Donald Trump backed out Friday from appearing at a prominent conservative conference, afterplumbing new depths of vulgarity in the latest US presidential debate, to the despair of the Republican Party.
Trump said he was scrapping a scheduled appearance Saturday at the Conservative Political Action Conference so he could attend rallies in Kansas, which holds its Republican caucus that day, and then Florida, which votes March 15.
Organizers of the event near Washington said they were "very disappointed" at the frontrunner's "last-minute" cancellation.
"His choice sends a clear message to conservatives," CPAC said on Twitter.
Meanwhile the retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson formally announced he was suspending his own presidential bid, days after saying he did not see a political path forward in the 2016 race.
"Even though I might be leaving the campaign trail -- there's a lot of people who love me, they just won't vote for me -- I will still be heavily involved in trying to save our nation," he told CPAC.
The 1,000 or so attendees collectively rose to their feet for a standing ovation.
The soft-spoken Carson, who was the only African-American in the race, bowed out of Thursday's showdown, avoiding the abusive bickering that dominated the evening.
Carson's parting message to his former rivals? "We as Republicans are not each others' enemies, and we can not afford to give the Democrats all of this ammunition."
Republicans face an ever starker choice after Trump's rhetoric stooped shockingly below-the-belt at the debate, on whether to embrace his divisive candidacy or derail it.
Within the opening minutes Trump was referring to the size of his penis, a level of obscenity even by the low standard set in previous showdowns that is raising serious questions in his camp about his electability.
Many conservatives including Cruz swept into Congress in 2010 and 2012 on a grass-roots Tea Party movement, and its co-founder Jenny Beth Martin implored CPAC attendees to choose Senator Ted Cruz over the frontrunner.
Trump makes a "seductive pitch" with his call to make America great again, she said, but "DonaldTrump loves himself first, last, and everywhere in between."
Despite the escalated attacks against Trump, each one of his debate opponents -- Cruz, Senator Marco Rubio, and Ohio Governor John Kasich -- admitted they would support the party's eventual nominee.
But Friday's criticism of Trump by conservatives appalled by the debate still amounted to a stunning rebuke.
"The spectacle made me ill," wrote conservative Matthew Continetti in the Washington Free Beacon.
