Rick Perry: A brokered convention would be a new ballgame for everyone — and...
A tasty leftover from last night, although of course there’s zero chance of Perry becoming the consensus nominee at a deadlocked convention. For one thing, you’re not going to see a deadlock unless the...
View ArticleTrump warns Republicans threatening not to support him: They’re gonna have a...
Another notable leftover from yesterday via Mediaite. I didn’t understand Trump’s answer the first time I watched but I get it now: He thinks Tapper, who mentions Rubio in his question, is asking him...
View Article11:30 ET: Romneymania runs wild
I know what you’re thinking, but don’t be skeptical. You guys are gonna love Romney 8.0! The speech will be carried live by C-SPAN 3 (watch online) and, presumably, the cable news networks, although...
View ArticleBloomberg’s big kiss to Hillary Clinton
The alternative-billionaire dream has crashed and burned in an unexpected nod to reality. For several weeks, and perhaps months, Michael Bloomberg toyed publicly with the idea of running for president...
View ArticleTrump to conservatives: An independent bid would guarantee President Hillary,...
Didn’t we already settle the lateness-of-hour issue on independent presidential bids with Michael Bloomberg? Yesterday afternoon, Politico reported that a handful of conservative activists plan to meet...
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Last night’s exit poll: 39% of Republican voters would consider a third party...
A leftover from yesterday’s preliminary exit poll but relevant today given the rumblings about a third party in the works. Whoever ends up being nominated, at least a quarter of the party will be very...
View ArticleWaPo: Conservative #NeverTrump confab dispenses with independent bid, focuses...
So much for the Grand Old, er, New Conservative Party. After leading conservative activists floated the idea of running a movement conservative in an independent presidential bid ahead of a strategy...
View ArticleHuckabee to #NeverTrumpers: “When voters make a decision, you suck it up and...
Is that right? If Trump, in his majestic wisdom, decides he needs to tack left for the general election and accordingly declares that he’ll do his best to protect Roe v. Wade, would stalwart pro-lifer...
View ArticleReport: Tom Coburn tells allies he’s open to leading a conservative...
The best line from any Trump stump speech this year is “Everyone wants Washington to change, and that means changing everyone in Washington.” No, wait — I’m mixed up. Trump didn’t say that. It was Tom...
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CNN poll: 35% of Republicans and leaners want a third-party GOP candidate if...
Notably similar to the exit polls conducted a week ago in Florida, Missouri, Ohio, Illinois, and North Carolina, in which 39 percent said they’d consider a third party if forced to choose between Trump...
View ArticleWisconsin exit poll: More than a third of Republicans won’t vote GOP if Trump...
A leftover from last night. In case you thought there’s even a whisper of a chance that the GOP will win this November, disabuse yourself of that now. It’s not just #NeverTrump that threatens to sink...
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Poll: 66% of Trump supporters say they’d vote for the GOP nominee if Trump is...
Reuters headlines its story about this poll, “Exclusive: Blocking Trump could hurt Republicans in election.” Which is accurate, although it’s just as accurate that nominating Trump could hurt...
View ArticleBernie: Man, this party lacks a coherent message
Which party does Bernie Sanders mean? Oh, the Democrats. Well, yes, but the erstwhile presidential candidate’s argument sounds somewhat incoherent on its own. Sanders insisted that he could plant the...
View ArticleConfirmed: Gen. James Mattis will not run for president as an independent
I wrote about Mattis’s chances last month so read that if you’re interested in whether this could have worked or not. (Not.) The threshold problem was this: What was in it for Mattis? Why would an...
View ArticleReport: Mitt Romney met with Bill Kristol about third-party run
The day will come when “Will Romney run again?” stories stop being written because literally no one, even me, takes them seriously anymore. But today is not that day, my friends. Out: #NeverTrump. In:...
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Obligatory: Hillary 37, Trump 35, Romney 22
Almost cut short my vacation to blog this poll. But even the Internet’s premier “Romney 2016?” trollblogger needs to rest sometimes, my friends. The most interesting crosstab here, incidentally, isn’t...
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Oh my: Clinton 38, Trump 35, Gary Johnson 10
Total fluke, right? Actually, no. This is the third poll in two months, per FiveThirtyEight, to show Johnson at 10 percent or better, which is unsurprising when you look at other data. For instance, a...
View ArticleReport: GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger nearly ran as an independent, “literally to...
Here’s an insight, I guess, into whether conservatives who are trying to recruit an independent candidate on the right really are in it to win it or are just looking for a spoiler to damage Trump....
View ArticleReport: Bill Kristol recruiting conservative writer and Iraq veteran David...
This was who he had in mind with that much-hyped tweet this weekend that had everyone wondering if Romney had reconsidered? An … NRO writer? Trump fans are forever deriding #NeverTrump as a “movement”...
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#NeverTrump? More Republicans have already rallied behind him than any other...
I know what you’re thinking but no, the exception wasn’t Ronald Reagan. That’s actually a silly guess given the circumstances of his 1980 bid. He was old for the day, was facing an incumbent president...
View ArticleTrump campaign manager Paul Manafort fires back: Romney’s a “coward” and a...
The key bit comes at 1:55 of the clip below. I don’t begrudge Manafort sticking up for his boss, especially after Romney brutalized him in that CNN interview on Friday, but is this wise? Conservatives’...
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George Will exits the GOP
One of the senior voices in the conservative commentariat has now officially changed his party registration from “R” to unaffiliated. George Will, who writes for the Washington Post, told PJ Media this...
View ArticleTrump on Republicans holding the Senate: I hope they do “but I don’t mind...
Yeah. Why would a would-be president from one party, who’ll be making dozens of critical appointments that require Senate confirmation, have a strong preference as to whether his party controls the...
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New national AP poll: Hillary and Trump now trailing … some other option
A zesty bit of data to carry us into the excitement of convention weekend. When asked to choose, America chooses none of the above. Add up those totals and you get Hillary 34, Trump 30, Gun In My Mouth...
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Group supporting Evan McMullin closes up shop
This article has been updated. The Great White Whale of the #NeverTrump movement may have just been downgraded to a minnow. Evan McMullin never seemed to have even a theoretical chance of winning the...
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