LAS VEGAS – The 2016 Republican presidential candidates are debating for the last time in 2015, this time in Las Vegas, as they race for advantage seven weeks before the first votes are cast in Iowa.
Here are the latest developments (all times local):
___
3:00 p.m.
The GOP presidential candidates are using their time ahead of the debate in Las Vegas to meet with would-be donors.
Two of the top draws? Billionaire casino owners Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson. Wynn and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz were scheduled to talk Tuesday, and Adelson was planning to meet with Donald Trump for the first time since he became a presidential candidate. Both Wynn and Adelson are capable of writing seven-figure ? — or more — ? checks to super PACs set up to boost the candidates. Adelson is hosting the event at his Venetian casino and resort on the Strip.
A Democratic debate earlier this year was held at Wynn's Las Vegas property. When the main debate begins later Tuesday, donors will fill many of the seats in the theater because candidates often dole out their precious few tickets to those who have written big checks.
Some, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, also have raffled off seats at the debate as a way to entice and reward smaller donors.
___
2:40 p.m.
Hillary Clinton is offering a pre-debate rebuttal to the kinds of homeland security proposals likely to be the focus at the GOP match-up.
The Democratic presidential front-runner didn't single out her rivals by name in her address at the University of Minnesota. But she left little question that she was taking aim at their proposals.
"Promising to carpet bomb until the desert glows doesn't make you sound strong, it makes you sound like you are in over your head," she said, referencing a promise Texas Sen. Ted Cruz made last week in Iowa.
She says many of the Republican candidates share the same kind of "divisive rhetoric" used by businessman Donald Trump, saying it undermines law enforcement's ability to prevent attacks at home and efforts to build global coalitions to combat the Islamic State. Trump has proposed banning Muslims from entering the country — temporarily and with exceptions, he has said.
"Not only do these comments cut against everything we stand for as Americans, they are also dangerous," Clinton says. "We need every community invested in this fight, not alienated and sitting on the sidelines."
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
