Joining today's show are Donny Deutsch, Harold Ford Jr., Mark Halperin, Jeremy Peters, Molly Ball, Hallie Jackson, Steve Kornacki, Kristen Soltis Anderson, Chuck Todd, Gov. Chris Christie, Rep. Steny Hoyer, Sara Eisen, Olivia Stearns, Ben Goldberger, Mike Lupica and in Taji, Japan, a pod of approximately 15-20 Risso's dolphins have now been netted into The Cove. Two Risso's were taken captive and approximately 13 dolphins have been slaughtered today. 2016-21-01 10.31am #DolphinProject.
Says the Democratic Party created a debate schedule "to maximize the opportunity for voters to see our candidates."
Democratic debates:
Date
|
Day of week
|
Network
|
Viewership
|
Oct. 13, 2015
|
Tuesday
|
CNN
|
15.8 million
|
Nov. 14, 2015
|
Saturday
|
CBS
|
8.5 million
|
Dec. 19, 2015
|
Saturday
|
ABC News
|
8 million
|
Jan. 17, 2016
|
Sunday
|
NBC News
|
10.2 million
|
Feb. 11, 2016
|
Thursday
|
PBS
|
TBD
|
March 9, 2016
|
Wednesday
|
Univision
|
TBD
|
Republican debates:
Date
|
Day of week
|
Network
|
Viewership
|
Aug. 6, 2015
|
Thursday
|
Fox News
|
24 million
|
Sept. 16, 2015
|
Wednesday
|
CNN
|
23 million
|
Oct. 28, 2015
|
Wednesday
|
CNBC
|
14 million
|
Nov. 10, 2015
|
Tuesday
|
Fox Business Network
|
13.5 million
|
Dec. 15, 2015
|
Tuesday
|
CNN
|
18.2 million
|
Jan. 14, 2016
|
Thursday
|
Fox Business Network
|
11.1 million
|
Jan. 28, 2016
|
Thursday
|
Fox News
|
TBD
|
Feb. 6, 2016
|
Saturday
|
ABC
|
TBD
|
Feb. 13, 2016
|
Saturday
|
CBS
|
TBD
|
Feb. 25, 2016
|
Thursday
|
CNN
|
TBD
|
March 10, 2016
|
Thursday
|
CNN
|
TBD
|
- There are more GOP candidates than Democratic candidates. At the outset of the 2016 race, there were 17 Republican candidates but only five Democratic candidates.
- Only three Democratic debates in 2008 topped the Democrats’ lowest rated debate this cycle.
- The first Democratic debate drew 15.8 million viewers, surpassing the viewership of three of the Republican debates this cycle.
- All but one of the Democratic debates are on broadcast network TV, which makes it more likely for people without cable to tune into the debates.
- The schedule of one debate a month for six months doesn’t pull the candidates away from town halls and other events with voters.
- The first Republican debate occurred in early August, before the start of the NFL and NCAA college football seasons. Viewer anticipation is usually highest for the first debate. The Democrats didn't host their first debate until over two months later.
- Of the four Democratic debates so far, three were on weekends, including the Dec. 19 debate a week before Christmas and the same night as the New York Jets vs. Dallas Cowboys NFL game. The Jan. 17 debate was the day before the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday.
Trump Lead Over GOP Field Narrows Slightly In New National Poll.
Businessman and former reality-television host Donald Trump remains the clear national frontrunner in the GOP nomination contest with the support 36 percent of likely primary voters, although that lead has narrowed slightly, according to a Monmouth University poll released Wednesday.
His nearest competitor, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), lagged behind at 17 percent. Cruz, in turn, held a smaller but still substantial lead over third-place contender Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) at 11 percent.
These results show a small narrowing of the gap between Trump and Cruz since the same poll in December, in which the real estate mogul beat the senator 41-14 percent. Support for Rubio increased by just 1 percent, up from 10 percent in December, allowing the gap between Cruz and Rubio to expand slightly. The January Monmouth poll is consistent with most nationwide polling, which has shown Trump maintaining a clear lead over Cruz and the other GOP candidates even as his campaign has faced a serious challenge from Cruz in Iowa.
The Monmouth University telephone poll was conducted from Jan. 15-18, surveying 385 Republicans with a margin of error of 5 percentage points.
