The CNN prime-time debate begins at 8:30pm – It is broadcast on all CNN media outlets and is available HERE:
Please share your comments and perspectives in the comment section.
It is anticipated the CNN approach will be to frame everything around overt and covert attacks against the GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.
Toward that end it makes sense Chris Christie was placed in the prime-time debate as a GOPe/RNC tool. If the debate qualifications to allow Christie into the prime-time debate had not taken place there would only have been 7 candidates on the stage with Donald Trump. Both Christie and Rand Paul would have been bumped down. (more…)
Despite almost everyone agreeing the GOP debates need to be trimmed to the top 5, 6, or 7 – CNN has decided, yet again, to put nine candidates on the prime-time debate stage and four remain at the lower-tier debate.
(Rand Paul previously hinted that if he was not on the prime-time stage he would withdraw):
(Via CNN) […] CNN’s debate, which will be held in Las Vegas and is the fifth of the primary season, is the first to use early-state polls as a way to make the main event in prime-time. Candidates must meet one of three criteria in polls conducted between October 29 and December 13 and recognized by CNN: an average of at least 3.5% nationally; at least 4% in Iowa; or at least 4% in New Hampshire. (more…)
According to the latest CBS/NYT Poll (full pdf below) Trump has gained another thirteen points in his lead over all other Republican candidates since October. Now standing atop the field with a lead more than double the second place candidate, Ted Cruz.
[*NOTE* CBS/NYT has only released the top-lines. The rest of the poll results will be released tonight at 6:30 p.m.]
However, again the notation: these poll numbers were BEFORE Donald Trump’s proposal to halt Muslim immigration pending further review. It is virtually certain, with all the other candidates standing in opposition to Trump on this issue, Trump’s polling numbers are significantly higher – even the progressive pundits admit this reality. (more…)
Wow – Now we know why the GOPe is in full blown panic mode. The results from the latest WMUR/CNN Poll in New Hampshire (full pdf below) shows support for Ben Carson has fully collapsed, and Ted Cruz drops below John Kasich…. But it gets much, much worse for the establishment candidates.
The GOPe road map has totally collapsed in New Hampshire. All of the GOPe splitters are now left picking leftover scraps from those voters who are in the undecideds:
Trump has forced upon the GOPe the absolute nightmare scenario – “the splitters are splitting upon themselves”. Rubio, Bush and Christie combined cannot beat Donald Trump’s current level of support.
The millions spent by Team Kasich have garnered him a grand total of 7%; and the tens of millions spent by Jeb Bush only get him to 8%. The granite state electorate are fully engaged and they are seeing through the GOPe establishment schemes.
The New Hampshire voters are also seeing through the convenient flip-flops of Cruz and have identified the reality of Carson’s inability. (more…)
Reader/Commentator Bluto puts hammer to nail. Sometimes it helps to step back and ask the obvious:
I keep asking people: “Can somebody tell me about all the big Rallies for Cruz, Rubio, Bush, Carson, Kasich, Christie??? Are they too having several a week? Does anybody have the listings of previous rallies and upcoming rallies? The location, the venue, the attendances?”
Crickets.
Trump is the only one working. It’s glaring. He’s not just working, he’s been chugging along lapping the field day-in and day-out for months now. Nobody is attracting the people like Trump. Nobody.
But wait, that’s going to annoy the naysayers that attack his supporters as idiots & low information boobs. So let’s take the crowds out of it. (more…)
The media narratives are nothing if not predictable – The latest NBC Poll (pdf below) reflects the preferred media candidate shifting. Ben Carson on the decline, Ted Cruz rising with the assist of disenfranchised Carson supporters, Rubio steady mid-range and Jeb comfortably playing possum.
Captain Obvious says: if you look at longer term NBC/Survey Monkey polling you find this current poll positioning is essentially right where the top-tier was in August just before Operation Hummingbird kicked in.
What that reflects is exactly what we’ve been outlining. The shaking of the field is nothing more than media grabbed the candidates like a snow globe – shook em’ up – and now the race settles right back where it was originally when the debates started. See: (more…)
A large sample national poll conducted by IPSOS for Reuters (full pdf below) reflects an increasingly obvious reality – Donald Trump is the dominant candidate with a vast and growing support base.
Significantly, the data also shows: five times as many independent voters choose Donald Trump over Marco Rubio and/or Ted Cruz.
Political followers have noticed GOPe strategy modified and they stopped attacking Trump directly. Instead they shifted their marginalization approach by trying to attach Trump to candidate Ted Cruz.
Every effort by Team Trump should be made to keep Ted Cruz at arms length. We have previously outlined the reason(s) why Cruz’s electoral strategy is doomed to defeat. There is no winning electoral map within the campaign strategy of Ted Cruz which is based on a very narrow slice of the electorate. (more…)
*NOTE* Do not for a moment think Fox is moving away from their mandated/scripted narrative to eliminate the Main Street Vulgarian, they’re not. Remember, the next debate (Nov 10th) is on FNB and Team Trump have already announced intents for the campaign to negotiate debate conditions. The FNB debate line-up is expected to be announced tomorrow, and Fox Needs Trump.
Within this latest national Fox News Poll (full pdf below) three interesting aspects. ♦ Donald Trump is leading despite the methodology and breakdown. ♦ Donald Trump is viewed as most likely to defeat Hillary Clinton. ♦ Fox News sub-contracted the data collection to two different partisan polling outfits: Anderson Robbins Research (for Democrats), Shaw & Company Research (for Republicans) from November 1-3, 2015:
Via Fox – Is the race for the Republican nomination finally shaking out? Four candidates get double-digit backing — and then there’s a steep drop-off to the rest of the field.
The latest Fox News national poll on the 2016 election finds that Donald Trump has the edge, as GOP primary voters by wide margins identify him as the best candidate on the economy, as well as the one most likely to beat presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The poll also finds Ben Carson remains within striking distance of Trump. (more…)
Candidate Donald Trump was quite up front and out in the open with his warning about Super-PACs doing some sketchy business and putting their candidates in compromising positions.
In a similar fashion we have warned of Ted Cruz being compromised by “sketchy” activity resulting from his way-too-close association/alignment with Glenn Beck and the extremely “sketchy” David Barton who runs “Keep the Promise”.
Now a recent outline from Politico (<– which you may want to bookmark) claims that the Cruz Camp is a little concerned about the activity, or, well, actually, lack thereof, from the various Keep The Promise Pro-Cruz Super-PACs. (more…)
