ABC News Bumps Donald Trump Delegate Count to 996

NYT ALSO CONFIRMS THE DELEGATE COUNT

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by EZRA DULIS28 Apr 20162,100

ABC News has updated its estimate of the current delegate totals in the Republican presidential primary, putting Donald Trump closer to the nomination than first thought after Tuesday night’s sweep of five states.

Reporter Ryan Struyk said on Twitter that the new numbers came from calls placed to every unbound delegate to gauge their support for Trump plus rivals 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)

97%

 and John Kasich.

This leaves only 241 more delegates from Trump to win in the primary’s remaining contests: Indiana (where 57 are up for grabs), Nebraska (36), West Virginia (34), Oregon (28), Washington (44), California (172), Montana (27), New Jersey (51), New Mexico (24), and South Dakota (29). Figures from Tuesday night — counting only the delegates automatically pledged thanks to Mr. Trump’s election victories — put him around 288 delegates away from 1,237.

While Struyk has not yet posted an article on this development, the ABC News election coverage home page already shows the updated figures.

Earlier Thursday afternoon, Nate Cohn at the New York Times posted analysis with asimilar conclusion — that Trump has a path to the nomination even if he loses the Indiana primary.

The main reason is Mr. Trump’s success on Tuesday among Pennsylvania’s 54 unpledged delegates. Even though none of them are officially bound to a candidate, 31 of the 54 spots went to delegates preferred by Mr. Trump. And before the election, others had said they would vote for the winner of their district (Mr. Trump won all of the state’s districts). My colleague Jeremy W. Peters reported that Mr. Trump “appeared to have won about 40 of Pennsylvania’s 54 unbound delegates.”

…

If he has indeed moved many of those delegates off the sideline and into his territory, it obviates the necessity for him to win Indiana, which is worth 57 delegates (30 delegates to the statewide winner and three delegates to the winner of each of nine congressional districts). He would still need a comfortable victory in California — enough to win about 130 of the state’s 172 delegates in the event of a loss in Indiana. He could bring that figure as low as 115 with good outcomes in West Virginia, Oregon, Washington and New Mexico, or with a few additional districts in Indiana.

Trump declared himself the “presumptive nominee” on Tuesday night but is still campaigning hard for Indiana’s voters. On Wednesday, former Indiana Hoosiers coach Bob Knight endorsed Trump at an Evansville rally.

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Ann Coulter: A Slow-Talker and a Homeless Guy Walk into a Bar…

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by ANN COULTER27 Apr 20162

Apparently, John Kasich and

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)

97%

 are at their most appealing when no one is paying attention to them, which, conveniently, is most of the time.

After Cruz won cranky Wisconsin last month — only the fourth actual election he’s won — voters decided to give him a second look. But two seconds after people said, “OK, let’s give this guy a try,” he cratered. You might say a little of Ted Cruz goes a long way. Voters can’t stand Cruz any more than his Senate colleagues can.

Listening to Cruz always makes me feel like I have Asperger’s. He speaks so slowly, my mind wanders between words. As Trump said, there’s a 10-second intermission between sentences. I want to order Cruz’s speeches as Amazon Audibles, just so I can speed them up and see what he’s saying

The guy did go to Harvard Law School, so I keep waiting for the flashes of brilliance, but they never come. Cruz is completely incapable of extemporaneous wit.

Now that Cruz has been mathematically eliminated, he’s adding Carly Fiorina to the ticket. She’s not his “running mate,” but his “limping mate.” It’s an all-around lemon-eating contest.

Voters quickly moved on from Cruz and tried Kasich. But he turned out to be the spitting image of a homeless man. He’s got the slouch, the facial tics, and a strange way of bouncing his head and looking around that makes you want to cross the street to avoid him. It looks like he cuts his own hair, and his suits are Ralph Nader cast-offs. He wolfs down food like a street person, has a hair-trigger temper, and rants about religion in a way that only he can understand.

Kasich is constantly proclaiming that illegals are “made in the image of God,” and denounces the idea of enforcing federal immigration laws, saying: “I don’t think it’s right; I don’t think it’s humane.”

When asked about his decision to expand Medicaid under Obamacare — projected to cost federal taxpayers $50 billion in the first decade — he said: “Now, when you die and get to the, get to the, uh, to the meeting with St. Peter … he’s going to ask you what you did for the poor. Better have a good answer.”

He lectured a crowd of fiscal conservatives on his Obamacare expansion, saying, “Now, I don’t know whether you ever read Matthew 25, but I commend it to you, the end of it, about do you feed the homeless and do you clothe the poor.” He also attributed the law to Chief Justice John Roberts and said, “It’s my money, OK?”

Voters thought they were getting a less attractive version of Mitt Romney with Kasich, but it turns out they’re getting a more televangelist version of Ted Cruz.

They’re also getting a less warm and personable version of Hillary Clinton. Last week, Kasich lashed out at a reporter who asked a perfectly appropriate question, going from boring campaign boilerplate to irritated browbeating in about one second flat. As much as I enjoy watching reporters being berated, this was deranged.

Kasich: Listen, at the end of the day I think the Republican Party wants to pick somebody who actually can win in the fall.”

Reporter: But if you’ve only won Ohio?

Kasich: “Can I finish?”

