On Wednesday night in Milwaukee, eight Republicans running to be the next president are going

to stand on a debate stage.

The GOP frontrunner Donald Trump won't be there, but he'll still be living rent-free

in the candidate's heads.

We've actually seen very specific evidence in the polls showing that a vast majority

of Republican voters don't want to see other candidates criticizing Trump.

Dave Reston is a national political reporter here at the post, and she's been reporting

on this unusual dynamic.

It's been this very fine line that those lower tier candidates have to walk because, of

course, some voters see it as an act of disloyalty that these folks are running at all.

The former president is still way ahead of his colleagues in the polls.

So much so, the Trump won't even be attending Wednesday's debate.

And for the candidates, maybe that's an opportunity.

By now, you've probably heard of some of the bigger names in the race, like Florida,

Governor Ron DeSantis.

But for others, this will be the first time many Americans get to meet them.

And in that sense, the debate might be a real chance to break through.

The debate offers a moment when they will have millions of eyeballs on them, thinking

back to the 2016 debate.

The first 2016 debate in August, when Trump was on the stage, it brought in something

like 24 million viewers.

There is no other venue where candidates could get that kind of attention and focus on

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