FOX 17's Josh Sidorowicz is in Cleveland covering the debates. Look for LIVE reports on FOX 17 News at 10 and 11.
CLEVELAND -- One by one, Republican presidential candidates began arriving in town Wednesday evening ahead of the first GOP debate leading up to 2016.
The debate stage inside Quicken Loans Arena was kept under close wraps Thursday as candidates filed in and out for practice runs so crews could set lighting and positions on stage.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who secured a spot in the Top 10 to appear on the main debate stage in prime-time Thursday held a town hall rally in Cleveland Wednesday evening.
“We want to win everywhere we compete, so we would love to win in Ohio as well in the primary cycle, and obviously Florida is my home state, but I’ll leave the political analysis up to the political analysts," Rubio told FOX 17's sister station WJW in an exclusive interview Wednesday evening.
"My job is to go out and explain to people what I’m for, what I will do if they give me the opportunity to be the president.”
Mike Huckabee started his morning on Thursday with a tour of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Rick Santorum was in Independence, Ohio addressing the Ohio Pastors’ Policy Conference.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who will appear in the second-tier debate airing earlier in the evening Wednesday, posted his Cleveland arrival on Twitter encouraging people to Snapchat him.
FOX News’ Bill Hemmer and Martha MacCallum will co-moderate the night's earlier debate with seven candidates beginning at 5 p.m.
The two said they would be holding the candidates’ feet to the fire in a debate they've been planning for months.
“It’s going to be a really fun night for politics,” MacCallum told WJW Thursday morning.
MacCallum said the night should be like “a big Super Bowl.”
The prime-time debate featuring the Top 10 GOP candidates, based on the most recent polling, will be co-moderated by FOX News' Megyn Kelly, Chris Wallace and Bret Baier
"I think my colleagues and I are among the toughest questioners in the business," Kelly said Wednesday evening.
"It is not going to be an easy night and it shouldn’t be an easy night for these guys because they want George Washington’s job."
Kelly told FOX 17 later Wednesday evening she and her colleagues had been working for months to craft their questions. Asked if she was nervous, Kelly said she felt like she was on the high dive, but ready to make the jump and get started.
Candidates will have one minute to respond to questions addressed to them, with 30 seconds for rebuttal. FOX News will track and try to balance candidates’ total speaking time.
The main debate begins at 9 p.m., airing on FOX News Channel.
In the hours leading up to Thursday night's debates, security also stepped up with both local law enforcement and the FBI ensuring security at the event is a top priority.
On Wednesday, FBI officials said there has not been any intelligence on possible terrorist threats surrounding the debate, but they said they are constantly watching and observing anything that may be out of the norm.
“Our folks work every hard to work with other FBI offices to coordinate with other intel partners to coordinate with our other law enforcement partners, so we are constantly vigilant to make sure this event goes off safely and successfully,” Ben Gessford said, an FBI special events coordinator.
Thursday's debate will offer a 'dry-run' of sorts ahead of the 2016 Republican National Convention slated to take place in Cleveland next July.