Reporter: “If you answer the ques–”

Kasich: “I’m answering the question the way I want to answer it. You want to answer it?” (Snatches voice recorder from reporter’s hand.) “Here, let me ask you. What do you think?

When giving a speech to Ohio EPA workers a few years ago, Kasich suddenly went off topic and began shouting about a police officer who had given him a ticket three years earlier. “Have you ever been stopped by a police officer that’s an idiot?” he began. He proceeded to tell the riveting story of his traffic violation to the EPA administrators, yelling about “this idiot! … He’s an IDIOT!”

Based on the dashcam video immediately released by the police, Kasich had been in the wrong, and the officer — you know, “the IDIOT” — was perfectly polite about it.

With Trump it’s exactly the opposite. The more people see of him, the more they like him. The usual pattern is: Trump says something perfectly sensible, the media lie about it, then voters find out the truth and like him more and the media less.

Ironically, it’s Kasich who has been complaining the loudest about the alleged billions of dollars of “free media” Trump has been getting. It turns out not getting “free media” was a godsend for Kasich and Cruz.

COPYRIGHT 2016 ANN COULTER 
DISTRIBUTED BY UNIVERSAL UCLICK

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Mike Huckabee on Ted Cruz, John Kasich: ‘I Wish They Wanted to Stop Hillary’

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AP Photo/Evan Vucci

by ALEX SWOYER25 Apr 2016Washington, DC1,360

Former GOP presidential candidate former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is weighing in on 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)

97%

and Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s coordinated plan to stop Donald Trump in upcoming primaries.

“Cruz, Kasich join forces to stop Trump. I wish they wanted to stop Hillary and much as they did the Republican who is beating both of them,” Huckabee posted on Twitter late Sunday night.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Huckabee’s daughter, joined Trump’s campaign after Huckabee suspended his campaign in February.

The Kasich and Cruz campaigns announced Sunday night that Cruz will focus on Indiana and Kasich will focus on Oregon and New Mexico in order to prevent Trump from obtaining 1,237 delegates to obtain the GOP nomination ahead of the Republican National Convention in July.

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Cruz on Kasich Alliance: ‘The Trump Campaign Is Scared’

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by PAM KEY25 Apr 20163,283

Monday in Indiana, Republican presidential candidate 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)

97%

explained the alliance between himself and his opponent Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) to take on the current party front-runner Donald Trump.

Partial transcript as follows:

CRUZ: It is abundantly clear that nobody is getting to 1237. We are headed to a contested convention. And at a contested convention, Donald Trump is in real trouble. Why? Because he cannot earn the support of a majority of the delegates elected by the people. Donald has had consistently a hard ceiling of about 40% that he can’t break. Donald has been a minority candidate, a fringe candidate. Now, he’s benefited early in the race by having a multitude of opponents where the opposition to Donald was diffuse. But what we have seen happening over the last month is the Republican Party uniting behind our campaign. Indeed, of the 17 candidates who started this race, five have now endorsed our campaign. Rick Perry, 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

35%

, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker and Carla Fiorina. We are seeing the full spectrum of the Republican Party uniting. And let me say something about the Hoosier state. There is a common sense sensibility about this great state. You’ve had leaders like governor Mitch Daniels, like governor Mike Pence, who roll up their sleeves and solve problems. Who understand that when you cut taxes and lift regulations, the result is small businesses grow and jobs expand. We need a president in the spirit of Mitch Daniels and Mike Pence. that is exact low what this campaign is based on. My number one priority as president is jobs and economic growth. If I’m elected president, we’ll repeal every word of Obamacare. We will pass a simple flat tax and abolish the IRS. We will rein in the EPA and the federal regulators, especially the EPA that is killing the coal industry, killing tens of thousands of jobs here in the state of Indiana. And we will stop amnesty and end sanctuary cities. And the effect of all of that is that we’re going to see millions and millions of new high-paying jobs coming back to America. We’re going to see wages rising again. We’re going to see manufacturing jobs coming back to Indiana, coming back from China, coming back from Mexico. We’re going to see young people coming out of school having two, three, four, five, job opportunities again. That’s what this election is all about.  last question.

REPORTER: To voters who have watched you run as an outsider all these months now see you making this deal to John Kasich, how do you justify that as not collusion?

CRUZ:  Listen, I have been from day one an outsider. And the proof is in the pudding —  but now you’re –he proof is in the pudding. The voters can ask who has stood up and led the fight against the Washington cartel from day one. I am the only candidate who has taken on not just Democrats but leaders in my own party over and over and over again. When I ran for senate, I promised the people of Texas I would lead the fight against Obamacare. That’s what I did in the senate, much to the annoyance of the Washington cartel. As president, I’ll repeal every word of Obamacare. When I ran for senate in Texas, I promised the voters I would lead the fight against amnesty. That’s what I did in the senate, leading the fight against the gang of eight amnesty bill. At the same time that Donald Trump was funding the gang of eight, giving over $50,000 to the proponents of amnesty, I was leading the fight and we defeated amnesty in congress. as president. I will stop amnesty. We’ll secure the borders, we’ll end sanctuary cities and we will end welfare benefits for those here illegally.

REPORTER: Respectfully, sir, how is it not collusion? What do you say to those people who say that it’s collusion? Donald Trump is saying that you are colluding and we expect to hear from him again and again.