Donald Trump, Jeb Bush Beating Hillary Clinton in Florida. Businessman Donald Trump and former Gov. Jeb Bush, R-Fla., have the edge on former U.S. Sec. of State Hillary Clinton in Florida, the largest swing state in the Electoral College, a new poll shows.
Florida Atlantic University’s (FAU) Business & Economics Polling Initiative (BEPI) matched some of the leading Democratic and Republican presidential candidates against each other in a poll released on Wednesday with most of the matchups proving close.
Trump leads Clinton 47 percent to 44 percent with Florida voters. Bush also lead the Democrat by a similar margin, taking 45 percent while Clinton garners 42 percent.
Clinton does better against some of the other Republican hopefuls, tying U.S Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., with 46 percent each and leading U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, 47 percent to 42 percent.
The Republicans do better when U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is included instead of Clinton as the Democratic candidate. Trump leads Sanders 47 percent to 42 percent. Rubio is also ahead of Sanders 47 percent to 42 percent. Sanders does best against Cruz with each of them taking 42 percent. FAU did not pit Bush against Sanders in the poll.
All of the candidates are upside down in the Sunshine State. More than half of those surveyed--51 percent--see Clinton as unfavorable while 42 percent see her favorably. Trump’s numbers are exactly the same with 51 percent viewing him as unfavorable and 42 percent seeing him in a favorable light.
Rubio is seen as unfavorable by 52 percent while 37 percent view him favorably. Bush has the highest unfavorable number at 55 percent while 33 percent see him favorably. Cruz has the lowest favorable number at 31 percent and 54 percent view him as unfavorable.
While he carried Florida twice, President Barack Obama is also upside down in Florida though less than half of those surveyed--48 percent--disapprove of him while 43 percent approve of him.
The poll of 1,008 Florida voters was taken from Jan. 15-Jan. 18 and had a margin of error of +/- 3 percent.
Pakistan Mourns, Buries Victims From University Attack.
Pakistanis buried their dead and observed a day of nationwide mourning Thursday following the brazen attack by Islamic militants who stormed a northwestern university the previous day, gunning down students and teachers and spreading terror before the four gunmen were slain by the military.
Meanwhile, the death toll from the assault at Bacha Khan university in the town of Charsadda rose to 21, after another student died in hospital, said police official Tariq Khan.
Most of the victims were students and their families were inconsolable.
Two teachers were among the dead, including a chemistry professor who was praised as a hero for shooting back at the attackers and allowing some students to escape.
"My son was grown up, but still he was an innocent kid for me," said Gula Bibi, the mother of the second slain teacher, Iftikhar Ahmad, who was also the university librarian.
"My heart is breaking apart, I don't know what to do," she said.
The attack, which also wounded 22 students, raised grim echoes of the 2014 school massacre in the nearby city of Peshawar that left 150 dead, 144 of them children. It yet again raised questions about whether security forces are able to protect the country's educational institutions from extremists.
Flags on official buildings and the parliament were flying at half-staff and police stepped up security at schools and educational centers across the country.
In the Swiss resort of Davos, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said Thursday that his country is increasingly determined to fight extremism in the wake of the Charsadda attack.
"Our resolve to fight against these elements is getting stronger every day," he said, speaking at a debate moderated by The Associated Press at the World Economic Forum.
Sharif said the attack was the result of "blowback" after Pakistani authorities' efforts to dismantle extremists' infrastructure and hideouts and insisted the extremists' "ability to strike back has been considerably destroyed" and "the terrorists are on the run."
The army has been pounding militant hideouts in the tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan since June 2014, disrupting operations for the Pakistani Taliban militants. Because of that campaign, analysts say the extremists have turned to attacking soft targets such as schools.
A breakaway Taliban faction claimed responsibility for Wednesday's assault — the same faction, headed by Khalifa Umar Mansoor, which had claimed the Peshawar school assault.
The university in Charsadda is named after one of Pakistan's greatest secular leaders who often espoused communist philosophy, Abdul Ghaffar Khan, also known as Bacha Khan. The attack coincided with the 28th anniversary of Bacha Khan's death on Jan. 20, 1988.
Most of the victims were buried quickly, according to Muslim tradition, with funerals overnight and early Thursday, said Khan, the police official.
