The Next President of the United States

[TightEnd]

The Jeb Bush family nostalgia tour isn’t working http://bit.ly/1QizcIl 

[TightEnd]

Team Jeb forgot to renew http://www.jebbush.com  so Trump bought the site which now forwards to Trump's site..

[TightEnd]

Click to see full-size image.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-us-2016-35594007

[Marky147]

Team Jeb forgot to renew http://www.jebbush.com  so Trump bought the site which now forwards to Trump's site..

[TightEnd]

A Ladbrokes customer has just had £15k on Trump to win the Presidency. Odds cut: 4/1 to 7/2. http://ow.ly/YsZtt 

[bobAlike]

Team Jeb forgot to renew http://www.jebbush.com  so Trump bought the site which now forwards to Trump's site..

You've got to hand it to him. lol

[MintTrav]

Big win for Rubio to get Nikki Haley's endorsement three days before the SC Primary, instead of it going to Jeb!

Republicans are wetting themselves over a possible Rubio/Haley dream team.

Nimrata Nikki Randhawa was raised as a Sikh, but is now a Methodist. Governor of South Carolina for the last five years, re-elected in 2014, she is still the youngest Governor in the country. She was mentioned as a possible Presidential candidate, but would be a more viable VP possibility at this stage.

One drawback could be that they were both previously elected with Tea Party support, so she may not bring support from voters who are not already Rubio supporters.

Click to see full-size image.

[Marky147]

I take it that is essentially GG for Bush, and a big negative for Trump?

[MintTrav]

Some surprising poll results have been published.

Fox News shows Sanders leading Clinton in a national poll for the first time: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/02/18/fox-news-poll-clinton-feels-bern-trails-sanders-by-three-points-nationally.html

It could be an outlier. An NBC/WSJ poll shows Clinton still substantially ahead: http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/bernie-sanders-cuts-hillary-clinton-s-national-lead-poll-n520926

What is clear, though, is that Sanders has made up considerable ground and is continuing to do so.

On the Republican side, it is NBC/WSJ with the surprise result showing Cruz ahead of Trump: http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/surprise-trump-falls-behind-cruz-national-nbc-wsj-poll-n520296

Hard to see how that can be correct.

Fox still has Trump well ahead: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/02/18/fox-news-poll-trump-still-leads-national-race-for-gop-nomination.html

So that's all clear.

[Marky147]

Haha, very peculiar.

Although, I suppose it's just a much bigger version of what goes on with the press here.

Bush has spent over $84m on his campaign, according to Wiki  

[MintTrav]

I take it that is essentially GG for Bush, and a big negative for Trump?

It's hard to see how Bush can stagger on if he gets another pasting in South Carolina. They could rationalise Iowa as not being his kind of place and in New Hampshire, he finished ahead of Rubio, so there was no reason to drop out. This time, it is possible that he will trail in last in a State where his father and brother got a lot of support. He will certainly be well behind Rubio and the other two.

He has, however, started wearing contact lenses instead of glasses this week, despite saying before Christmas that he would never do so. Maybe his new image will help. Coincidentally, his father also had a problem with the vision thing.

[AndrewT]

Wow - Jeb Bush has just quit after only getting 8% in SC

[MintTrav]

A great night for Rubio, finishing second in a State that should have been great for Cruz, he has almost certainly become the consensus alternative to Trump. Time for a prayer:

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It was a terrible night for Cruz. This was a State which was his to lose, which he did. If he loses to Trump by more than ten points in a Southern evangelical State, and is also behind Rubio, where can he win? He also has a major problem in that the 'evangelical' States where he may win are largely the States that share out delegates, whereas the winner-takes-all States are those which will be difficult for him, the upshot being that his delegate count is likely to fall short of his percentage support. I think this is the beginning of the end for Cruz.

It wasn't a good night for Trump, despite what the headlines may say, even though he won SC. His share in the State declined significantly over recent days, though at least it didn't collapse. Worse news for him was Bush's poor showing. He could have done with Bush doing better and staying in, continuing to split the non-Trump votes and delegates. He has shown that he can attract votes in any area, though.

I think it's a shame Bush couldn't get traction. He probably had the most reasonable policies of all the Republicans (still pretty right wing by our standards, but at least not whacko like most of the rest), but the anti-establishment mood was unshakeable this time round. He never looked presidential though, or even self-confident.

Kasich is again targeting his limited resources, moving on to Vermont and Massachusetts a day before SC voted, but you gotta wonder how long he has left.

[MintTrav]

There has been uncertainty about Sanders' credentials on racial issues. Obviously, he is very much on the progressive side on this, though it hasn't been as recurring a theme of his as some others. His support is mainly white, whereas the Clintons have always had strong black support, and he has been trying, a bit too late, to build his image as a campaigner for black issues. He referenced his work for minority rights, beginning as a student activist in the early sixties, but there was little evidence to support it.

This photo of him addressing a group of student activists who occupied the University President's offices for two weeks, in a successful attempt to end segregation of student accommodation, was queried, in that doubt was raised as to whether it was actually him. It has now been accepted that it is him.

Click to see full-size image.

Now the Chicago Tribune has turned up more photos and other evidence demonstrating that he was very active in race issues as early as 1962 as leader of the University's Congress of Racial Equality. 

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Click to see full-size image.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-bernie-sanders-university-of-chicago-met-20150826-story.html

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-bernie-sanders-1963-chicago-arrest-20160219-story.html

[Pinchop73]

When the BBC refuses to show the results you know your on to something GREAT

Can't Stump The Trump!

#TRUMP2016