CRUZ: I understand that Donald will whine. That’s what he does. Donald is a sore loser. When he lost five states in a low in landslide elections, Donald through a tantrum. His response is to attack the voters. His response is to attack the people. Yes, I get that the Trump campaign is scared. They’re scared of Indiana. If Donald wasn’t scared, he’d show up in Indiana and have a debate. But he would much rather hide in Trump Tower. He’d much rather stay in northeastern states that tend to be more liberal than actually come to the Midwest, come to the heartland and defend his policies. The past week Donald Trump agreed with Hillary Clinton on raising taxes. In the past week Donald Trump came out and agreed with Hillary Clinton that adult grown men should be able to go into little girls restrooms. And in the past week, Donald Trump’s campaign manager, who is a long-time Washington lobbyist, and this is important for people to understand, the entire Trump campaign is run by Washington lobbyists. it is the Washington cartel. It is the lobbyists who are running his campaign. His lobbyist campaign manager went and talked to the top brass of the RNC and said Donald is just putting on an act. This is a role he’s playing. He’s just on stage. He’s just pretending. He doesn’t mean what he said. Now, at first the Trump camp denied that. That’s their standard is to deny everything. Unfortunately for them, it was actually caught on tape, so we have the tape of Donald Trump’s lobbyist campaign manager saying this is all an act, this is all a fake, he’s a phony. Interestingly enough, that’s almost the exact same thing Donald Trump told “The New York Times” back in January when he sat down with “The New York Times” editorial board. Trump told them he doesn’t believe what he’s saying on immigration, he’s not going to build a wall, he’s not going to deport anyone. Once again, “The New York Times” has a tape. Now, the Trump campaign denies he says that but won’t let “The Times” release the tape. If he didn’t say he’s not going to build a wall, he’s not going to deport anyone and he’s simply faking it on immigration, then Donald should release the tape. His supporters should demand that he release the tape and prove his innocence. Donald won’t do that for the same reason that he won’t show up at a debate. because this is a fraud that the lobbyists in Washington are attempting to perpetuate on the American people. This is a fraud. The stakes are too high for us to get fooled again. And we’re all used to politicians who betray us after they get elected. Donald is betraying us before he gets elected and he’s telling us he’s lying to us. And so we are fighting to beat Donald Trump for the nomination. We are going to beat Donald Trump for the nomination. No one is getting to 1237, we’re headed to a contested convention. And at that convention the nominee will be decided by whoever can earn the support of a majority of the delegates elected by the people. And I  believe the only candidate who will be able to do that is me. And when we earn the support of a majority of the delegates we’re going to go forward and beat Hillary Clinton in November. Donald can’t — it would be a disaster for Republicans, for conservatives and for the country.

And, yes, I understand that the Trump campaign is going to scream and cry. That’s what they do. whining is what they do. because you notice, it is never, ever, ever Donald’s fault. Can anyone think of any instance when Donald has ever said he’s done anything wrong? It does not appear that he thinks that’s possible, that Donald could do something wrong. So it’s always the voters’ fault. It’s always the people’s fault. It’s always somebody else’s fault. But Donald J. Trump you know what, we need a president who understands the principle of the buck stops here. Donald Trump needs to learn to take some responsibility for and if he wants to make the case, show up and debate. Don’t hide behind your media surrogates. Because you’re terrified of scrutiny. Answer the questions from the voters. Have it be a town hall, real Hoosiers asking real questions about real problems. And if Donald is too terrified to answer the questions asked by the people of Indiana, how on earth is he going to stand on a debate stage with Hillary Clinton. If he’s scared of the voters now, how bad do you think he would be in a general election. and by the way, we’ve all seen a candidate in a general election who’s a loose cannon who will say any given thing on any given day. Who will wake up one day and say as Donald trump did that he thinks women should be punished for having abortions. That’s an absurd position. — Every day if Donald Trump were the nominee, we would see a circus of loose cannon statements that he tries to walk back the next day. d that would result in disaster for Republicans across the country. Now, I get that Hillary Clinton would be thrilled to see the Donald Trump train wreck in the general election. I get that the media, the network execs in just about every network are card-carrying Democrats, they are ready for Hillary. Nothing would thrill them more than a bloodbath that elects Hillary Clinton and gets great ratings while it’s happening. That is the perfect storm from a media network executive’s view, but it is a terrible outcome for the people. And this election is going to be decided by the people. And the Hoosier state, the entire country, its eyes are on this great state to choose between path do we want to go down. Do we want to go down the path of nominating a candidate whose entire campaign platform consists of yelling and screaming and cursing and insulting anyone and everyone it can find. Or do we want instead a positive, optimistic, forward-looking conservative campaign with real policy solutions to the challenges facing this country.

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SHOCK Poll: Trump Takes 10 Point Lead Over Cruz in Wisconsin’s Home Stretch

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by MATTHEW BOYLE4 Apr 2016Washington, DC3,517

Billionaire businessman Donald Trump has taken a 10-point lead over 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)

97%

 in Wisconsin in the final hours before the critical primary on Tuesday, a new poll released on Monday afternoon shows.

The bombshell new polling data, from American Research Group (ARG), show Trump’s 42 percent towering over Cruz’s 32 percent in the Badger State. Ohio Gov. John Kasich, for whom it is already mathematically impossible to win the nomination outright before the GOP convention in Cleveland in July, lurks back at 23 percent.

