For the first time in the presidential contest, Marco Rubio took the fight directly to Donald Trump.
Rubio, who has yet to earn an early state victory, attacked Trump repeatedly during Thursday night's debate, in what felt like an urgent effort to thwart Trump's momentum heading into Super Tuesday.
Trump currently leads in a majority of the states that vote March 1, and victories would put him on the fast track to the nomination.
Rubio brought up a news report that Trump hired thousands of Polish workers in Florida over Americans.
Google "Donald Trump Polish workers" you'll see it
He went on to say Trump is new to the fight on illegal immigration, charging him with using undocumented immigrants to build his real estate empire.
"If he builds the wall like he built Trump towers, he'll be using illegal immigrants to do it."
Rubio comes out swinging versus Trumphttps://t.co/98CVKOMuCd— Mashable News (@MashableNews) February 26, 2016
I guess there's a statute of limitation on lies.
He called Trump a liar for denying his hiring of undocumented workers.
"Win, win, win..."
And he even fought back against being framed as a robot — a storyline that emerged during the Republican debate before the New Hampshire primary and has haunted his campaign ever since.
Rubio turned that narrative on its head, saying Trump repeats the same phrases over and over again.
Trump, for his part, said Rubio has never created jobs and had problems managing his own money.
He also brought up the robot moment.
"I watched him meltdown and it was one of the saddest things."
"I watched him melt down and it was one of the saddest things I've ever seen," Trump on Rubio #GOPDebate pic.twitter.com/qSB5wadODf— Mashable (@mashable) February 26, 2016
Yet the crowd was clearly on Rubio's side, cheering wildly when Rubio delivered zinger after zinger.
Rubio has argued that he's Republicans' best hope of defeating Trump and saving the GOP from a landslide defeat in November.
But it's unclear whether his digs on Trump will impact the outcome of Super Tuesday.
Thank you, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, for bringing lots of balls to tonight's debate. About time!— Liz Mair (@LizMair) February 26, 2016
Tuesday's contests will deliver the biggest opportunity to score delegates yet.