lou: thank you so much. the moderators of the first debate, sandra smith, trish regan will join us next. mike huckabee, carly fiorina will also join us here. we're giving equal time here tonight, senator. we're live from north charleston coliseum performing arts center. stay with us. there is so much more. >> but the biggest reason we're seeing the hollowing out of the middle of america is the breakdown of the american family. the reality is that if you're a single parent -- a child of a single parent and grew up in a single family parent neighborhood and went to the

single family school, the chance of you ever, ever reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in america. ladies and gentlemen, i don't know about you, but that's not good enough! ♪song: "that's life" ♪song: "that's life" ♪song: "that's life" ♪song: "that's life"♪

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. lou: fewer than 20 minutes since they stepped off the stage of tonight's first debate, we're joined by sandra smith and trish regan. thanks for being with us. they just watched carly fiorina give what i thought was a very strong performance in tonight's first debate, and she will be joining us as well this hour to talk about that. fiorina needed a good night and by all accounts she delivered. she came out swinging. she hit both hillary clinton and donald trump pretty hard.

>> i think we have to end crony capitalism. the crony capitalism starts with both donald trump and hillary clinton. you know, hillary clinton sits inside government and rakes in millions, handing out access and government. lou: whoa! fresh off the moderation of tonight's first debate, sandra smith and trish regan with me. thank you very much for being here. >> hey, lou! >> terrific job. >> thank you. lou: it was a different debate than we've seen, how did you think about it? >> it was great. i thought we asked important substantive questions, not "gotcha" questions, it was very much an opportunity to explain their platforms, and for the most part, there is an occasional dodge here and there, they did a very good job at answering the question directly, and attacking the issues.

lou: do you have a sense of who won, sandra? >> there were definitely stronger moments for some of the candidates than others, i don't know that there was any clear winner, but you definitely saw three candidates on that stage who had the opportunity, had the time, including some follow-ups to get their message across, and i think we heard the three candidates in a different way than we have during this election season. lou: trish, we're going to go to mike huckabee who gave a very strong response. i thought all three handled it very well. but huckabee gave a very strong response on national security. let's see what everybody thinks of this. >> in afghanistan. >> only if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical islamists against us. as far as what are we going to make it look like? frankly i don't know what we can make it look like. you can't create for other

people a desire for freedom and democracy. and frankly, that's not the role of the united states. the role of the united states military is not to build schools, it's not to build bridges, it's not to go around and pass out food packets. it's to kill and destroy our enemy and make america safe. >> the benefit of a live audience, you really got to feel the reaction from the thousands of people that were sitting in there, and that certainly helped drive the focus of the debate. >> they didn't like the gun questions. >> no! that didn't go over well. lou: they did not. they did like carly fiorina's jabs, without question. who had the greater reaction among these candidates from the audience, in your estimation? >> gosh, that's an interesting question. i mean, i felt like there was a lot of momentum and applause for each one of them. i wouldn't necessarily say one over the other. what do you think? >> senator santorum made a

concerted effort to rile up the manufacturing base down in the state, and he did a good job at that. he got the crowd going a couple moments there, but so did carly fiorina, she whipped out a couple jokes and put the pressure on hillary clinton a little bit and donald trump as you heard. lou: and each of them, we've got just a hard wrap here, as you know how these things work. >> no idea what that is. lou: anger and frustration, the expression by each of them, but i don't know to me, tonight, it was pretty established. there is anger, there is frustration. each of them didn't hesitate to talk about it. that's a move. >> it's the frustration that america feels right now because you think back nostalgically to what existed before. you used to be able to graduate from high school and get a good job and take care of the family. that doesn't exist. >> great night, honored to do it, happy to do it. respectful, professional, informative debate.

lou: and you were absolutely amazing. >> thank you, lou! thank you. >> thank you, lou. lou: trish regan, sandra smith. can't wait for the next one! up next, new details on what led to the capture of the sailors as the obama administration is preparinto lift sanctions against iran and deliver $150 billion. congressman mark meadows with me next. stay with us. we're coming right back. those new glasses? they are. do i look smarter? yeah, a little. you're making money now, are you investing? well, i've been doing some research. let me introduce you to our broker. how much does he charge? i don't know. okay. uh, do you get your fees back if you're not happy? (dad laughs) wow, you're laughing. that's not the way the world works. well, the world's changing. are you asking enough questions about the way your wealth is managed? wealth management, at charles schwab.

