Donald Trump previously said: “I will win the Hispanic vote in this election“.
Guess what?  He’s right.

In a Public Policy Polling survey, Trump leads with 34% of Hispanic voters, surpassing Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.   What makes this poll even more delicious, is that it had to be reported on Univision:

ROGELIO MORA TAGLE, CORRESPONDENT: And it’s that upon launching his campaign, Trump said among other things that the people who emigrate from Mexico bring to the United States drugs, crime and are rapists. Those comments, for 55% of those polled, are insulting and racist, and out of place in a presidential campaign.

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Watch this video interview closely.  It aired tonight on the Megyn Kelly show.  Do you spot the two “tell tale” moments.  [ Hint: how Kelly ended the interview of Senator Ted Cruz is a big one. ]

Megyn “too-cute-by-half” Kelly has been preparing for, and refining, her debate moderator approach.  This segment gives insight into what her approach will be toward Donald Trump, she can’t hide it. (more…)

Fox News has announced their debate line-up.  Using their selected “polling” data, they have ranked the candidates and announced the “Top Ten” (Tier One) who will have a prime-time debate 9pm to 11pm on Thursday August 6th.  A second tier (bottom ranked 7) who will have a 5pm to 7pm with a smaller debate presence.

FOX RANKING: Yellow = top tier, Blue = bottom tier. (more…)

(Via ABC News) Donald Trump has turned the tables on Gawker. After the online site released one of Donald Trump’s cellphone numbers, the GOP presidential candidate changed his voicemail this morning.

“Hi, this is Donald Trump and I’m running for the presidency of the United States of America.  With your help and support, together we can make America truly great again! Visit me at twitter @realDonaldTrump and check out my campaign website at www.donaldtrump.com Hope to see you on the campaign trail, we’re going to do it!”

Listen below (more…)

Here’s the full video of the New Hampshire GOP Candidate Forum.  The event was held at St. Anselm College in Manchester, NH.  The candidates appeared one at a time, answering questions determined by the editors of the Union Leader based on the topics suggested by the public:

Notes and Shortcuts – Yes, I watched all 2+ hours.

In essence the format was a little odd with candidates coming up to the stage for prepared questions. However, beyond the format, a basic flaw were the questions themselves.

The questions were specifically targeted soft ball pitches for each of the candidates strengths. Every question asked was a question you have formerly heard them answer. I am left with the impression this was not accidental.

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Y’all go on wit y’own self – getting all defrosted about The Donald flying to Scotland while the other Candidates are deep in debate prep.  Our man is flyin’ on his own dime.  He got this!

You can’t buy this kind of raw energetic enthusiasm. Priceless:

With a much larger polling sample, the national trend continues. In addition the favorability numbers for Donald Trump have increased substantially, and the disapproval numbers have greatly diminished. Only one candidate, Marco Rubio, holds higher favorability numbers.

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National Review and InstaPundit have launched their own on-line polls to see who “their readers” would prefer as the GOP candidate. The polling reflects as much about the ideological sensibility of the poll gatherer as it does the participating audience.

It’s interesting to watch/see how the various “conservative” factions are assembled in the blog-o-sphere.

Here's where our #GOP poll stands! Voted yet? We'll post final results Thursday! VOTE HERE: http://t.co/Xe96MG726B pic.twitter.com/aaFe44bF1h

— National Review (@NRO) August 3, 2015

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The Wall Street Journal and NBC have published their last national poll prior to the debate qualification cutoff. However, there’s something considerably afoot with the entire construct of the debate field.

In addition, this poll is sketchy at best, because it only includes “252 interviews” within the poll, yet is considered a “substantive poll” used for the qualification of the debate field.  Yeah, go figure that one out.

The Highlighted Candidates are the 10 “debate qualifiers”:

(Via NBC) Days before the first Republican debate, Donald Trump has surged into the national lead in the GOP primary race, with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush following, a new NBC News/ Wall Street Journal poll shows. (more…)

(Via Daily Caller) Emails released Friday show former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton and other State Department officials discussing how to go about helping a powerful Democratic senator who was asking for a job for his daughter in the agency in summer 2009.

The pressure paid off for the now-retired Iowa senator, Tom Harkin, as his daughter Jennifer was hired on as the assistant to the ambassador-at-large at the State Department’s Office of Global Criminal Justice. The gig was in a small office that had a “limited number of slots,” another Clinton aide wrote in a separate email chain published Friday. (more…)