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How the Virgin Islands Could Decide the GOP Presidential Nomination

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The path to the Republican nomination this year could run through the Virgin Islands.

The tiny U.S. territory is one of a handful of places where Republicans can select “unbound” delegates who have the ability to cast a vote on the first ballot at the national convention for any candidate they choose. These hundred or so delegates nationwide — the Virgin Islands has nine — could emerge as critical power brokers at the party’s convention in Cleveland if GOP front-runner Donald Trump fails to amass the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination beforehand.

This is not just hypothetical: “That is how the 1976 Republican convention was decided as President Ford had less than a majority of delegates pledged to him but won the lion’s share of uncommitted delegates in states such as Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York,” said Frank Donatelli, a former Republican National Committee official. These uncommitted delegates are “where the leading candidate will look to get delegates to go over the top.”

The total number of unbound GOP delegates is a bit unclear, because each state sets its own delegate rules. But a furious shadow campaign is under way in several pockets of the country to influence who nabs these spots.

This weekend, North Dakota Republicans will meet in a convention to select 25 convention delegates who, in addition to the three state officials with already reserved delegate spots, can all be unbound in Cleveland. State GOP Executive Director Roz Leighton said presidential campaigns have been recruiting people in the state to run for delegate spots so they can count on having supporters in the delegation at the convention. (Read more from “How the Virgin Islands Could Decide the GOP Presidential Nomination” HERE)

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Rove: Scrap Trump, Cruz and Kasich and Go With a ‘Fresh Face’

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Karl Rove says that instead of nominating Donald Trump, Ted Cruz or John Kasich “a fresh face might be the thing that could give us a chance to turn this election and win in November against Hillary.”

In an interview with Hugh Hewitt on Thursday, Rove weighed in on the 2016 election and called on Trump to start “acting in a presidential manner” in order to turn his high unfavorable ratings around.

Hewitt asked Rove, “If Donald Trump is the nominee, how do you recover from a 30 percent favorable/63 percent unfavorable, as you note in your column today?”

Rove replied, “Look, I don’t think it’s possible. You know, he claims that he can be presidential when he needs to be. If he wants to change those numbers, he ought to start acting in a presidential manner, whatever he thinks that is, because right now, his numbers are abysmal. I mean, 30 percent, no one has ever been nominated for president with numbers this bad. And nobody has ever won the presidency with numbers anywhere near this bad by the time of the election. Now maybe the numbers are pliable for him. I doubt it. But he’d better show us some evidence by July 18th that he can change these numbers. He may be popular inside the Republican Party, though he has only gotten an average of 37 percent of the votes. But among general election voters, he’s more than 2-2-1 negative.” (Read more from “Rove: Scrap Trump, Cruz and Kasich and Go With a ‘Fresh Face'” HERE)

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The GOP Primary – Whoever Wins…We Lose

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I have bad news. Hillary Clinton is going to be the next President of the United States. Looking at the likely potential outcomes of the GOP primary, none of them show a probable path for GOP victory.

Scenario #1 – Trump Wins the Nomination

Over a third of the Republican Party says they will never pull the lever for Donald Trump in the general election. If these numbers hold true, Trump cannot win. Even if Trump manages to convince two-thirds of Republican holdouts to jump aboard the Trump Train, the remaining ten percent of holdouts would still be enough to scuttle Trump’s Presidential dreams. Some have argued that what Trump loses in Republicans he will gain in independents and Democrats, but there’s no evidence for that. In fact, 54% of likely voters of all political stripes would never vote for Donnie. To win, Trump would have to convince people adamantly against him to pull a complete 180, and that rarely happens. Head-to-head polling contests between Trump and Hillary also predict doom. Trump has lost all ten of the last ten match-ups against Hillary never coming within five points of her lead.

Trump stands no significant chance of winning.

Scenario #2 – Cruz Wins the Nomination

In a fair contest, Cruz has a significantly better chance of winning against Hillary. Of the last ten head-to-head match ups, Cruz has won four. However, Cruz cannot secure the primary via statge delegates, so Cruz’s only hope is a contested convention, but contested conventions have always been the playground of the GOP establishment, a group which despises Ted Cruz. The establishment could allow the contested convention to proceed with a level playing field or back Cruz since he has the best chance of winning the general election, but it’s also possible Obama could become a hardcore conservative tomorrow and fight for the repeal of Obamacare. Sadly, none of these possibilities seem likely.

Even if Cruz does win, we still have to address the elephant in the room or perhaps more aptly the elephant who will leave the room. Back in February Trump disavowed his promise that he would back the eventual GOP nominee. It’s not hard to imagine Trump running third party either out of spite, ego or delusion, and if he does, 80% of Trump supporters will break from the GOP thereby scuttling a Cruz presidency.