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. lou: among the stories and issues likely to be taken up in tonight's second debate coming up in just a little over an hour and a half here on the fox business network. new details on ten of those sailors who were captured and then humiliated by iran. defense secretary ash carter said the sailors made what they

called a navigational error, end quote, causing them to stray into iranian waters, but the sailors did not communicate that to navy commanders. the sailors have been released, not before being forced on their knees and hands behind their heads. one even forced to apologize for the incident on camera. and guess what? the obama administration will lift sanctions against iran in just a few days and release 100 to $150 billion in assets to the iranians. joining tonight, congressman mark meadows, he serves on the house oversight and foreign affairs committees, member of the freedom caucus, great to have you with us. >> great to be with you, lou, thanks so much. lou: start with what's happening here. we're not getting it seems a well-grounded report from either the secretary of defense or this administration about what happened in the waters of the persian gulf with two boats and ten of our sailors.

>> we're not getting the true story and what happens is it troubles americans when we know there are military men and women who were actually taken captive. wouldn't have happened off the waters of japan or off of england and yet here we are supposedly having a partner in iran taking our soldiers and humiliating them, making them get down on their knees. if we actually have this relationship that secretary kerry says we have, we need to get the full story now and really address it. lou: well, i think among the issues that each of the candidates, seven in the next debate will be addressing, i would expect, i may be utterly wrong about this, but it would be why in the world the republican party itself has not stood up stronger and taller and loud or this issue? >> well, they should, obviously, the president didn't even mention it in the state of the union the other night. here have you ten sailors being held captive.

ten gitmo releaseees today. and what you have is -- is two different paradigms that are going on there that the american people are saying, well, i thought we were the most powerful country in the world? we've got to show that, lou. lou: and the idea that, instead, we're also watching the speaker of your house saying he's going to do precisely what he said he wasn't last year. that is move forward on immigration. he said he's joining with this president on criminal justice reform in the midst of all that is happening in the world. the market today recovered some of what it lost yesterday, the volatility is extraordinary, the market having its worst beginning in history, and we look around this country. there is pain for the absence of prosperity for millions of americans. >> well said. i don't think anybody could say it better, and what we really need to focus on are the moms and dads on main street, lou. they're the ones still hurting today. and immigration, moving

immigration without first addressing the border is a non-starter. and i can tell you i just left a retreat where we had obviously the speaker and a number of other leaderships. they're willing to listen to the american people and members of congress. i think our voice has been not only in the freedom caucus but other conservatives have been saying what we have to do is make sure that we truly represent the people in america and their agenda and certainly comprehensive immigration reform is not what they're wanting to see. they want to secure the border. lou: secure the border. i think this country is welcome a warm nation that would do all sorts of things to accommodate those who abide by our laws and invest in our values. >> and we're a nation of laws, lou. you hit it right there. what we can't do is whether the president of the united states, a member of congress or anybody else, live by a separate set of rules. those laws what are we've been known for since our founding

fathers and need to stay true to that. lou: reince priebus was with us earlier today, he said the republican party will unite behind any candidate. we heard from nikki haley, governor haley saying she and mr. trump are friends, suddenly, after criticizing him and acknowledging that wasn't her intent. do you think the republicans can seize this year and win? >> i think we can unite behind one candidate if that candidate is willing to get behind an agenda that the american people want, not one that's manufactured in washington, d.c. lou: let's -- i think that we've got a pretty good indication that the american people are not manufacturing a candidate. >> i agree. lou: thank you so much, good to be with you. up next, the president's latest misstep, what he did next. it's a beauty. up next, mike huckabee and carly fiorina, the candidates from tonight's first debate will join us in just moments.

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. lou: president obama apparently forgot where he was today during a town hall in baton rouge. listen. >> when i ran for office in 2007, 2008, i did not say, yes,

i can. i said -- >> yes, we can! >> yes, we can. god bless new orleans, god bless america. lou: new orleans? he's visiting louisiana as part of the post state of the union road tour this week. this isn't the first time he's had some form of cognitive dissidence. in hawaii five years ago he described the location as asia, back on 2008 on the campaign trail he claimed to have visited all 57 u.s. states. well, you know, i don't know about the average, i guess it's not bad. joining us now, howie kurtz, fox news analyst, the host of media buzz. great to have you back with us, howie. >> hi, lou. lou: the debate was engaging, each one performed very well, and as trish and sandra said, each of them had their moments. >> absolutely. and rick santorum may have been

