The Morning Consult survey polled 504 registered voters who said they watched the Republican primary debate and that they plan to participate in their state’s Republican presidential nominating contest. Of those voters, 69 percent identified themselves as Republicans, and 28 percent called themselves independents.  The poll carried a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percent (link):

The four consecutive days of attacks on Donald Trump, leading up to the CNN debate, appear to have hurt Rand Paul, Scott Walker significantly; both appear to be in trouble.  Also, worth noting – candidates Pataki, Graham and Jindal see no benefit from their attack efforts.  Fiorina, Rubio, and Christie gained supporters.  Carson, Bush and Kasich stayed essentially the same. (more…)

Anyone who doesn’t think that Karl Rove is intertwined with the current “Trump-Muslim-Obama-Birther” controversy exploding amid the headlines today doesn’t know Rove.
Remember 2010 and Delaware Senate race Christine O’Donnell and the “witch/wiccan” religion controversy?  Yeah, Rove was Mike Castle’s campaign guy.  After Castle lost, Rove torpedoed O’Donnell -via media- on behalf of the GOPe.
Remember 2014 Matt Bevin Kentucky Senate race against Mitch McConnell and the “Chicken fight” speech.  Yup, Rovian again.  Here’s Rove today feeding the narrative:

The “Twofer” – The group that should really be watching Rove work his current magic are the Ted Cruz supporters. (more…)

Candidate Rick Perry Super-PACs collected over $17 million; the campaign itself raised less than $2 million.  With Perry dropping out, Super-PAC head Austin Barbour and the finance chair Brint Ryan are now issuing refunds.

TEXAS – A group of super PACs backing former Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s now-defunct presidential bid has refunded to donors most of the millions of dollars they collected, the groups’ finance chairman said.
“We’re still settling up with a few vendors … but we had a pretty good estimate of what those were so we were able to hold back a little bit of the reserve and refund the rest,” Brint Ryan, the super PACs’ finance chairman who runs a Dallas-based tax services company, told the Center for Public Integrity.
The pro-Perry super PACs, all named variations on Opportunity and Freedom PAC, are legally allowed to accept unlimited contributions.
They collectively reported raising $12.8 million during the first half of the year. Austin Barbour, the senior adviser, said they had received another $4 million contribution from a single donor after the reporting deadline, bringing the total to nearly $17 million. (more…)

Donald Trump holds a Town Hall last night including a lengthy Q&A session.   The first question coming in at 09:45 of the video below is from a guy claiming that President Obama is Muslim – the media immediately jumped on it and are criticizing Trump for not pushing back against the question:

Anticipate the MSM news cycle to continue making a big deal of this today.

…. the Rovian onslaught continues.

You might disagree with this, I do not.  If you remove Donald Trump it is a guaranteed outcome. Hence here’s what the 43 members of the professional political class are predicting for the outcome of the 2015/16 primary race:
They can be so confident because the entire construct of elections are decided upon by Wall Street and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce  (Here’s The Analysis Link)

OAN/GRAVIS have published an exclusive poll based entirely on the results from last night’s CNN debate (full pdf below).  The poll shows the majority of those questioned viewed Carly Fiorina won the debate and reflects a predictable surge:

According to this result, both Fiorina and Rubio gained status and favorable opinion amid those Republicans polled. (more…)

Disclaimer: Your opinion on the debate performances are far more valid than mine.  My perspective is skewed because I’m looking through a filter of how Wall Street RNC/GOPe and DNC interests will view and perceive the debate performances.

Baseline – Going into the debate all the candidates, other than Trump, had something to gain and little to lose.  Donald Trump had everything to lose and little to gain.  With that in mind: (more…)

“Let’s Get Ready To Rumble” !!

The Second GOP Debate “Top Tier” Begins at 8:00pm – All pundits expect the lower supported field to pile-on primary frontrunner Donald Trump.
The future of Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden hang in the balance.  If Trump does well, Wall Street will demand Biden enter the race within a week.  The GOPe machine wants a Hillary Clinton VS Jeb Bush 2016 General Election – Live Stream HERE:

 

The first debate takes place at 6:00pm Eastern.  It contains the “One Percenters” – the four GOP Candidates who are polling around one percent:  Lindsey Graham, Bobby Jindal, Rick Santorum and George Pataki.

CNN is hosting the debate and carrying a LIVESTREAM HERE