Call it likelihood, call it probability, call it intellectual honesty, or call it something else; it matters not – there’s overwhelming evidence the Wisconsin battleground stakes are so consequential that much of the current data being presented by the media is agenda driven.
Before explaining the insufferable fingerprints of corporate media influence, the first and most important takeaway must be emphasized.  Regardless of everything, a strong voter turnout is critical.  All efforts, for all candidates, should be made to get out supporters on election day.
There’s far too much sketchy data – the simplest message must be sent: Just Go Vote
The polling data being distributed by the national media is starkly detached from the generally identified primary expressions in Wisconsin ground reports, comment sections of various local publications, discussion groups, social media and beyond.
In addition, there’s substantive evidence of data corruption: (more…)

Tonight at 8:00pm the heavy political news day continues with a five candidate Presidential Town Hall hosted by CNN.

The event begins at 8:00pm EST and is scheduled through 11:00pm.

Candidates Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz, John Kasich and Donald Trump will appear live on  CNN.  Bernie Sanders is scheduled to appear via satellite feed.  All five presidential candidates will be questioned individually by host Anderson Cooper and Wolf Blitzer – it appears most of the Q&A will be interview style.

There is not a publicly available schedule to find out the order of appearance.

The Town Hall event is being broadcast on CNN and CNNi.

(This thread will remain at the top of the page for the duration of the broadcast)

Donald Trump, Raphael “Ted” Cruz, Hillary Clinton and John Kasich will all appear on a live CNN presidential forum next Monday evening.  Bernie Sanders will also appear via a remote feed from the campaign trail.

CNN is hosting a three-hour candidate forum with Anderson Cooper and Wolf Blitzer in Washington DC.   Each candidate interview will be conducted separately, so they will not be debating each other.  All of them, sans Sanders, are in town for the pro-Israel AIPAC conference.

The event appears to be a rather significant ratings victory for CNN because Fox News tried to host a GOP presidential debate but failed miserably due to poor timing overlap with the AIPAC conference and planned speeches.   Donald Trump declined the Fox debate due to scheduling conflict with AIPAC and in turn Kasich backed away in response to Trump’s decision.

This forum event by CNN is a rather large poke in the eye to their competitor Fox News.

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The most jaw-dropping part of the story that accompanies this ad is the fact the media seem oblivious to what the message is.

Having watched the news cycle today there’s not a single pundit who has identified the intensely brilliant messaging within the 15 second video:

This ad was not just targeted to domestic consumption. This ad was directly distancing Donald Trump from Clinton’s failed and massively botched “Russian Reset“. The message was more for Putin to see than for U.S. media to discuss.

Read The Art of The Deal.  This is Brilliant ! (more…)

8:00pm We anticipate the need for more than one Mini-Tuesday election results thread. Hence, we will number them (as above) depending on the volume of inbound data.

MASSIVE TURNOUT !!

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For those who missed last nights Democrat debate, there was a very substantive back-and-forth between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton regarding the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership deal (TPP).

Bernie Sanders has been a long-time opponent to TPP, and Hillary Clinton only recently opposing it.  Some would say: predictably due to the poll-tested opposition amid the party.

As Bernie pointed out Hillary’s ‘come-to-Jesus-moment’ on the issue, he also brought a secondary and semi-related subject into the foray by discussing the Import/Export bank authorization (part of the Omnibus financial deal).

Sanders voted (in the minority position) against the Import/Export bank reauthorization as a matter of principle.  Readers will note that Senator Ted Cruz, and a majority of ‘conservatives’ also don’t like the crony capitalism within the I/E bank.

Ted Cruz’s opposition to the I/E reauthorization was/is so strong, it was the basis for him claiming a complete reversal of advocacy for the TPP deal.

Senator Mitch McConnell purchased the votes for the TPP deal (in June) by promising several Democrats he would reauthorize the I/E bank funding in the Omnibus (December) spending bill.  This McConnell quid-pro-quo arrangement was “The Lie” that Ted Cruz pointed out on the Senate floor.

Just to be clear, Senator Ted Cruz was for TPP (his own bill) until McConnell added I/E reauthorization promises; at which time Cruz was no longer in favor of TPP.

Senator Ted Cruz supported TPP, but opposed funding the Import Export bank.

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Sometimes you have to wonder how much of this stuff an ordinary Democrat voter can swallow before they too are suffocated by the obfuscation and avoidance.  It looks like Hillary has found another person to put on her “vast right wing conspiracy” list.

(Via Bloomberg) The Hillary Clinton campaign has gone on the attack against the government official who conducts oversight of the State Department she used to run, accusing him of partisanship and misconduct without any direct evidence. That strategy could backfire by politicizing the role of the government’s inspectors general and undermining needed State Department reforms. (more…)

People are making a rather big deal of the DOJ granting immunity to a Clinton staffer who was involved in the set up of the private email servers. The presumption is this may be her undoing. 

Sorry, but you can put me in the cynical column.  The Democrats and Republicans cooperated together to protect the congressional intelligence gang-of-eight oversight committee surrounding Benghazi, do you really think the DC UniParty is going to let one of their leaders suffer a DOJ indictment?  Not-Going-To-Happen, ever.

(Via WaPo) The Justice Department has granted immunity to the former State Department staffer who worked on Hillary Rodham Clinton’s private email server as part of a criminal investigation into the possible mishandling of classified information, according to a senior law enforcement official.

The official said the FBI had secured the cooperation of Bryan Pagliano who worked on Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign before setting up the server in her New York home in 2009. (more…)

We are going to put up two separate threads, one for Nevada where Democrats are caucusing, and a separate thread for South Carolina where Republicans are voting.

The Nevada Caucus early entrance polls are HERE (via NBC) and CNN has a live-blog of ongoing events HERE.  Politico has Caucus Results REPORTING HERE

UPDATE 5:24pm EST – AP Calls Race for Hillary Clinton

BREAKING: Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic caucuses in Nevada. @AP race call at 5:15 p.m. EST. #Election2016 #APracecall

— The Associated Press (@AP) February 20, 2016

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