the most forceful on foreign policy and reminded us of the skills that enabled him to come out of nowhere four years ago and win the iowa caucuses. mike huckabee won in 2008 he does the best job of connecting with the working class, lunch bucket american, you start off with the story about the woman who cleans his building and comparatively about president obama's claim of a robust economy. carly fiorina is a good debater. i was struck by how many times she mentioned her husband, and soften her image and draw contrast to hillary clinton. lou: isn't it interesting she can embrace her husband and in so doing, inflict a wouldn't on hillary clinton. that's the reality of the rhetoric. >> right and trying to remind people she's not just the one dimensional former ceo, board chairman type, but she has a family life and that sort of thing. lou: i got a kick of her talking about donald trump buying hillary clinton, and i'm thinking i wonder what the

public affairs budget was for hewlett-packard, you know, when she was running it? but this is all part of it. this is a tougher bunch right now. they are, to me, far more steeled, far more focused as candidates than we've seen previously. >> yeah, also interesting both huckabee and fiorina had been on the main stage in a number of debates and through the vagaries of polls and criteria got knocked back. they've shown they can compete with -- i don't want to say the big boys but first tier candidates and looking for a moment to lift the poll numbers to bring them into contention. lou: chris stirewalt raised a question he felt was presented well by three of them on the stage, and really the question is and michelle malkin as well. where do they go? can you see a path forward for the three of them? >> hard at this point. there's a tendency to talk about the kiddie table debate,

the undercard debate. last time 6 million people watched the early evening debate. in past cycles that would be considered a really big audience. given the crowded field, given the fact that fiorina will flip in the polls and flip back. it is hard to see them climbing back to trump or cruz-like levels, but politics is a funny game. lou: as we are being instructed once again, this election cycle. howie, good to have you here. >> thanks, lou. lou: howie kurtz. up next here, senator ted cruz, he's under fire now for failing to disclose a loan. will it affect his campaign, and if so, how much? we'll take up that issue and more when we continue liverom north charleston, south carolina, the debate, debate number two in just about an hour and 19 minutes. much more straight ahead. stay with us. these little guys? they represent blood cells. and if you have afib-an irregular heartbeat that may put you at five times greater risk of stroke

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debate and your performance. i'll let you be the first critic or first judge. >> lou, i never do anything they think is all that great. it always can be done better, i'll be second-guessing it for the rest of my life. i will say i thought the debate stayed on substantive issues, i really felt that both sandra and trish, they did a very first class, professional job. they kept it from going into the ditches and getting silly and going offtrack. i thought it was a substantive conversation, and i thought it was important that we didn't attack each other. we weren't there trying to be silly. we were there answering questions and talking to the american people. lou: and i thought that each of you took advantage of the time that you had, the expanded time, and i suppose, then, as some credit goes to rand paul for having, as one of our colleagues said, turning a small l into a big l benefitted each of you.

i haven't heard any of you with such expansive answers on substantive issues as we did tonight, and i want to, if i may, congratulate you on that. you were particularly, i thought, strong on national security. your thoughts. >> well, i do think it's an area where i haven't been given an opportunity in the previous debates to talk about it. so many of the debates, lou, have been about what do you think of this candidate and his comments? they haven't been about what would you do as commander in chief? or how are you qualified or prepared? these are questions that americans care about. they care about whether or not you're going to keep this country safe. a whole lot more than they care about your reaction to another candidate. and i think in terms of the economic issues, they care. do you understand people like us. that's why when i talked about the notion of expanding social security age, people who talk like that don't understand the folks who have worked hard and stood on their feet for a living. these are the people who sat in

chairs for their entire careers and they don't get it, if a person is 65, they may be pretty worn out, asking them to work to 70 or 75, you're putting a punishing hurt on, that's not what it's supposed to be about. lou: you know in part, credit to you. the republican party this year, in this presidential election cycle is focusing more on working men and women, the family, small business and entrepreneurs than it has ever in my history as a journalist. i think it's striking that the republican party is making a direct, direct appeal to the middle class of this country. >> you know, lou, in some ways i'm a little vindicated because eight years ago when i was talking about these kitchen table, lunch box issues, i was a pariah in the republican party. go back and read what the "wall street journal" would say about

me, when i would be talking about the workers and how the income disparity was growing, and i didn't suggest that the government ought to, you know, limit ceo salaries. but i talked about the fact that we can't keep building an economy where people at the top get further and further away from people in the middle and people at the end. now it seems like everybody is singing that chorus. whether i'm the nominee or not, i hope i am, i feel i have contributed something by talking about that eight years ago within the republican party and now other candidates are, at least, recognizing you can't build a strong america without strong manufacturing jobs, middle class, mobile upward, and that has to happen. lou: governor, if i may, compliment you on your performance tonight. enjoyed watching and listening as always. governor mike huckabee. and by the way, he was validated on more than just one issue over the course of the

past years in this campaign. governor, thanks for being here. >> thank you, lou, great to talk with you. lou: good to talk with you. up next here, we're a little over an hour from the primetime debate, the candidates are gathering, the excitement is building. this is an electric evening and it is a make-or-break evening for most of the candidates. you will be watching the debate right here on the fox business network. candidate senator ted cruz facing a new controversy over his ties to wall street. donald trump says he's going to bring it up. trump says it's a big thing. his words. and it's his night. we'll see what happens. we'll examine the issue, a lot more, fox news bret baier joins me right after these messages. stay with us.

