jerseyhoya wrote:

Gimpy wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:

Titlehungry wrote:On the bottom of the CNN screen it said... "Trump- Rubio was pouring down sweat"

CNN giving Trump a ton more time than any other candidate tonight, going to Carson and especially Kasich whenever Donald needed a respite, and Cuomo fellating Trump for 10 minutes to start their post debate recap. Trump was still quite bad, but they're doing what they can for their ratings machine.

Can you really blame CNN for that? He's the leader so it's expected that he's going to get the most questions. On top of that, Cruz and Rubio kept going at him in their answers, opening it up for him to respond.

Can I blame CNN for interviewing Trump for an extended period of time immediately after the debate ended with softball questions from another genetic lottery winner after he had 11 more minutes of speaking time during the debate? Yes?

Nate Silver wrote:Micah, on the question of whether the Rubio/Cruz attacks on Trump will have any effect: I don’t know if Trump’s numbers will drop. They might — they did after the South Carolina debate, and after the first debate. But remember, in the first four states, a lot of Trump’s voters decided to vote for The Donald MONTHS ago. That’s why I say that the 30 or 35 percent of the vote Trump has averaged so far is more like a floor than a ceiling. The key question might be more about what happens to what I’d call Trump swing voters. Somewhere around 20 to 30 percent of the Republican electorate has a favorable view of Trump, but aren’t voting for him yet. If Trump gets those voters, he’ll win a majority. If they stick with another candidate, the GOP race could drag out for a while, although Trump could still win with his plurality by accumulating lots of delegates. But if most of them coalesce around the same non-Trump alternative — most likely, Rubio — Trump would lose.

mozartpc27 wrote:Thought this sums it up pretty nicely, from Nate Silver:

Nate Silver wrote:Micah, on the question of whether the Rubio/Cruz attacks on Trump will have any effect: I don’t know if Trump’s numbers will drop. They might — they did after the South Carolina debate, and after the first debate. But remember, in the first four states, a lot of Trump’s voters decided to vote for The Donald MONTHS ago. That’s why I say that the 30 or 35 percent of the vote Trump has averaged so far is more like a floor than a ceiling. The key question might be more about what happens to what I’d call Trump swing voters. Somewhere around 20 to 30 percent of the Republican electorate has a favorable view of Trump, but aren’t voting for him yet. If Trump gets those voters, he’ll win a majority. If they stick with another candidate, the GOP race could drag out for a while, although Trump could still win with his plurality by accumulating lots of delegates. But if most of them coalesce around the same non-Trump alternative — most likely, Rubio — Trump would lose.

jerseyhoya wrote:Kasich and John Weaver might need to be kidnapped though.

drsmooth wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:Kasich and John Weaver might need to be kidnapped though.

Kasich's your sanest standing candidate. Sanity's not very useful for winning your primary this season, but should it come around to governing, that trait might come in handy.

Turnip's a malodorous toffee-nosed pervert, but weirdly it may be his attempted assertion of "moderate" positions that winds up hurting him most out of last nite

jerseyhoya wrote:

Everything that makes me happy about the debate could be qualified with 'this should have happened six months ago' but it still makes me happy

Reince Priebus
Reince Priebus – Verified account ‏@Reince

Tonight we saw another spirited debate between the most diverse & well-qualified group of presidential candidates in history #GOPDebate
7:54 PM - 25 Feb 2016

jerseyhoya wrote:I don't care if Kasich is Abraham Lincoln and George Washington rolled into one. He's not competing in the majority of states, and his slice of the electorate is coming out of Rubio's vote. He may cost him hitting the delegate threshold in some states Tuesday and depending how things go after last night maybe cost him a win or two. If Rubio and Kasich were in the reverse situation in the polls I'd be flipping out at Rubio, except he'd have gotten out long ago because he's not a selfish ass whose campaign is being run by someone who hates the party. Cruz and Rubio have belatedly recognized the Trump threat. Mr. Reasonable from Ohio still isn't interested in hitting him and is providing him cover on stage in debates and on election night. He needs to get out of the race so badly.

jerseyhoya wrote:If Rubio and Kasich were in the reverse situation in the polls I'd be flipping out at Rubio

except [Rubio'd] have gotten out long ago because he's not a selfish ass whose campaign is being run by someone who hates the party.

ashton wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:If Rubio and Kasich were in the reverse situation in the polls I'd be flipping out at Rubio

The situation was reversed. Kasich finished 2nd in New Hampshire and Rubio finished 5th. Where were you then calling on Rubio to drop out?

except [Rubio'd] have gotten out long ago because he's not a selfish ass whose campaign is being run by someone who hates the party.

You've got this backwards. If Rubio cared about the party he would have dropped out and endorsed Kasich (in exchange for a promise of the VP spot) after Rubio finished fifth in New Hampshire. Republicans know that they're supposed to vote for Rubio, if they're still voting for Kasich it's because they don't like Rubio, not because they're unclear about who the not-Trump candidate is.