Mohammad Khurasani. A spokesman for the main Taliban group in Pakistan disowned those behind the university attack, terming it "un-Islamic" and insisted the Pakistani Taliban were not behind it.
Wednesday's violence yet again exposed the vulnerability of schools in Pakistan, where extremists have sought to prevent Western-style education, especially for girls.
Malala Yousafzai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize after the teenager was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in 2012 outside her school in the Swat Valley because of her vocal support for gender equality and education for girls. She said she was "heartbroken" by the latest attack.
There was tight security all Pakistani schools and educational institutions Thursday, with schoolbags scanned and teachers and students checked before being allowed in.
The Bacha Khan university remained closed and its vice chancellor Fazal-ur-Rahim Marwat said classes would resume Monday.
"We need time to clean the campus, make more security arrangement and boost the morale of the students and teachers," he said.
Cricket legend-turned-politician Imran Khan, who heads the party that rules the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where Charsadda is located, said it was impossible to provide police guards at every school or educational center.
There're around 64,000 educational institutions in the province alone, he said, and defended measures already taken. The Bacha Khan university had 54 guards, he added — and still the attack happened.
"There were intelligence reports of a threat to schools some days ago," he said. "We sent kids home that day. We took all possible measures." Associated Press Writers Asif Shahzad in Islamabad and Angela Charlton in Davos, Switzerland, contributed to this report.
U.S. Senate Democrats block tougher refugee screening bill. Senate Democrats on Wednesday blocked a bill that would block Syrian and Iraqi refugees from entering the United States unless they pass strict background checks.
The 55-43 vote fell short of the 60 "yes" votes needed to advance the bill already passed in the House. Senate Republicans voted unanimously for the bill with only two Democrats backing them.
The bill, already approved overwhelmingly in the House on a vote of 289 to 137 two months ago, would hold obliged heads of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security as well as national intelligency agencies to certify to the Congress that each Iraqi and Syrian refugee let into the United States is not a security threat.
Republicans argued that the stricter screening was crucial to ensure the homeland security as the White House was seeking to expand its resettlement program within the United States for refugees escaping from brutality by the extremist group the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
Objection to receiving Syrian refugees also prevailed in the wake of Paris attacks, where at least 130 were killed and more than 350 were wounded.
According to a poll by Bloomberg released in the wake of the Paris attacks, 53 percent of U.S. adults say the Obama administration should not continue a program announced earlier this year to resettle at least 10,000 Syrian refugees.
Kathryn Smith hired by Bills as NFL's first full-time female coach. The Buffalo Bills made history Wednesday by hiring the NFL's first female full-time coach, naming Kathryn Smith as a special teams quality control coach.
Kathryn Smith, who will serve as a special teams quality control coach for the Bills next season, is no stranger to the NFL or Rex Ryan.
Smith served as the administrative assistant to head coach Rex Ryan this season after working for 12 years for the New York Jets, including the final six with Ryan as Jets head coach.
"Kathryn Smith has done an outstanding job in the seven years that she has worked with our staff," Ryan said in a statement. "She certainly deserves this promotion based on her knowledge and strong commitment, just to name a couple of her outstanding qualities, and I just know she's going to do a great job serving in the role of Quality Control-Special Teams."
"Kathryn has been working in a football administrative role and assisted the assistant coaches for years. She has proven that she's ready for the next step, so I'm excited and proud for her with this opportunity. She will work with [special teams coordinator] Danny Crossman and [special teams assistant] Eric Smith involving a number of responsibilities."
Smith's hiring comes after the Arizona Cardinals hired Jen Welter to serve as their inside linebackers coach during training camp last summer.
Ryan said in a statement that he consulted with Cardinals coach Bruce Arians about Welter.
"[Kathryn Smith] has proven that she's ready for the next step, so I'm excited and proud for her with this opportunity."
Bills coach Rex Ryan on promoting Smith to an assistant coaching role: "You can see the success some of these young ladies are having in the coaching profession, such as the young lady that is an assistant to Coach (Gregg) Popovich at the San Antonio Spurs," Ryan said, referencing Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammon, the NBA's first full-time female coach, "and realize how exciting this is for women like Kathryn Smith as well as the Bills organization."
Bills offensive lineman Richie Incognito expressed his support for Smith in a tweet.
Richie Incognito
Congrats Kathryn!! I know you will do a great job. 
