Donald Trump may have a big target on his back at the second debate of Republican U.S. presidential candidates on Wednesday as his rivals seek to make up ground they have lost to the front-running billionaire with a flair for bomb-throwing rhetoric.
Many of the 11 candidates who will be at a prime-time debate (5 p.m. PDT/8 p.m. EDT) see a path for themselves to the Republican nomination for the November 2016 election, and any route they take will require getting out of the long shadow cast by Trump.
For that reason, the gathering at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, with the stage set up next to the retired Air Force One aircraft used by the late president, figures to be a more combative debate than the first one the Republicans had on Aug. 6 in Cleveland.
Trump had been in the lead in polls of Republican voters at the first debate and grabbed the headlines through a mixture of boastful promises and by ridiculing his rivals, many of whom turned in relatively passive performances.
This time Republicans have a greater incentive to take him on and try to raise doubts about him since Trump has built on his lead, with four months to go until Iowa on Feb. 1 holds the first nominating contest on the road to the November 2016 election.
The latest Reuters-Ipsos opinion poll has Trump leading among Republican voters with 32.2 percent. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson was at 15.8 percent, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush at 9 percent and the rest of the field below 6 percent.
Trump has dismissed the possibility of being attacked at the debate.
"I hear they are going after me. Whatever. Whatever," Trump said at a lively campaign rally in Dallas on Monday.
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