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dealing weather show of having failed to disclose on federal fund-raising reports that he relied on about a million dollars in loans to help finance his 2012 senate campaign. it borrowed money, including a large sum from goldman sachs. goldman sachs employs his wife, heidi cruz. cruz called it all a filing error. donald trump says it's a big thing. we'll find out how big. he also says he will bring it up tonight in the debate. joining me foxx news chief political anchor, host of "special report", bret baier. great to have you with us along with business correspondent adam shapiro. >> great to see you, lou. lou: let's turn, first, if we may this cruz filing error as he calls it. bret, a big thing as donald trump suggests says outright? >> on the story itself it's a

million dollar loan against his own assets. the big part it is a fec filing violation. it is not legal to not have it filed. the cruz campaign and senator cruz himself says he is going to talk care of it by amending the filing. the reason it may be a bigger deal is because it just bringing in the specter of goldman sachs when he is trying to be every man on the ground in iowa. brings up that his wife works for goldman sachs. you know, that's not the image that he has portrayed on the trail. as far as the specifics though, i think it might be tough for donald trump to make this a huge issue, in his words huge. lou: you have that huge down pat. i have to compliment you, bret. adam, your thoughts on trump and his ability to make of this a big thing. >> huge. as mr. trump would say. lou: wall street is really on

trial on this one it seems to me. and how trump candies avow his relationship to wall street is a little, well, it seems like a sizable chore as well. what do you think? >> i think trump can go on offensive, goes right to the core the constituency, for ted cruz, tea party who were furious from the big banks. goldman sachs announced they made $1.5 billion settlement for their misbehavior, lying to investor that brought about the financial collapse with the other banks. now you have got ted cruz, yes he used his own assets as collateral for that $500,000 loan but you're not supposed to do that because the law says you can't use more -- it gets tricky, 50% of your assets if jointly held for your wife. essentially he has to explain to his supporters he is in bed with banks he is attacking. lou: thank you for giving us the threshold on assets. but reality here, wall street is

on trial it seems, as far as the democratic party is concerned, even by the biggest beneficiary of wall street largess, that is hillary clinton, against a well, democratic socialist. now wall street moves into the cross-hairs of the republican party t will be interesting to see how it all goes. let me turn to jeb versus rubio. old pal, seemingly mentor and grasshopper. now going at each other tooth tong are we likely to see more of that and what do you think? >> lou i think you will be seeing candidates vying for second place in new hampshire, rubio, jeb bush, john kasich, chris christie. there will be fireworks aside from the cruz-trump drama we expect to see. cruz super-pac is attacking rubio on immigration. if we ever thought we would get

to the that point in the campaign. they're essentially on the same side when it comes to the bottom line of that policy. lou: well, jeb bush isn't pulling any punches. marco rubio not either. and, donald trump here, he seems to be standing in so many ways as the man who is now built a tremendous record for throwing punches and hitting people hard as he puts it. he seems to be above the fray almost now as we watch all of these interniece seen battles amongst the other candidates. what do you make of it, adam? >> i think donald trump is going to have a very good night. supporters of donald trump love donald trump and they love when he goes on the at stack and the best part, one of the best parts of the debate, sandra and trish did a great job, but commercials that already aired which the candidates are attacking each other are phenomenal. it is intriguing. lou: adam with intriguing, bret baier has been kind enough

to join us through the evening. we look forward on the other side, bret. thanks for being with us. we're live from north charleston coliseum. stay tuned. our coverage continued right now. ♪ >> this is "lou dobbs tonight," live from the the republican presidential primary debate in charleston, south carolina. here is lou dobbs. ♪ lou: there you are. we're coming to you from north charleston coliseum. good evening, everybody, i'm lou dobbs in charleston, south carolina. we're less than an hour away from the beginning of the second fox business network republican debate of the evening. seven candidates taking the stage in the debate, the fewest number of candidates we've seen on the stage this election cycle for a republican prime time debate. the candidates are in the building, all of them, all seven