Following the Iowa Caucuses and the New Hampshire Primary contests, the Republican Presidential candidate field has been whittled down to just six remaining hopefuls, and tonight the group will take to the stage for another GOP Presidential Debate set to take place at The Peace Center in Greenville, South Carolina.
The debate is scheduled to have a start time of 9 p.m. ET and can be watched on TV on the CBS network. Pre-debate coverage will start at 6 p.m. ET, and the evening's debate can be watched online through free live stream via the link below.
With the South Carolina and Nevada contests coming up and Super Tuesday coming soon after that, it is now crunch time for many of the remaining candidates to make an impact and emerge as one of the frontrunners, or else face the reality of a failed bid.
Today's Republican debate will be the final chance for the GOP candidates to debate on national TV prior to the South Carolina primary election, which is scheduled for February 20.
The debate moderator for tonight will be "Face the Nation" host John Dickerson, and he will be joined by Major Garrett, who is the Chief White House Correspondent for CBS News, as well as Kimberley Strassel, who sits on the editorial board for the Wall Street Journal.
Coming into tonight's GOP debate, Donald Trump has re-established himself as the frontrunner. After his shock defeat to Ted Cruz in the Iowa Caucuses, many questioned Trump's campaign and whether his position in the polls over the past 6 months would really translate to results in the elections.
However, New Hampshire has seemingly swept aside any such concerns, with Trump winning the state's primary election comfortably. Coming into South Carolina, Trump again is the clear favorite, and it is likely he will come into tonight's debate without much pressure to change his game-plan or message at all. We can expect more of the same from the billionaire property mogul.
Trump held a rally at the Florence Civic Center earlier this week, and complimented the state's churches, saying: "You have the most beautiful churches I've seen...I almost wanted to just go in and pray, but I think I'd be late and you wouldn't like that, OK?"
Meanwhile, a glimmer of hope was given to Jeb Bush's campaign following the New Hampshire primary, and there is hope that as the GOP field continues to whittle down he can emerge as the strongest alternative to Trump and Ted Cruz.
Jeb Bush's brother, George Bush, has also confirmed that he will join some of Jeb's campaign events in South Carolina in the hope that he can give his sibling's campaign a much needed boost in what may be the most important month of his entire campaign, and could make or break his White House bid.
Meanwhile, on Friday four of the leading GOP candidates attended a forum at Bob Jones University in South Carolina, and each made their pitch for the evangelical vote in the state. Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Ben Carson each received strong support at the event, and they will each hope to make a big impact in the debate tonight.
Today's Republican Presidential Debate 2016 at The Peace Center in Greenville, South Carolina has a scheduled start time of 9 p.m. ET and can be watched on TV on the CBS network or watched online through free live stream by clicking here.