Smith joined the Jets in 2003 as a game-day/special events intern before being named a college scouting intern in 2005 and a player personnel assistant in 2007. She became the assistant to Ryan in 2014.
Smith replaces Michael Hamlin, who the Bills announced earlier this month would not return as special teams quality control coach.
This is not the first time the Bills have broken the gender barrier. Linda Bogdan, in 1986, became the NFL's first female scout when she joined the team's player personnel department. Bogdan, who died in 2009, was the daughter of late Bills Hall of Fame owner Ralph Wilson.
Several NFL teams have employed women in prominent roles in the front office. Amy Trask was the Raiders' chief executive officer for owner Al Davis from 1997 until she resigned in 2013.
The Jets promoted longtime executive Jacqueline Davidson to director of football administration last season. She was previously the team's manager of football administration.
Dawn Aponte is Miami's executive vice president of football administration and has been involved in the front offices of the Dolphins, Jets, Browns and the NFL for 25 years.
Among others on a quickly growing list of high-ranking women in NFL franchises are Katie Blackburn, Cincinnati's executive vice president; Jeanne Bonk, San Diego's executive vice president and chief financial officer; and Hannah Gordon, San Francisco's vice president of legal and government affairs.
But Smith's promotion is the latest step for women getting a chance to join the coaching ranks of North America's major professional sports.
In August 2014, Hammon, a former WNBA player, was hired by the Spurs to join Popovich's staff.
Last month, the Seattle Mariners hired Amanda Hopkins as an area scout. In announcing the hiring, the team said Hopkins is believed to be the first woman hired as a full-time scout by a major league team since the 1950s. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Winter Storm Jonas to Become Dangerous East Coast Snowstorm; Blizzard Watch for D.C., Baltimore, NYC. Winter Storm Jonas is kicking off Thursday with an initial round of snow and ice, and will turn into a major snowstorm Friday into the weekend over a large swath of the East Coast. Heavy snow is expected to fall across parts of at least 15 states, with blizzard conditions possible over parts of the Washington, D.C., Baltimore and New York City metro areas. Winter Storm Jonas will also feature strong, possibly damaging winds, significant icing and coastal flooding.
As of Thursday morning, just over 73 million - or roughly one in every four Americans - were covered by either a blizzard watch, winter storm watch, winter storm warning, winter weather advisory, or freezing rain advisory from southeast Nebraska to the Carolinas to the New York City metro area.
(INTERACTIVE: Winter Alerts/Radar)
Winter Storm Jonas Alerts
A blizzard watch was posted for much of the New York City metro area, and continues for the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. metro areas.
Some or all of the largest cities in the Northeast - Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York - will be significantly impacted by this storm with heavy snow and strong winds, bringing travel to a grinding halt, between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning.
Winter storm warnings are posted from the Carolinas to the Appalachians, Ohio Valley, Tennessee Valley, Mid-South as far west as central Arkansas. Among the many cities included in warnings are Raleigh, Charlotte, Louisville, Nashville, Memphis and Little Rock.
Snow had already developed over parts of the central Plains Wednesday night and Thursday morning. The National Weather Service has posted winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories for parts of Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, far northeastern Oklahoma and Arkansas.
Current Radar
Green indicates rain, while purple is predominantly ice, pink is mixed precipitation and blue is snow.
This snow will gradually taper off during the day on Thursday, giving way to an area of low pressure that will develop over the Lower Mississippi Valley Thursday night. On the warm side of Winter Storm Jonas, scattered severe thunderstorms, including a few tornadoes, may impact parts of the Gulf Coast states and Florida through Friday.
Winter Storm Jonas Alerts
Let's start with the impacts from Jonas, then we'll detail the forecast timing.
Snow and Ice Impacts
- At least 1 foot of snow likely: Eastern Kentucky into most of West Virginia, Virginia except southeast portion, most of Maryland, D.C., northern Delaware, far southern Pennsylvania and extreme northwest North Carolina. Parts of these areas may see more than 20 inches of total snowfall.
- At least 6 inches of snow likely: I-95 corridor northward through New York City/Long Island, westward into the Ohio Valley and northwest Tennessee.
- Sharp snowfall gradient: There remains considerable uncertainty regarding snow amounts on the northern edge of Jonas' snow shield from Pennsylvania to southern New England. These areas could see snowfall exceeding 6 inches, but confidence is not as high as areas just to the south.
