Who Won Thursday's Republican Debate: Yoga, 'Little Marco,' Penis Size

Updated at 11 p.m. Eastern Time

DETROIT, MI – If you want to know how low the dialogue went Thursday at the Republican presidential debate, Donald Trump, the leading candidate to become the most powerful leader in the world, at one point felt compelled to defend his penis size.

The bizarre moment came early in the Fox News GOP debate at Detroit's historic Fox Theatre, overshadowing more substantive issues hours after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his military on standby for nuclear strikes at any time, including whether Trump has the foreign policy experience to deal with such threats.

The issue received barely a mention. Instead, sophomoric bantering dominated the night.

“I have to say this. He hit my hands. Nobody has ever hit my hands," Trump said minutes into the debate, responding to comments Florida Sen. Marco Rubio made last week about the size of his hands. “Look at those hands, are they small hands? And he referred to my hands…if they’re small, something else must be small. I guarantee you there’s no problem.”

Rubio — or "Little Marco," as Trump repeatedly called him — defended his recent attacks on Trump, including a suggestion that he might have "wet himself."

"If there has been any candidate deserved to be attacked that way, it’s Donald Trump for the way he has treated people in the campaign," he said. "With that said, I would much prefer to have a policy debate."

That didn't happen.

Trump and Rubio sparred and talked over one another as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich tried to position themselves as candidates who could best unite voters and defeat likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in November.

Cruz played a sergeant of arms of sorts.

“Donald, learn not to interrupt,” Cruz said. “It’s not complicated. Count to 10, Donald.”

Later, he implored Trump to “breathe, breathe, breathe” and stop interrupting, only to be interrupted by Rubio, who interjected:

“When they’re done with yoga, can I answer a question?"

If a prize were given for the most Adult Performance (not involving penis size), it would have gone to Kasich, who declined to engage in the slugfest and instead asked for tolerance on issues that have divided Americans, including religious liberty.

“In our country, we need to learn to respect each other and be a little bit more tolerant for one another, and at the end of the day don’t go to court,” the Ohio governor said. “Can’t we have common sense again? That’s the way it used to be.”

Not surprisingly, the first question of the night referenced 2012 presidential nominee and Michigan native Mitt Romney’s speech earlier in the day eviscerating Trump. Trump called Romney "a failed candidate."

“He should’ve beaten President Obama easily. ... “It was an embarrassment to everybody, including the Republican party."

In his speech, Romney spelled out a blueprint for a contested convention — basically, vote for anyone but Trump in the remaining primaries — came up briefly during the debate.

Kasich rejected the notion that’s his only path to the nomination, though he has has won only a handful of delegates so far. He insisted he is the only Republican who can beat Clinton.

“As Democrats tell me, I can get the crossover votes,” he said. “Throughout this campaign, I have talked about issues. I have never tried to go and get into these kind of scrums that we are seeing here on stage, and people say wherever I go: ‘You seem to be the adult on the stage.’ ”

Our Earlier Report

Romney’s scorching denouncement of Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump earlier in the day is expected to weigh heavily during tonight’s Fox News GOP debate in Detroit.

Saying a Trump presidency would endanger the United States, the Michigan native and former Massachusetts governor condemned Trump for his temperament, instability, dishonesty, vulgar language and juvenile behavior. The candidate embodies the “very brand of anger that has led other nations into the abyss,” Romney said.

Romney hopes to stir Republicans to support other candidates as Trump continues to rack up delegates after a string of Super Tuesday wins.

He leads at 319, compared with 226 for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, 110 for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, 25 for Ohio Gov. John Kasich and eight for retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who stopped just short of suspending his campaign but suspended his campaign Wednesday and said he wouldn’t attend the Detroit debate.

The two-hour forum at Detroit’s historic Fox Theatre starts at 9 p.m. Eastern Time.

Come back to Patch for a recap of the debate.