Scenario #3 – The Establishment Picks a Nominee

Since both Trump and Cruz are anti-establishment candidates in their own ways, it would hardly be surprising if the GOP rigged the system for a candidate they could more easily control. John Kasich Jeb Bush, Scott Walker or Paul Ryan could all be tapped for the role.

If you combine the Republican support for Trump and Cruz, you see that a massive 72% of the GOP is saying that they are sick and tired of the establishment nonsense. Both sides will be infinitely ticked if their candidates are tossed aside for a puppet President. The base will see that the GOP doesn’t care about the choice of it’s constituents, and massive fractures will appear in the party as both Trump and Cruz supporters jump the sinking GOP ship.

Conclusion

Hillary will almost certainly win, but beyond just this election, this could easily be the end of the GOP for there’s no likely scenario that results in anything other than a fractured party. (For more from the author of “The GOP Primary – Whoever Wins…We Lose” please click HERE)

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Tabloid Allegations Again Fly in a Political Campaign — and Why No One Can Look Away [+video]

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By Domenico Montanaro. Once again, the political world is talking about a National Enquirer story.

The last time was during the 2008 presidential campaign when the tabloid alleged that Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards had fathered a child out of wedlock. When the rumor first surfaced, the media largely ignored it . . .

This time around, the story involves Ted Cruz and allegations of multiple extramarital affairs. To be clear, the story quotes none of the alleged women involved nor does it even mention their names. It has not been substantiated by any other media outlet, including NPR.

And despite whether any of it is true, unlike the Edwards story, this one has been harder for the media to ignore. Why? Because Cruz himself brought it up.

“Let me be clear: This National Enquirer story is garbage,” Cruz said, unprompted by questions from any reporters, in an on-camera statement in Wisconsin, where the candidate is campaigning before the April 5 primary there. “It is complete and utter lies. It is a tabloid smear.” (Read more from “Tabloid Allegations Again Fly in a Political Campaign — and Why No One Can Look Away” HERE)

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The Remarkable CNN Exchange That Took the Ted Cruz Affair Rumors From the Tabloids Into the Mainstream

By Callum Borchers. If you’re just now hearing the unsubstantiated rumor that Ted Cruz engaged in multiple extramarital affairs, there’s a good reason: Mainstream media outlets had been ignoring the gossip since Wednesday afternoon, when the National Enquirer posted it online.

But by midday Friday, there was no avoiding the smutty story line — not after a Boston Herald columnist and radio host suggested live on CNN that Cruz’s former communications director had slept with her one-time boss, with the former Cruz aide appearing right there with her on live TV . . .

CNN anchor Kate Bolduan, who’s had an eventful couple days on the air, shook her head in dismay as Adriana Cohen, a Trump enthusiast, hijacked a live interview that also included former Cruz spokeswoman Amanda Carpenter and steered it straight into the gutter. Bolduan asked Cohen if she was ready to move on from another unseemly subject — Trump’s tasteless, Wednesday-night retweet that unfavorably compared the physical appearance of Cruz’s wife, Heidi, to that of Trump’s wife, Melania. (Read more from “The Remarkable CNN Exchange That Took the Ted Cruz Affair Rumors From the Tabloids Into the Mainstream” HERE)

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This Is Scott Walker’s Prediction If a Contested Convention Happens

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By Jessie Opoien. If the Republican Party finds itself with an open convention in July, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker believes the nominee may not be Donald Trump, Ted Cruz or John Kasich.

“I think if it’s an open convention, it’s very likely it would be someone who’s not currently running,” Walker told reporters Thursday. “I mean, who knows. The one thing I qualify — it’s like the qualifications you see on those ads you see for car dealerships. I think any of us who comment on this election have to qualify that almost every prediction’s been off, so it’s hard to predict anything.”

The governor, who ended his own presidential campaign in September, has yet to endorse a candidate. He plans to decide whether to endorse within the next few days, he said.

Walker spoke to a few reporters in Madison after signing into law a bipartisan bill creating a dietetic internship program in the state’s Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program.

“I think it might be one of the days where the weather trumps Trump,” he joked, adding that that was probably “wishful thinking.” (Read more from “This Is Scott Walker’s Prediction If a Contested Convention Happens” HERE)

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Ryan: No Mention of Trump but Warns of ‘Ugliness’ in Politics

By Deirdre Walsh. Without mentioning Donald Trump by name, House Speaker Paul Ryan repeatedly warned Wednesday the presidential race is dividing the country and urged GOP candidates to offer solutions instead of campaigning on the politics of fear.

