Thursday night, Republican presidential candidates duked it out national TV in the last debate before the Iowa primary.
"I'm a maniac, and everyone on this stage is stupid fat and ugly and Ben you're a terrible surgeon, now that we've gotten the Trump portion out of the way," Ted Cruz said at the debate.
Donald Trump boycotted the debate. Some are saying the race has become a circus. But local republican leaders say it's good for the party.
"Politics can be divisive, they're not supposed to be managed, and a lot of people have said in the past that the establishment has picked the candidates, you can't say that this time," Congressman Tim Walberg said. Representative Earl Poleski says the party is in a period of reinventing itself, which is a very American thing to do.
"Sometimes elections make you decide who you are, you have to decide who you are as a party and as a country," Poleski said.
Michigan will have its say in the primary election on March 8th. 20 states will hold primaries before then, but Walberg says, with a strong Tea Party presence and Democrats who sometimes vote for the GOP, Michigan can play a major part in the race.
"Michigan is always looked at as a state that has something to say, and we're going to take part in it," Walberg said.
Michigan hasn't voted Republican in a Presidential election since 1988. National Republican Committeewoman Kathy Berden says this year, that could change.
"Anything is possible in the world, and there's a lot of hope and generating of excitement going on. So we just have to wait and see," Berden said.
First, the Republican Party will start making its decision on a nominee at the Iowa caucuses on Monday.
