Republican presidential candidates on Friday spoke to the Heritage Action for America forum in Greenville, S.C. Here are some of the top applause lines from the six-hour event.
Jeb Bush: "Why do we call these things discretionary and non-discretionary in the first place? That's kind of a trap to begin with, isn't it? Maybe should have zero-based budget approach where there's no difference."
Scott Walker: "Absolutely, Planned Parenthood should be defunded. This is exactly what's wrong with Washington. In my state four years ago, a state that hadn't elected a Republican since 1984, we defunded Planned Parenthood long before these videos because it was the right thing to do."
Ben Carson: "Congress needs to call his bluff. Congress has tools. They can defund everything. They can defund his breakfast."
Ted Cruz: "Republicans in Washington seem to be competing to see who can surrender quicker to Barack Obama. Barack Obama hasn't spent a lot of time spooning with congressional Republicans."
Marco Rubio (on entitlement reform): "Anyone who says we don't have to do anything is a liar. They're lying. "
Rand Paul: "I don't want my guns or my marriage registered in Washington."
Carly Fiorina: "One change is we are in control in the House and the Senate. What's disappointing is we're having the same old conversations. Nothing has changed."
Ten Republican presidential hopefuls on Friday pleaded their cases to thousands of conservative activists, each candidate trying to burnish his or her “outsider” status to an arena full of voters eager for a fighter.
There were supposed to be 11 candidates speaking at the Heritage Action for America event, but billionaire Donald Trump cancelled shortly after noon. A statement from his campaign said Trump had a business deal going down that could not be avoided.
“He sends his regrets and looks forward to being with the great people of South Carolina on Wednesday in Columbia,” the statement said.
Dan Holler, communications director for Heritage Action, called Trump’s decision “unfortunate.”
“Tonight’s event is about the thousands of voters who are coming to listen to a substantive policy discussion,” Holler said. “It will be a great opportunity to talk about policy issues and address the concerns facing all Americans.”
More than 10,000 conservative activists filled the Bon Secours Wellness Arena two days after a marathon Republican presidential debate in California. It was a sizable turnout for a six-hour program that showed the most committed political activists are not yet burned out by the endless campaign.
The absence of Trump, the across-the-board leader in GOP polls, left former businesswoman Carly Fiorina as perhaps the day’s biggest draw. Fiorina was widely seen as the candidate with the most momentum coming out of Wednesday night’s debate based on her comments about Planned Parenthood.
In the debate, Fiorina said controversial videos that have surfaced of the women's health organization showed a "a fully formed fetus on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking, while someone says, 'We have to keep it alive to harvest its brain.'" It's a claim, however, that many have questioned. The Wall Street Journal reported the scene described isn't in any of the videos. PolitiFact gave her a "mostly false" for the statement.
Fiorina was not deterred Friday.
“I will issue my charge again,” she said. “Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama anyone who wants to defend Planned Parenthood, watch these tapes.
“If we do not have the courage to stand up and say, ‘President Obama we’re prepared to shut down the government over this kind of barbarity,’ have at it and explain it to the American people.”
Each candidate appeared individually for 25 minutes and fielded policy-heavy questions from activists, Heritage officials and Gov. Nikki Haley. The great majority of the questions were easy opportunities for candidates to recite conservative talking points and stump speeches.
There were exceptions. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush brought on a few “boos” from the crowd when he spoke positively about Common Core.
Bush recovered, however, when he stayed focused on his plan to dilute the power held in Washington.
“Let’s shift the power back to the states and let them decide how to pave their roads and educate their kids,” Bush said.
Dr. Ben Carson, who is currently running second in most national polls, dodged one of the few pointed questions he faced. Michael Needham, chief executive officer of Heritage Action, said Carson has endorsed a guest-worker program for immigrants to fill jobs Americans won’t do. Needham asked if those guest workers would stay in the country permanently or just for a season, and wondered if they would qualify for federal benefits while here.
“They’re not eligible for anything unless we decide they are,” Carson said, and quickly moved on.
But, Carson was greeted warmly by the crowd, who even sang “Happy Birthday,” to him.
“The best birthday present was hearing Donald Trump dropped out,” Carson said. “Just kidding, that was just for today.”
Political scientist Scott Huffmon of Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., said Carson needed to maintain the steady performance he has become known for, but could benefit from a little more energy. Carson flashed humor and a poignancy Friday that was well received in the arena.
Judging solely by applause, however, Sen. Ted Cruz might be the favorite among Heritage activists. The Texas Republican was given multiple, sustained ovations by a crowd eager for someone not beholden to Washington establishment. Asked whether a President Cruz could get along with a Republican Congress, Cruz did not shy away.
“If you’re looking for someone to go along to get along, if you think Washington is doing great, we need to keep going in the same direction, then I ain’t your guy,” he said. “We’ve had way too many Republicans whose number one virtue was ‘I got along great with Congress.’”
Friday’s event was solely for strong partisans and activists, Huffmon said. Average voters in South Carolina have yet to make the same level of commitment. The large turnout is also due, in part, to the fact that the forum was sponsored by the political arm of the Heritage Foundation, which is lead by Jim DeMint, the former Republican congressman and U.S. senator from this very town. DeMint, elected to the Senate in 2004 after the retirement of long-time Democratic U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings, was once a crown prince of the right.
But, Huffmon said, neither Heritage nor DeMint have the same prominence they once did.
“Jim DeMint’s star is not quite as high as it was in pre-election 2010 where he was viewed as a potential Tea Party kingmaker,” Huffmon said. “When that didn’t pan out and some blamed the Tea Party, and the high-profile people like DeMint pushing them, for losses that some in the GOP thought could have been avoided, his star may have faded a bit.”
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