“We shouldn’t accept ugliness as the norm,” the Wisconsin Republican said in a bluntly worded address about the “state of politics” to an audience made up mostly of congressional interns but aimed squarely at the adults in his party who are running for the White House in a campaign marked by name calling and profanity.

Recounting his early days working on Capitol Hill as a young staffer, Ryan said: “It did not used to be this bad and it does not have to be this way.” (Read more from “Ryan: No Mention of Trump but Warns of ‘Ugliness’ in Politics” HERE)

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The Winner of Arizona Republican Primary Is…

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Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump captured the Arizona Republican primary on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press and news networks, as GOP candidates battled there and in caucuses in Utah.

Tuesday’s contests came a week after Trump expanded his advantage in the Republican presidential race to more than 250 delegates after primary wins in Florida, Illinois and North Carolina.

Trump had been favored in Arizona, which, as a winner-take-all state, will award all of its 58 delegates to the New York billionaire.

“It looks like we’re doing very well in Arizona, and very well pretty much everyplace else,” Trump said Monday at a news conference in Washington. The New York billionaire held large rallies Saturday in Fountain Hills, Ariz., and Tucson . . .

Trump, the Republican front-runner who already had been running TV ads in Arizona touting his proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from traveling to the United States, tweeted: “I have proven to be far more correct about terrorism than anybody- and it’s not even close. Hopefully AZ and UT will be voting for me today!” (Read more from “The Winner of Arizona Republican Primary Is…” HERE)

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Major Republican Donors Fatigued by Presidential Race

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Donald Trump-fueled tumult in the Republican presidential race is prompting some major donors to abandon the field for now and instead funnel resources into downballot races.

Some key political groups dedicated to promoting Republican congressional candidates say they’re seeing interest from donors who would otherwise be focused on the presidential race.

Ian Prior, a spokesman for the conservative Senate Leadership Fund super PAC and One Nation, a nonprofit group that also focuses on the Senate, told the Center for Public Integrity in an email that “there have certainly been consistent concerns with the tenor and tone of the Republican nominating process.

Consequently, Prior continued, “the fight to keep the Senate has become one where there has been increased interest, focus, and attention from the donor community.”

The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC that may raise and spend unlimited amounts of money, has so far reported raising about $13.8 million during the 2015 election cycle. One Nation does not disclose its donors. (Read more from “Major Republican Donors Fatigued by Presidential Race” HERE)

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Brand New Poll Without Rubio Released… No One Could Have Predicted These Results

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By Jack Davis. A new poll of New York State voters has devastated the theory that the demise of Marco Rubio’s candidacy could somehow transform the dynamics of Donald Trump’s dominance in the Republican president contest. In fact, it shows him getting stronger.

A poll by Boston’s Emerson College, taken earlier this week as the Florida senator was fading away, shows Trump with what Emerson College Polling Society adviser Spencer Kimball called a “commanding lead.” New York’s GOP primary is April 19.

Trump polled 64 percent of the support in the poll, 52 points ahead of Sen. Ted Cruz at 12 percent. Rubio, who suspended his campaign Tuesday night, about midway through the polling cycle, received 4 percent support. Ohio Gov. John Kasich only garnered 1 percent support.

“Trump has the highest favorable ratings with GOP voters, 71%/23%, followed by Cruz at 52%/44% and Kasich at 54%/34%,” according to a press release announcing the poll results. “Consistent with other primaries, Trump supporters are the most loyal, with 89% of those who see him favorably planning to cast their ballot for him. In contrast, only 21% of Republicans who have a favorable opinion of Cruz say they will vote for him.”

On the Democratic side, the poll shows Hillary Clinton, a former U.S. Senator from New York, leading Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., 71 percent to 23 percent. (Read more from “Brand New Poll Without Rubio Released… No One Could Have Predicted These Results” HERE)

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Trump Still Holds 15-Point Lead Over Cruz

By Rasmussen Reports. Support for all three of the remaining Republican candidates has grown with the narrowing of the field, but Donald Trump still holds a double-digit lead over both his rivals for the GOP presidential nomination.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Republican Primary Voters finds Trump with 43% support to Senator Ted Cruz’s 28% and Ohio Governor John Kasich’s 21%. Just five percent (5%) of GOP voters like some other candidate, and three percent (3%) remain undecided.

In our last survey of the Republican field just after the February 20 South Carolina Primary and Jeb Bush’s departure from the race, Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Dr. Ben Carson were still in the running. At that time, it was Trump 36%, Rubio 21%, Cruz 17%, Kasich 12% and Carson with eight percent (8%) GOP support.