The poll surveyed 400 likely voters and has a five percent margin of error. It was conducted from April 1 to April 3. 54 percent of likely GOP primary voters polled in Wisconsin were men, 46 percent were women.

The Washington Post‘s Chris Cillizza signaled this poll is a “siren” worth looking at.

The results are certainly different than other recent polling that has shown Cruz with a similar lead over Trump. ARG has had mixed results throughout the campaign, finding Trump a point back behind Cruz in Texas. Cruz ended up winning Texas by big margins, well more than 10 points.  In Florida, ARG had Trump up 25 points over

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)

78%

–seven points too many. But in New Hampshire, ARG had Trump up 16 points–which was about right. Trump won the Granite State by 20 points.

Marquette and Fox Business polls released last week showed Cruz with 10-point leads over Trump and a smattering of other polling over the last week showed Trump trailing Cruz by around five to seven percent.

It’s unclear if this new ARG poll has any truth to it, but Trump and Cruz have been dueling on the campaign trail over the past few days throughout the state. Both have been barnstorming the state, going all in for Wisconsin.

Earlier on Monday, Trump suggested he might even win Wisconsin—something that was unthinkable just a couple days ago, as everyone thought Cruz would take the Badger State thanks to the endorsement he got from Gov. Scott Walker.

Trump compared Wisconsin to South Carolina—where Gov. Nikki Haley backed Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who has since dropped out of the race. Trump ended up winning decisively in South Carolina.

“It was over. I was going to get killed. The governor of the state, who is fairly popular” endorsed Rubio, Trump said. “The governor supported Marco and I said, ‘That’s bad.’”

“But guess what happened? I won in a landslide. Same thing is going to happen here,” Trump said. “I think the same thing.”

“I don’t know, maybe not,” Trump added.

If Trump does pull off a come-from-behind victory in Wisconsin, it could be devastating to his remaining rivals.

“If we do well here, folks, it’s over,” Trump also said on Monday.

But if Cruz wins, it could cause more damage to Trump—and spark renewed momentum, almost a campaign reset, for Cruz.

Cruz in a CNN interview pushed back on Trump’s prediction, saying that he thinks ultimately “The people of Wisconsin will decide” what happens.

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The Nuclear Option: Donald Trump Built a Juggernaut and Had the Media Pay for It

by CHARLES HURT10 Feb 2016

Why does the mainstream media heap such scorn and disbelief on Donald Trump over his promise to build a great wall along the border with Mexico — and make Mexico pay for it? After all, Donald Trump has built a winning presidential campaign — and made the media pay for it.

Mr. Trump’s second place finish in Iowa gave respite to the legions of media pundits and establishment flunkies who suffer the worst forms of Donald Trump Derangement Syndrome. They braced for a huge blow-out win in the Corn State. When it didn’t happen, it was like an executioner’s gun jamming. First they flinched, then they blinked a few times and then got up and ran like their hair was on fire.

Ever since, of course, they have been gloating and crowing — from a safe distance — that Donald Trump failed. King Midas had finally touched something and turned it into silver, instead of gold.

This, to be sure, is every bit as delusional as the derangement syndrome that has captivated their sanity for six months now. What Donald Trump pulled off in Iowa was nothing short of miraculous.

The last time a secular, loud, brash New Yorker who was leading in all the national polls faced Iowa Republican voters — former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani in 2008 — he got truly schlonged. Mr. Giuliani came in sixth place with only 4 percent of the vote.

Donald Trump came in second place with an astonishing 24 percent of the vote. He was just 3.3 percentage points behind Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) of Texas, who won the race by shamelessly pandering to the state’s huge evangelical population, which has determined the outcome of every Republican caucus there since at least 2000.

If Rudy Giuliani had done as well in Iowa as Trump did, the media would have declared him the winner and he very likely would rushed through New Hampshire and South Carolina on waves of positive press and his ultimate gambit of winning it all in Florida very likely could have worked. In other words, if Mr. Giuliani had done as well as Mr. Trump did in Iowa, we quite possibly would be referring to him now as former President Giuliani.

But the media hatred for Mr. Trump is so unrestrained that even a stellar accomplishment like he had in Iowa was dismissed as a shattering loss. And Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)’s third place loss behind Mr. Trump was spun endlessly as some kind of huge victory. This propelled the Florida Republican, until his poor performance in last weekend’s robotic performance in the New Hampshire debate.

What is so amazing about Mr. Trump’s blowout in the nation’s first primary in the Granite State is not just the 2-to-1 win over the next-nearest competitor, but his performance among every demographic group on every single issue.

Among women, middle-aged voters, the elderly, the educated — all people the experts warned would flee from Donald Trump — Mr. Trump managed to win. And he won on every major issue, including the economy, foreign policy and immigration.

Perhaps the sweetest thing out of New Hampshire is how the media will be forced to spin the results. They will, of course, try to minimize Mr. Trump’s thumping.

Then they will be forced to breathe wind into Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s disappointing — but surprising — second-place finish. The Kasich campaign is hopeless going forward. And so the battle rages on for the so-called “establishment lane” with Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and even Ted Cruz piled up behind John Kasich’s hopeless campaign.

