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Good morning, and welcome to the February 25 edition of the Guardian’s live-wire coverage of the 2016 race for the White House.

Tonight, CNN is hosting the final Republican presidential debate ahead of the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses, in which the Republican citizens of 11 states will put nearly half of the delegates needed to win the party’s nomination into play. (Those states: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Wyoming.) As the final nationally televised event featuring all five of the remaining candidates – yes, even Donald Trump will be there tonight – before those votes are held, the debate is the last chance for candidates to try to halt the Trump juggernaut.

On the Democratic side, senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont will hold rallies in Ohio and in Chicago, where he will appear on Hardball With Chris Matthews on MSNBC. He will also be in Flint, Michigan, where he will participate in a town forum over the city’s water crisis.

Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton will be making a mad dash today, with four speaking engagements scheduled across South Carolina ahead of the state’s Democratic primary this Saturday. Her opponent has largely written off the state, where Clinton is expected to dominate in her first decisive win of the primary campaign.

Our correspondents Adam Gabbatt, Lauren Gambino and Lucia Graves are all in South Carolina, while Ben Jacobs is in Houston.

Did you catch last night’s debate , no, town hall event , no, “voter summit” on Fox News? If not – and if the ratings are any indication, you didn’t – here’s a rundown of the Megyn Kelly-hosted event in Houston, where four of the five remaining Republican candidates for the party’s presidential nomination took questions from the Kelly File host and from assembled Texas voters:



Donald Trump was not be able to attend, ostensibly due to a “conflicting campaign event”. (The audience, whose mamas didn’t raise no fools, snickered at this suggestion. “HE DOES!” Kelly insisted, to more laughter.) Two more of the candidates – Florida senator Marco Rubio and Ohio governor John Kasich – were only able to appear via satellite, giving the proceedings the air of an extended mid-afternoon cable news hit.

(The audience, whose mamas didn’t raise no fools, snickered at this suggestion. “HE DOES!” Kelly insisted, to more laughter.) Two more of the candidates – Florida senator Marco Rubio and Ohio governor John Kasich – were only able to appear via satellite, giving the proceedings the air of an extended mid-afternoon cable news hit. When asked by a voter whether he was “too polarizing and uncompromising” to breaking gridlock in the capital, Senator Ted Cruz first declared that he’s willing to compromise with everyone: “I’m even willing to compromise with Martians!” But to agree to meet Harry Reid and Barack Obama halfway, Cruz said, would defraud his supporters. “I think that would be both unfaithful and dishonest to the men and women who elected me.”

But to agree to meet Harry Reid and Barack Obama halfway, Cruz said, would defraud his supporters. “I think that would be both unfaithful and dishonest to the men and women who elected me.” Kelly grilled Kasich over his decision to pursue the Republican nomination despite several low-point finishes in recent primary contests, asking “whether you are stealing votes from people who can actually win.” Kasich, whose rumored temper hasn’t been on display during the campaign so far, was clearly irked by the question, refusing Kelly’s suggestion that they move to let voters ask questions before he had defended his candidacy. “You just hang on,” Kasich said, “because you know what a lot of people say? If I get out, Donald Trump wins Ohio and then we’re over.” It wasn’t a great look, at least for a candidate whose main asset is his relatively unflappability.

Kasich, whose rumored temper hasn’t been on display during the campaign so far, was clearly irked by the question, refusing Kelly’s suggestion that they move to let voters ask questions before he had defended his candidacy. “You just hang on,” Kasich said, “because you know what a lot of people say? If I get out, Donald Trump wins Ohio and then we’re over.” It wasn’t a great look, at least for a candidate whose main asset is his relatively unflappability. Retired pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who has been dogged with questions about his competence on foreign policy concepts since his campaign’s inception, continued digging that hole last night. After defending his bona fides to a student who questioned his familiarity with international relations by saying: “I can go into great depth about Islam, where it came from...” Megyn Kelly interrupted, asking Carson to delineate the difference between Sunni and Shia Islam. “One is much more fundamental, and one is much more secular,” Carson said, inaccurately. “The Sunnis are much more fundamental, the Shias are much more secular.” He then described Iran as “much more Sunni.” Toughly 90 to 95% of Iranians are Shia.

Stay put for all this and more throughout the day.