Despite Trump’s wins in most of the state primaries since then, all three of the candidates have experienced similar gains in support, but the billionaire businessman still holds a 15-point lead over his closest rival. Carson has endorsed Trump; the other candidates who have left the race over the past month have not thrown their support to anyone else at this point. (Read more from “Trump Still Holds 15-Point Lead Over Cruz” HERE)

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Exposed: Sinister Source Donated $200K to THIS Republican Candidate

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By Kevin Whitson. In a multi-part series special, former Fox News talk show host Glenn Beck exposed George Soros to the world as the man behind machine, the political puppeteer who was actually controlling U.S. politics, news, financial markets, among a myriad of other things.

Beck’s career at Fox News came to a screeching halt shortly after the exposé making the accusations aired, a result he said was due in part to his commentary about Soros.

There’s no question that leftist liberal Soros is heavily involved in the Democratic campaigns for presidency, but some may be surprised to learn some Republican candidates are also on the take. Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) has been the beneficiary of Soros funds. In a tweet by Scottie Nell Hughes, Hughes revealed Kasich has received $202,700 from Soros’ fund management.

In a reply to Hughes’ tweet, another Twitter user tweeted Donald Trump was also a recipient of Soros’ funds. A user named Pete pointed Hughes to a New York Times article from 2004. In the article, it was revealed George Soros invested $160 million into Trump’s Chicago skyscraper project.

So, at least two of the remaining four Republican candidates have done business with Soros. Yet Soros spoke out against Trump in January 2016 saying he was, “doing the work of ISIS,” by alienating Muslims with his disparaging comments to bar them from entering the U.S. (Read more from “Exposed: Sinister Source Donated $200K to THIS Republican Candidate” HERE)

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Ohio Saves John Kasich — Again

By James Downie. Last August, at the first Republican presidential debate, Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly asked Ohio Gov. John Kasich to defend acquiescing to the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion. Normally, it would have been an awkward question for Kasich. Many Republican governors — including several of Kasich’s rivals on the stage that night — have rejected the expansion, denying some three million Americans health insurance. It is an article of faith for many Republicans that the expansion, as part of Obamacare, must be fought tooth and nail. In most debates, Kasich’s unapologetic defense would have gotten him boos or at best scattered applause.

Luckily for Kasich, the first Republican debate was held in Cleveland, Ohio. The Republicans in the audience, for whom Kasich has been a popular figure for decades, loudly cheered him. Thanks in part to their applause, many observers gave Kasich positive reviews — good for keeping donors on board, at the very least. And on Tuesday Ohio Republicans came through for Kasich again. He won 47 percent of the vote in the state’s GOP primary, beating Donald Trump by eleven points and handing the frontrunner his biggest defeat (by delegate count) of the primary. Despite never coming close to double digits in any national poll before mid-February or close to winning any other primary contest, Kasich has somehow managed to become one of the last three GOP candidates standing. (Read more from “Ohio Saves John Kasich — Again” HERE)

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After Discouraging Loss in Florida, Marco Rubio Suspends Campaign

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By Julie Bykowicz. Donald Trump won a decisive victory in Florida’s primary Tuesday night, forcing home-state Sen. Marco Rubio to abandon the race for the Republican presidential nomination. The brash billionaire also picked up North Carolina and Illinois, but faltered in Ohio.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich notched his first and only victory of the primary season by carrying his home state, but he has the fewest delegates of anyone still in the running and had virtually no electoral path to the nomination.

Trump, holding forth at his resort Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, urged Republicans to unify in support of him. They are reluctant to do so. (Read more from “After Discouraging Loss in Florida, Marco Rubio Suspends Campaign” HERE)

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Marco Rubio Suspends Campaign After Losing Florida Primary

By David Sutta. “I want to congratulate Donald Trump on a big victory in Florida.” With those words, Marco Rubio opened his speech to supporters in Miami Tuesday night after learning Trump won the GOP primary in Rubio’s home state.

“While it is not God’s plan that I be President in 2016 or maybe ever, and while today while today my campaign is suspended, the fact that I’ve even come this far is event of how special America truly is and all the reason more while we must do all that we can to ensure that this nation remains a special place. I ask the people do not give in to the fear, do not give in to the frustration.”

With those words, Marco Rubio’s quest for the White House came to an end. Inside a packed lobby at Florida International University’s arena, Miami’s native son sounded like he left it all on the court.

“I just want you to know there is nothing more we could have done. There is nothing more you could have done. You worked as hard as anyone worked. I want you to know we worked as hard that we ever could.” (Read more from “Marco Rubio Suspends Campaign After Losing Florida Primary” HERE)

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