WATCH LIVE: Cruz, Carson speak at Conservative Convention

Two days before the South Carolina Republican Primary, presidential hopefuls and other conservative power players will come together for the inaugural Conservative Convention.

Presidential candidates -- including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and renowned neurosurgeon Ben Carson -- were scheduled to attend the event. Rubio canceled his appearance late Thursday.

The convention comes at a crucial time for candidates vying to become the next Republican presidential nominee. A Bloomberg politics poll of likely Republican primary voters in South Carolina found that Donald Trump holds a near 20-point lead over Ted Cruz, who was named the first choice candidate of 17 percent of voters. Marco Rubio trails with 15 percent and Ben Carson with 9 percent. However voters also named Rubio as their preferred second choice candidate.

Check out tweets from the event:

Cruz comes into Thursday's event amid an intense battle with Trump and Rubio.

To catch the live stream and find out what the top GOP candidates and their fellow conservative thought leaders have to say about the state of the 2016 campaign for the White House, right-leaning politics today and much more.