After a Republican presidential debate on Fox Business Network, the candidates' campaigns narrowed focus Wednesday on the party's most conservative voters.
In interviews given in the hours after the debate, Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida hit upon immigration policy. Cruz tried to portray Rubio as a moderate beholden to the Republican establishment, while Rubio argued that his approach was the most reasonable and workable conservative solution.
"I think for voters that are looking for someone who's consistent and true, I'm the only one on that stage who's always opposed amnesty," Cruz said in an interview on Fox News after the debate, underlining his opposition to the bipartisan immigration bill that Rubio helped write in the Senate.
Cruz insisted that he "led the fight against amnesty in Congress with Charles Schumer and the establishment Republicans."
After sidestepping the immigration issue Tuesday night, Rubio addressed it in an interview Wednesday, telling Fox News that he understood why the immigration proposal was the wrong approach.
"The lesson I learned from that is the people of the United States do not trust the federal government on immigration," Rubio said as he listed a tough set of policies he said would "realistically but responsibly" address the problem.
"If you're a criminal, you'll be deported," he said. "If you're not a criminal, and have been here longer than 10 years, you have to learn English. You have to start paying taxes. You're going to have to pay a fine. And then you'll get a work permit."
Rubio flew to Iowa on Wednesday for a campaign rally and planned an appearance in South Carolina. Cruz was scheduled to attend a gathering with veterans in New Hampshire.
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and billionaire businessman Donald Trump have led the Republican field in most recent national polls, with Rubio and Cruz following them.
During the debate, Rubio and former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida didn't seek to engage each other. In an interview Wednesday on Fox, Bush explained why he chose to steer clear of the senator and said there was no bad blood.
"We're good friends," he said, adding that Rubio had ribbed him about his paleo diet before the debate. "I admire him. He's a gifted politician for sure. I just think I have the record to lead our party into the general election to win."
And Bush said he remained focused on Hillary Rodham Clinton, not Rubio. "This is an election about the qualifications of people running," he said, "who is the best person to lead this country, and who is the best person to take on Hillary Clinton."
An estimated 13.5 million people watched the fourth Republican presidential debate, carried by Fox Business Network.
It became the most-watched program in the network's history. The previous debates set viewership records for Fox News Channel, CNN and CNBC. The CNBC debate reached 14 million viewers, and the other two were each seen by more than 20 million people.
Fox Business Network is available in roughly three-quarters of the nation's television homes but has never reached as many as 1 million viewers for any of its telecasts.
Online, the debate's high point was 1.4 million streams, Fox said. Twitter said the most tweeted-about moment came when Cruz talked about the security of the U.S. borders. Twitter said there were more tweets about Cruz than any other candidate.
Fox News chief Roger Ailes sent a memo Wednesday praising his employees. "Every one of our team leaders accomplished our goal of presenting a serious, meaningful debate while holding the audience," he wrote.
Information for this article was contributed by Jeremy W. Peters and Jonathan Martin of The New York Times and by Lynn Elber and David Bauder of The Associated Press.
A Section on 11/12/2015