- Ice: The highest probability of accumulating ice to the extent of not only leading to slick roads, but also some tree damage and power outages, includes parts of central and eastern Kentucky, northern South Carolina and western and central North Carolina. Lighter ice accumulation may still lead to slick roads from eastern Arkansas to southern Virginia.
Snowfall Potential
The heaviest snowfall potential is indicated by the dark purple and pink contours on this map.
Snowfall Potential
Zoomed in on the Mid-Atlantic with snowfall totals listed for some of the largest cities.
Forecast Ice Accumulation Potential
High Winds
- Strongest wind potential: Delmarva Peninsula, Chesapeake Bay, New Jersey and Long Island Saturday. Occasional gusts to 60 mph, coupled with the weight of wet, heavy snow in some of these areas, will likely lead to power outages, downed trees and limbs, and perhaps some structural damage.
- Additional strong gusts: Washington and Baltimore metropolitan areas, where blizzard conditions are possible; New England coast, particularly southeast New England, Cape Cod, Nantucket Island and Martha's Vineyard; North Carolina's Outer Banks. There will also be rather strong winds gusts in the Mid-South region of west Tennessee, southeast Missouri, eastern Arkansas and northwest Mississippi Friday that could also produce local blizzard conditions in spots. The combination of heavy snow and these strong winds could lead to power outages and some downed trees/limbs.
High Wind Potential: Saturday
Strongest forecast winds Saturday are denoted by darker purple and red contours.
Power Outage Potential
Areas in the darkest purple shading are most likely to experience power outages due to snow or ice and wind from Winter Storm Jonas
Coastal Flooding
There remains some uncertainty regarding coastal flood impacts, as, once again, the exact track and forward speed of the low-pressure center will dictate wind direction, wind duration and the length of the wind flow over water, or fetch, all components to determining the amount of coastal surge flooding and battering waves atop the surge.
With a full moon this weekend, tides will already be running high, which could worsen coastal flooding impacts, as strong winds drive onshore during multiple tide cycles.
Areas of particular concern according to the National Weather Service include:
- Delaware, including both Delaware Bay and the Atlantic beaches, southward to Maryland's Atlantic coast
- The Jersey shore, including the south shore of Raritan Bay
- The western side of Chesapeake Bay, including tidewater inlets and the Norfolk/Newport News metropolitan area
(INTERACTIVE: Coastal Flood/Marine Alerts)
In these areas, major coastal flooding is possible for both Saturday morning and Saturday evening high tides, with potential beach erosion and even property damage.
Other areas with a chance of moderate coastal flooding include the west end of Long Island Sound, the south shore of Massachusetts, Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Island.
For more on the threat of coastal flooding and strong winds, see our full article at this link.
Winter Storm Jonas: Timing
- Thursday/Thursday night: Light snow in the central and northern Plains, with some sleet and freezing rain in the Mid-South region. By Thursday night, the Plains snow diminishes, while a broad stripe of snow, sleet and/or freezing rain develops from the Ark-La-Tex region into Kentucky, the Appalachians and adjacent Piedmont of Virginia and North Carolina.
Thursday's Forecast
Forecast high temperatures and weather conditions for Thursday.
Thursday Night's Forecast
Forecast low temperatures and weather conditions for Thursday night.
- Friday/Friday night: Rain changes to snow in the Tennessee Valley and the Mid-South. A mess of snow, sleet or freezing rain spreads into the lower Ohio Valley, Appalachians, Carolinas and Virginia. Snow spreads north up the Interstate 95 corridor Friday afternoon and Friday night mainly south of New York City. Winds intensify Friday night along the coast from the Carolinas to the Jersey Shore, and near Chesapeake Bay.
Friday's Forecast
Forecast high temperatures and weather conditions for Friday.
Friday Night's Forecast
Forecast low temperatures and weather conditions for Friday night.
- Saturday/Saturday night: Heavy snow in the Appalachians and parts of the Mid-Atlantic states, with some sleet/freezing rain mixed in at times. Snow will spread into southern New England. Precipitation may change to snow as far south as parts of South Carolina. Rain changes to snow near the Mid-Atlantic coast. Strong, possibly damaging winds from the Delmarva Peninsula to Cape Cod.