Live by the spin, die by the spin.

Charles Hurt can be reached at charleshurt@live.com. Follow him on Twitter at @charleshurt.

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The Nuclear Option: Donald Trump Built a Juggernaut and Had the Media Pay for It

by CHARLES HURT10 Feb 20163138

Why does the mainstream media heap such scorn and disbelief on Donald Trump over his promise to build a great wall along the border with Mexico — and make Mexico pay for it? After all, Donald Trump has built a winning presidential campaign — and made the media pay for it.

Mr. Trump’s second place finish in Iowa gave respite to the legions of media pundits and establishment flunkies who suffer the worst forms of Donald Trump Derangement Syndrome. They braced for a huge blow-out win in the Corn State. When it didn’t happen, it was like an executioner’s gun jamming. First they flinched, then they blinked a few times and then got up and ran like their hair was on fire.

Ever since, of course, they have been gloating and crowing — from a safe distance — that Donald Trump failed. King Midas had finally touched something and turned it into silver, instead of gold.

This, to be sure, is every bit as delusional as the derangement syndrome that has captivated their sanity for six months now. What Donald Trump pulled off in Iowa was nothing short of miraculous.

The last time a secular, loud, brash New Yorker who was leading in all the national polls faced Iowa Republican voters — former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani in 2008 — he got truly schlonged. Mr. Giuliani came in sixth place with only 4 percent of the vote.

Donald Trump came in second place with an astonishing 24 percent of the vote. He was just 3.3 percentage points behind Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) of Texas, who won the race by shamelessly pandering to the state’s huge evangelical population, which has determined the outcome of every Republican caucus there since at least 2000.

If Rudy Giuliani had done as well in Iowa as Trump did, the media would have declared him the winner and he very likely would rushed through New Hampshire and South Carolina on waves of positive press and his ultimate gambit of winning it all in Florida very likely could have worked. In other words, if Mr. Giuliani had done as well as Mr. Trump did in Iowa, we quite possibly would be referring to him now as former President Giuliani.

But the media hatred for Mr. Trump is so unrestrained that even a stellar accomplishment like he had in Iowa was dismissed as a shattering loss. And Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)’s third place loss behind Mr. Trump was spun endlessly as some kind of huge victory. This propelled the Florida Republican, until his poor performance in last weekend’s robotic performance in the New Hampshire debate.

What is so amazing about Mr. Trump’s blowout in the nation’s first primary in the Granite State is not just the 2-to-1 win over the next-nearest competitor, but his performance among every demographic group on every single issue.

Among women, middle-aged voters, the elderly, the educated — all people the experts warned would flee from Donald Trump — Mr. Trump managed to win. And he won on every major issue, including the economy, foreign policy and immigration.

Perhaps the sweetest thing out of New Hampshire is how the media will be forced to spin the results. They will, of course, try to minimize Mr. Trump’s thumping.

Then they will be forced to breathe wind into Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s disappointing — but surprising — second-place finish. The Kasich campaign is hopeless going forward. And so the battle rages on for the so-called “establishment lane” with Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and even Ted Cruz piled up behind John Kasich’s hopeless campaign.

Live by the spin, die by the spin.

Charles Hurt can be reached at charleshurt@live.com. Follow him on Twitter at @charleshurt.

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The Nuclear Option: Donald Trump Built a Juggernaut and Had the Media Pay for It

by CHARLES HURT10 Feb 20163138

Why does the mainstream media heap such scorn and disbelief on Donald Trump over his promise to build a great wall along the border with Mexico — and make Mexico pay for it? After all, Donald Trump has built a winning presidential campaign — and made the media pay for it.

Mr. Trump’s second place finish in Iowa gave respite to the legions of media pundits and establishment flunkies who suffer the worst forms of Donald Trump Derangement Syndrome. They braced for a huge blow-out win in the Corn State. When it didn’t happen, it was like an executioner’s gun jamming. First they flinched, then they blinked a few times and then got up and ran like their hair was on fire.

Ever since, of course, they have been gloating and crowing — from a safe distance — that Donald Trump failed. King Midas had finally touched something and turned it into silver, instead of gold.

This, to be sure, is every bit as delusional as the derangement syndrome that has captivated their sanity for six months now. What Donald Trump pulled off in Iowa was nothing short of miraculous.

The last time a secular, loud, brash New Yorker who was leading in all the national polls faced Iowa Republican voters — former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani in 2008 — he got truly schlonged. Mr. Giuliani came in sixth place with only 4 percent of the vote.

Donald Trump came in second place with an astonishing 24 percent of the vote. He was just 3.3 percentage points behind Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) of Texas, who won the race by shamelessly pandering to the state’s huge evangelical population, which has determined the outcome of every Republican caucus there since at least 2000.

If Rudy Giuliani had done as well in Iowa as Trump did, the media would have declared him the winner and he very likely would rushed through New Hampshire and South Carolina on waves of positive press and his ultimate gambit of winning it all in Florida very likely could have worked. In other words, if Mr. Giuliani had done as well as Mr. Trump did in Iowa, we quite possibly would be referring to him now as former President Giuliani.

But the media hatred for Mr. Trump is so unrestrained that even a stellar accomplishment like he had in Iowa was dismissed as a shattering loss. And Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)’s third place loss behind Mr. Trump was spun endlessly as some kind of huge victory. This propelled the Florida Republican, until his poor performance in last weekend’s robotic performance in the New Hampshire debate.

