Second-tier candidates bitterly brawl in final GOP debate

With an eye on the millions of voters who favor an alternative to Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, the four other GOP candidates engaged in an angry slugfest at the fourth and final scheduled Republican debate.

Name-calling and insults at one point threatened to overtake the debate stage, which has been culled considerably since more than a dozen people declared they were running for the Republican nomination.

Only four candidates made the cutoff for the fourth debate, and the reduced size of the group seemed to intensify the insults. Mr. Trump, as has been his practice, skipped the event, citing his enormous lead.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, fought on the debate stage for the number-two position while biotech tycoon Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie also participated.

They attacked each other viciously over U.S. foreign policy and on personalities.