Saturday's Forecast
Forecast high temperatures and weather conditions for Saturday.
Saturday Night's Forecast
Forecast low temperatures and weather conditions for Saturday night.
- Sunday: Snow and strong winds diminish along the Mid-Atlantic Seaboard, but may linger a bit longer in coastal southeast New England.
 |
The intense storm threatening the East Coast right now may not make us feel like we are on a warming planet. However, science tells us that's exactly the case. This storm is yet another example of the extreme weather that scientists predicted would occur as a result of a changing climate. Yesterday, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) declared 2015 the hottest year on record globally. We're at a turning point: The climate agreement reached in Paris offers us a real opportunity to act together to limit the damage and ensure a safer future for our children. We must seize this historic opportunity.
As my colleague Nicky Sundt, a WWF climate expert, just told national media, "In the Arctic, sea ice is at near-record low levels for this time of year, and record-high ocean temperatures—reflecting both El Niño and global warming—will continue to drive climate extremes. In the Amazon, a decrease in winter rain will leave the region at increased risk for forest fires during the dry season—releasing massive levels of carbon into the atmosphere." Don't let the hottest year on record go unnoticed. Tell your member of Congress to support the Paris agreement—our best chance at global climate action. I sent a message to Congress. Will you? |
Sarah Palin cites son's PTSD at Trump rally and of course blames the POTUS. Sarah Palin on Wednesday spoke of the damaging toll a 2008 combat deployment in Iraq had on her son, Track, who was arrested and charged in a domestic violence incident on Monday night.
"What my own son is going through, what he is going through coming back, I can relate to other families who feel ramifications of PTSD and some of the woundedness that our soldiers do return with," she told the audience at a rally for Donald Trump in Tulsa, Oklahoma. "And it makes me realize, more than ever, it is now or never for the sake of America's finest that we have that commander in chief who will respect them and honor them."
Palin called his arrest "the elephant in the room" and said of her son and other war veterans, "they come back a bit different, they come back hardened, they come back wondering if there is that respect for what it is that their fellow soldiers and airmen, and every other member of the military, has given to the country."
Track Palin, 26, spent a year in Iraq after enlisting on Sept. 11, 2007.
He was arrested on Monday in Wasilla, Alaska, and charged with domestic violence assault on a female, interfering with a report of domestic violence and possession of a weapon while intoxicated, according to Dan Bennett, a spokesman for the Wasilla Police Department. Track Palin's arrest was first reported by Gawker. CNN's Gregory Krieg,Jeremy Diamond and Sheena Jones contributed to this report.
Bob Dole: Ted Cruz worse for GOP than Donald Trump.
Former Sen. Bob Dole said in a new interview Wednesday that Sen. Ted Cruz would be even worse for the Republican Party than Donald Trump were he to win the presidential nomination -- describing "cataclysmic" and "wholesale losses" for the GOP if Cruz prevails.
In an interview with The New York Times, the former presidential nominee said Cruz would also be worse at governing than Trump, saying the Texas senator has made enemies in Washington.
"I don't know how he's going to deal with Congress," Dole told the Times. "Nobody likes him."
Trump, on the other hand, could "probably work with Congress, because he's, you know, he's got the right personality and he's kind of a deal-maker," Dole added.
The 2016 race, Obama's legacy, congressional gridlock — get the most important political news delivered to your inbox. By subscribing, you agree to our privacy policy.
Dole has endorsed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and previously said he might "oversleep" on Election Day if Cruz ends up the nominee. He has taken issue with the way Cruz has spoken about party leadership and Dole's era of lawmakers in the Senate.
In December, the 1996 GOP candidate told The Washington Post that he took exception to speeches in which Cruz said "remember President Dole and President McCain and President Romney" to suggest that insufficiently conservative Republican candidates don't win the presidency.
Dole said in the Times interview that he questions Cruz's commitment to the GOP, saying Cruz chooses "conservative" as his label. Dole called him an "extremist."
"If he's the nominee, we're going to have wholesale losses in Congress and state offices and governors and legislatures," Dole said.
Dole said only Trump seemed to be able to take Cruz on, and he added that the real estate mogul seems to have "toned down" his rhetoric.
He added that Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton is beatable -- but not for Cruz.