What is so amazing about Mr. Trump’s blowout in the nation’s first primary in the Granite State is not just the 2-to-1 win over the next-nearest competitor, but his performance among every demographic group on every single issue.

Among women, middle-aged voters, the elderly, the educated — all people the experts warned would flee from Donald Trump — Mr. Trump managed to win. And he won on every major issue, including the economy, foreign policy and immigration.

Perhaps the sweetest thing out of New Hampshire is how the media will be forced to spin the results. They will, of course, try to minimize Mr. Trump’s thumping.

Then they will be forced to breathe wind into Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s disappointing — but surprising — second-place finish. The Kasich campaign is hopeless going forward. And so the battle rages on for the so-called “establishment lane” with Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and even Ted Cruz piled up behind John Kasich’s hopeless campaign.

Live by the spin, die by the spin.

Charles Hurt can be reached at charleshurt@live.com. Follow him on Twitter at @charleshurt.

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Twilight of the Gods: New Hampshire Voters Reject Clinton , Bush Dynasties in Epic Defeats

AFP, AP

by BEN SHAPIRO9 Feb 20162011

On Tuesday night, the establishment of both parties got hammered. On the Democratic side of the aisle, the most establishment candidate in American history, Hillary Rodham Clinton, got demolished by a 74-year-old loonbag socialist – she’s currently losing by more than 20 points in the state that saved her campaign in 2008, and a state she led by 56 points one year ago.

Hillary lost among voters of every age group up to 65 and over; she got cleaned by an 85 percent to 14 percent margin among young voters. She lost with every income bracket except those earning over $200,000. She lost among men; she lost among women. There will be plenty of women in hell for failing to vote Hillary tonight. Voters who worried most about honesty voted for Sanders by a margin of 91 percent to 5 percent for Hillary; for which candidate cares more about people like them, they said Sanders by an 82 percent to 17 percent margin.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the aisle, Donald Trump destroyed the competition. He more than doubled the second-place finisher, Ohio Governor and black belt fruit ninja John Kasich, winning 35 percent of the vote to Kasich’s 16 percent. Senator Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), whom the establishment despises, finished a surprising third with 12 percent of the vote, despite spending well under $1 million in the state in television advertising. Cruz actually won about the same percentage as fourth-place finisher Jeb! Bush, who spent $35 million on television advertising in the state. Cruz was rightly celebratory:

Thank you New Hampshire for tonight’s result, which has left the Washington Cartel utterly terrified.

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 10, 2016

Senator Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who had all the momentum coming out of Iowa and a hearty dose of media love as well, apparently blew all of it with his debate gaffe last Saturday night: he came in a distant fifth in a state in which he needed to take silver. He admitted that New Hampshire was a massive disappointment, and vowed never to do this poorly again:

Our disappointment tonight is not on you. It’s on me. I did not do well on Saturday night. So listen to this, that will never happen again.

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio)February 10, 2016

Good luck.

All of this is setting up perfectly for a final establishment meltdown in South Carolina.

In 2008, Hillary lost her campaign for the presidency by winning a majority of the white vote but losing the ethnic minority vote in a landslide. This time around, the math has almost entirely reversed: she must win ethnic minorities in order to wrest the nomination away from the Old Man Howling At The Moon. She made clear tonight that she would pander as hard as she needed to in order to accomplish that mission:

We also have to break through the barriers of bigotry. African-American parents shouldn’t have to worry that their children will be harassed, humiliated, even shot because of the color of their skin….when children anywhere in our country go to bed hungry, or are denied a quality education, or who face abuse or abandonment, that diminishes all of us. That’s why I did start my career at the Children’s Defense Fund. That’s why I went undercover in Alabama to expose racism in schools. That’s why I worked to reform juvenile justice in South Carolina. And that is why I went to Flint, Michigan, on Sunday.

She’s about five minutes away from breaking out her down home accent for a few church visits in Charleston. She’ll need them, given Sanders’ upcoming meeting with racial conflagrationist Al Sharpton and the endorsement of radical racial figure Harry Belafonte.

Meanwhile, look for Hillary to beg President Obama desperately for an endorsement. Look for him to hold off until after South Carolina.

The Republican race in South Carolina now swings heavily against the establishment. The only two candidates with a win under their belt are Cruz and Trump – and no Republican candidate has won the nomination without taking either Iowa or New Hampshire since the primary and caucus system began in 1976.

Perhaps that changes, but it’s difficult to see precisely how. Kasich has no ground game outside of New Hampshire; he’s angling for a vice presidential slot. Chris Christie has already suspended his campaign. Jeb! is sticking around – he said tonight that New Hampshire had “reset the race” — but voters dislike Jeb! more than anyone else in the field, and he’s likely to split votes with Kasich and Marco Rubio. Rubio still hopes to boost in South Carolina, but his lackluster finish in New Hampshire won’t help him one iota.

Which means South Carolina is now a two-man race: Trump vs. Cruz. That’s the establishment’s worst nightmare.

Hillary Clinton is down to her last stand in South Carolina. And the Republican establishment’s last stand may just have taken place in New Hampshire.