"I think she'd be a pretty easy target in the general, if we nominate the right person," Dole said. "If (Cruz) does it, I think she'll win in a waltz."
The 92-year-old former lawmaker is only the latest establishment Republican to express concern about Cruz's growing strength in the GOP primary polls, after Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad on Tuesday said he hopes Cruz is defeated.
And, in rebuttle to it, NBC News reports how Ted Cruz says how the Washington Establishment Is 'Unifying' Behind Trump. Ted Cruz is trying to shape the narrative of the GOP race for president, suggesting on Wednesday night that the "Washington establishment" has determined Marco Rubio "can't win this race" and is now "rushing over to support Donald Trump."
"We're seeing the Washington establishment abandoning Marco Rubio and unifying behind Donald Trump," Cruz told reporters in New Hampshire. "And we're seeing conservatives coming together and unifying behind our campaign. And if conservatives unite, we win."
Cruz delivered his remarks shortly after a new CNN/WMUR poll bumped Cruz up to second place in New Hampshire, the state that traditionally picks the so-called establishment or moderate candidates over the more socially conservative options like Cruz.
"Let me encourage other members of the establishment: Keep supporting Donald Trump," Cruz said. "Because every time you do it, what it is doing is telling conservatives all over the country where you stand and who stands with you."
The poll, released Wednesday evening, showed Cruz with 14 percent of support — ahead by 4 points over both Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush. Cruz had an even more sizable margin over Rand Paul, Chris Christie and John Kasich, who registered just 6 percent each.
A Cruz campaign official told NBC News two weeks ago that the campaign intended to reach the point where it could set its sights on Trump. But first, the official said, it needed to clear the rest of the field to set up the mano-a-mano situation.
On Wednesday night, Cruz's remarks appeared to be an attempt to help that process along, and to bolster skepticism among voters that any of the other candidates outside of Trump are viable.
"The Washington establishment knows who's willing to keep the gravy train going, who's willing to keep cutting the deals and growing government," said Cruz, openly encouraging voters to switch their support to Trump and away from the other candidates.
Despite Cruz's gains, Trump is still sitting at 34 percent of support in the New Hampshire poll — a 20-point margin over Cruz.
Earlier on Wednesday, Bob Dole, the GOP's nominee in 1996, suggested to The New York Times that he would rather have Donald Trump than Ted Cruz as the party's nominee. Last month, Dole told Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC that he "might oversleep" on Election Day if Cruz were to be the nominee.
Cruz often targets Dole on the campaign trail.
"If we nominate another candidate in the mold of a Bob Dole, or a John McCain or a Mitt Romney, all of whom are good and honorable men, but what they did didn't work," Cruz says often in his campaign stump speeches, implying they were not full-fledged conservatives.
On Tuesday, Cruz also blasted longtime Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad after he suggested Cruz's presidency would be "very damaging" to the state.
Cruz fired back shortly after Branstad's remarks, tweeting that Trump "continues to seek establishment support."
The Texas senator — who is also neck and neck in polls with Trump in Iowa - punched at Trump's intentions to be a "dealmaker."
"Mr. Trump's pitch to the Washington establishment is he's a dealmaker," Cruz said. "He'll go and cut a deal with Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, and those deals. He'll do exactly what John Boehner and Mitch McConnell have done — continue the failed big government policies of this administration, continue the cronyism, continue the corporate welfare, continuing Washington picking winners and losers."
Clinton brushes off report that her private server contained highly classified intel. Hillary Clinton on Wednesday brushed off a report that her private email server contained classified intelligence from some of the U.S. intelligence community's most secretive programs.
The former secretary of state told National Public Radio that the report was a "leak" designed to harm her in the presidential race despite offering no evidence. And a spokesman for the Democratic presidential front-runner went so far as to publicly accuse investigators looking into her server as conspiring with Republican senators to embarrass her.
"As the State Department has confirmed, I never sent or received any material marked classified, and that hasn't changed in all of these months," she said. "This, seems to me, to be, you know, another effort to inject this into the campaign. It's another leak."
She also called an inspector general's letter a "continuation of an inter-agency dispute that has been going on now for some months."
Clinton was referring to a letter sent by Intelligence Community Inspector General I. Charles McCullough III to leaders on congressional intelligence committees last week detailing the findings from a review of Clinton's emails, a spokeswoman for the inspector general confirmed to CNN.
Two government agencies flagged emails on Clinton's server as containing classified information, the inspector general said, including some on "special access programs," which are a subset of the highest "Top Secret" level of classification, but are under subject to more stringent control rules than even other Top Secret information."
Clinton's spokesman, Brian Fallon, told Bloomberg that the campaign believes McCullough and Republican senators worked together to make sure the report would become public.
"It is suspect from the beginning that the intelligence community inspector general is continuing to reveal materials and surface allegations while the Justice Department review is going on," Fallon told Bloomberg. "It's completely fair to suspect that the intelligence community inspector general is not operating in good faith."
Fallon also appeared on CNN Wednesday morning to dispute the report. He argued on "New Day" that the information described as "classified" may be no more than a news article that was forwarded, although he ceded it is not entirely clear what classified material the report mentions.
Fallon argued that the crux of the issue is a dispute between the State Department and the intelligence community over what should be classified. He said the emails were not classified in the eyes of the State Department when they were sent to Clinton. Fallon also implied the inspector general has an ax to grind with Clinton.
New Day
Report: Hillary Clinton server contained highly classified intel http://cnn.it/1Qe2yUN @brianefallon weighs in (Click here to watch)
There were several dozen emails in question beyond the two previously reported emails containing top secret information, according to the report.
Clinton's campaign and the State Department have long denied that any information was handled improperly, saying that the information and emails in question were all retroactively classified.
State also has noted that the same information can come from multiple sources, not all of which are classified.
State Department spokesman John Kirby said the department is still undergoing its review process, but any upgraded classification that is needed will be done.
"The State Department is focused on and committed to releasing former Secretary Clinton's emails in a manner that protects sensitive information," Kirby said in a statement. "No one takes this more seriously than we do. We have said repeatedly that we anticipate more upgrades throughout our release process. Our (Freedom of Information Act) review process is still ongoing. Once that process is complete, if it is determined that information should be classified as Top Secret, we will do so."
The Justice Department is investigating if classified information improperly ended up on Clinton's email server. The server contained correspondence between Clinton and a variety of aides and friends.
Republican lawmakers requested the inspector general investigate in March.
The Inspector General report was first reported by Fox News. It comes as the State Department is facing over a dozen Freedom of Information Act lawsuits related to information on or about Clinton's private email server.
On Wednesday, the department released a set of emails between top Clinton aides and an IT staffer to The Daily Caller and the advocacy group Cause of Action in one such suit.
Earlier in the week, the same plaintiffs received emails from Clinton aide Huma Abedin, now a top official on Clinton's presidential campaign, which show Clinton was given the option of using a State Department Blackberry for email purposes, but the option was dismissed.
Fiery exchange kicks off latest Christie N.H. town hall.
It was the sort of exchange with Gov. Chris Christie that more closely mirrored a New Jersey town hall than a usually more polite New Hampshire event.
The brash governor and Republican presidential candidate managed to keep his cool Wednesday night when the first questioner at his latest town hall event ended his question by barking into the microphone: "Did you take a dive!"
Just over a week after Gov. Chris Christie delivered a State of the State speech littered with jabs at Democrats New Jersey, the 2016 presidential hopeful pitched a bipartisan battle to New Hampshire's legislators: Fighting substance abuse and the stigma of drug addiction.
"I first want to congratulate you on your performance," Christie began. "That was an Academy Award level performance."
Christie added: "Your implication somehow that I took money from someone ... is really disgraceful, in my view."
The questioner's anger was over Christie's recent veto of bill that that sought to expand access to prescription abuse deterrent opioids in New Jersey. The bill, (A4271), won bipartisan support from the Legislature, but Christie announced Tuesday he nixed the proposal, in part, because "the benefits of such drugs are still uncertain in the medical community and are subject of ongoing research."
But the questioner didn't like what the governor had to say.
"You're not telling the truth," he said.
"Listen, with all due respect, if you want to debate this, then become the 13th candidate for the president of the United States," Christie said. "I'm not here to debate (you) here tonight."
Just as Christie tried to move on by calling on another member from the audience, the next questioner did his best to pull Christie back into a confrontation by challenging him on his opposition to Colorado's recreational marijuana law.
"I love this. This is like drug night in Derry," Christie said with a chuckle.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Regardless of it all today, please stay in touch!