Ben Shapiro is Senior Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News, Editor-in-Chief of DailyWire.com, and The New York Times bestselling author, most recently, of the book,The People vs. Barack Obama: The Criminal Case Against The Obama Administration (Threshold Editions, June 10, 2014). Follow Ben Shapiro on Twitter @benshapiro.

 

 

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Twilight of the Gods: New Hampshire Voters Reject Clinton , Bush Dynasties in Epic Defeats

AFP, AP

by BEN SHAPIRO9 Feb 20162011

On Tuesday night, the establishment of both parties got hammered. On the Democratic side of the aisle, the most establishment candidate in American history, Hillary Rodham Clinton, got demolished by a 74-year-old loonbag socialist – she’s currently losing by more than 20 points in the state that saved her campaign in 2008, and a state she led by 56 points one year ago.

Hillary lost among voters of every age group up to 65 and over; she got cleaned by an 85 percent to 14 percent margin among young voters. She lost with every income bracket except those earning over $200,000. She lost among men; she lost among women. There will be plenty of women in hell for failing to vote Hillary tonight. Voters who worried most about honesty voted for Sanders by a margin of 91 percent to 5 percent for Hillary; for which candidate cares more about people like them, they said Sanders by an 82 percent to 17 percent margin.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the aisle, Donald Trump destroyed the competition. He more than doubled the second-place finisher, Ohio Governor and black belt fruit ninja John Kasich, winning 35 percent of the vote to Kasich’s 16 percent. Senator Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), whom the establishment despises, finished a surprising third with 12 percent of the vote, despite spending well under $1 million in the state in television advertising. Cruz actually won about the same percentage as fourth-place finisher Jeb! Bush, who spent $35 million on television advertising in the state. Cruz was rightly celebratory:

Thank you New Hampshire for tonight’s result, which has left the Washington Cartel utterly terrified.

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 10, 2016

Senator Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who had all the momentum coming out of Iowa and a hearty dose of media love as well, apparently blew all of it with his debate gaffe last Saturday night: he came in a distant fifth in a state in which he needed to take silver. He admitted that New Hampshire was a massive disappointment, and vowed never to do this poorly again:

Our disappointment tonight is not on you. It’s on me. I did not do well on Saturday night. So listen to this, that will never happen again.

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio)February 10, 2016

Good luck.

All of this is setting up perfectly for a final establishment meltdown in South Carolina.

In 2008, Hillary lost her campaign for the presidency by winning a majority of the white vote but losing the ethnic minority vote in a landslide. This time around, the math has almost entirely reversed: she must win ethnic minorities in order to wrest the nomination away from the Old Man Howling At The Moon. She made clear tonight that she would pander as hard as she needed to in order to accomplish that mission:

We also have to break through the barriers of bigotry. African-American parents shouldn’t have to worry that their children will be harassed, humiliated, even shot because of the color of their skin….when children anywhere in our country go to bed hungry, or are denied a quality education, or who face abuse or abandonment, that diminishes all of us. That’s why I did start my career at the Children’s Defense Fund. That’s why I went undercover in Alabama to expose racism in schools. That’s why I worked to reform juvenile justice in South Carolina. And that is why I went to Flint, Michigan, on Sunday.

She’s about five minutes away from breaking out her down home accent for a few church visits in Charleston. She’ll need them, given Sanders’ upcoming meeting with racial conflagrationist Al Sharpton and the endorsement of radical racial figure Harry Belafonte.

Meanwhile, look for Hillary to beg President Obama desperately for an endorsement. Look for him to hold off until after South Carolina.

The Republican race in South Carolina now swings heavily against the establishment. The only two candidates with a win under their belt are Cruz and Trump – and no Republican candidate has won the nomination without taking either Iowa or New Hampshire since the primary and caucus system began in 1976.

Perhaps that changes, but it’s difficult to see precisely how. Kasich has no ground game outside of New Hampshire; he’s angling for a vice presidential slot. Chris Christie has already suspended his campaign. Jeb! is sticking around – he said tonight that New Hampshire had “reset the race” — but voters dislike Jeb! more than anyone else in the field, and he’s likely to split votes with Kasich and Marco Rubio. Rubio still hopes to boost in South Carolina, but his lackluster finish in New Hampshire won’t help him one iota.

Which means South Carolina is now a two-man race: Trump vs. Cruz. That’s the establishment’s worst nightmare.

Hillary Clinton is down to her last stand in South Carolina. And the Republican establishment’s last stand may just have taken place in New Hampshire.

Ben Shapiro is Senior Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News, Editor-in-Chief of DailyWire.com, and The New York Times bestselling author, most recently, of the book,The People vs. Barack Obama: The Criminal Case Against The Obama Administration (Threshold Editions, June 10, 2014). Follow Ben Shapiro on Twitter @benshapiro.

 

 

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John Kasich Campaign Under Investigation for Possible Illegal Robocalls in New Hampshire

The Associated Press

by PATRICK HOWLEY8 Feb 2016309

MANCHESTER, N.H. – The John Kasich campaign is under investigation by the New Hampshire Attorney General after complaints that the campaign allegedly sent pre-recorded robocalls to New Hampshire residents who are on the national no-call list, which is illegal under New Hampshire state law.

A Kasich adviser denies any wrongdoing.

Breitbart News has obtained an audio recording of a robocall that the Kasich campaign apparently sent out to at least one person in New Hampshire. The robocall ended up on the answering machine of at least one individual, Amhert’s James Burke, who is on the nationwide “no-call list.”

The Attorney General provided a memo to the Jeb Bush campaign saying that an investigation is underway and that there are no exceptions to the law. The Kasich campaign initially claimed that the robocalls were not illegal because real live people dialed the numbers and only left a recorded message if the person on the other line didn’t pick up. But the attorney general interpreted the statute to mean that even if a human dialed the number, the campaign would still be in violation so long as a recorded message was left.

“The AG’s interpretation of the statute is confusing,” Kasich surrogate and senior adviser Tom Rath, a former New Hampshire attorney general, told Breitbart News. “It was confusing to interpret it that way.”

Pressed for clarification, Rath changed his quote.

“It was sufficiently confusing that he decided to issue a press release clarifying what they felt the law meant,” Rath said.

Rath added that he had nothing more to say on the matter.

Jeb Bush campaign general counsel Megan Sowards recently sent a letter to the state Attorney General’s office thanking it for providing “guidance” on the issue. The Attorney General’s office claimed that there is “no material exclusion” to the ban on sending robocalls to people on the no-call list. Sowards said that the Kasich camp, which includes a pro-Kasich super PAC, has not stopped engaging in the practice, despite the Attorney General’s guidance.

“Dear General Foster:  Thank you for providing written guidance making clear that RSA 664:14-a’s prohibition against prerecorded political messages delivered to New Hampshire voters on the federal do not call list ‘has no material exclusion; it is absolute,'” Sowards wrote, adding:

Despite your office’s very clear guidance last week, today our campaign received evidence that New Day for America, the Super PAC allied with John Kasich’s presidential campaign, has delivered a pre-recorded message to an answering machine of a New Hampshire resident on the federal do not call list. The message has all of the hallmarks of one recorded by a professional actor reading from a script instead of a volunteer leaving an individualized message.

The New Hampshire attorney general’s office provided guidance on the matter in a memo obtained by Breitbart News. According to the memo:

A “prerecorded political message” is defined by RSA 664:14-a, I, as a prerecorded audio message delivered by telephone by: (a) candidate or political committee: or (b) any person when the content of the message expressly or implicitly advocates the success or defeat of any party, measure, or person at any election, or contains information about any candidate or party. As applied to candidates for nomination in the New Hampshire Presidential Primary (“Primary”), it is clear by the definition that the statute applies to prerecorded (1) audio messages, (2) delivered by telephone, and (3) containing information about or advocating the success or defeat of any person competing in the Primary.

The statute restricts the delivery of audio messages meeting the definition of a prerecorded political message in two ways…The second restriction is the one relevant to the present inquiry. It prohibits the delivery of a prerecorded political message to any telephone number on any federal do not call list. RSA 664:14-a, III. The prohibition has no material exclusion; it is absolute. The statute makes no distinction between a prerecorded political message delivered by a live person or an automated dialing machine, nor does the statute distinguish between prerecorded political messages received by a live person or a telephone answering device. If the number called is on a federal do not call list, no prerecorded political message may be delivered. RSA 664:14-a, III.

The Kasich campaign did not provide comment for this report.

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Second Place Remains Wide Open in New Hampshire Polls, with Donald Trump in First

Associated Press

by JORDAN SCHACHTEL7 Feb 2016117

Five different polls have been published Sunday indicating that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is the heavy favorite to win Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary.

However, full-scale battle for second place has emerged, with establishment candidatesSen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Jeb Bush, and Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) consistently polling in the double-digits, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), an anti-establishment conservative, also polling favorably.

Meanwhile, support in the Granite State for outsider candidates Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson continue to fall, as the two candidates continue to poll in the single digits, along with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

The poll results do not reflect the outcome of Saturday night’s ABC News debate, as the surveys were gathered beforehand.

In the five polls, Trump averaged 32 percent. Kasich averaged 12 percent, Rubio averaged 15 percent, Bush averaged 10 percent, Christie averaged 5 percent, Fiorina averages 3.5 percent, and Carson averaged 2.5 percent.

Trump leads all the polls. But Rubio gets three second-places and two third-place scores, including tied scores. Kasich gets two second-place finishes, Bush gets one third-place score.

Below is a summary of where the Republican candidates placed in the five polls released Sunday, ranked by their finish in the following polls in order:Monmouth, CNN/WMUR, Boston Herald/FPU, Umass/7News, ARG.

Donald Trump: 1(+16); 1(+17); 1(+15); 1(+22); 1(+14)

Sen. Marco Rubio: T3; 2; 3; 2; T2

Sen. Ted Cruz: 4; 3; 2; 3; 5

Gov. John Kasich: 2; 4; 4; 5; T2

Jeb Bush: T3; 5; 5; 4; T4

Gov. Chris Christie: 6; 7; 6; T6; 6

Carly Fiorina: 7; 6; 7; 7; 7

Dr. Ben Carson: 8; 8; 8; 8; 8

On the Democratic side, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) maintains his lead in New Hampshire. However, a Boston Herald/FPU poll among likely voters said his lead is down to only 7 percentage points. A loss in New Hampshire would be a devastating blow to the Vermont Senator, who has, since early January, been a favorite to win the state’s delegates.

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