Donald Trump: Trolling.
Donald Trump on Wednesday accused Ted Cruz of committing fraud, and called for a new election in Iowa. Ratcheting up his rhetoric after his loss in the Iowa caucuses on Monday, Trump first tweeted an accusation that the Texas senator had "illegally" stolen the election, before tweaking the message. "Ted Cruz didn't win Iowa, he illegally stole it. That is why all of the polls were so wrong any [sic] why he got more votes than anticipated. Bad!" Trump tweeted Wednesday morning.
Ted Cruz: Apologizing.
Ben Carson was incensed as the results of Monday night’s Iowa caucuses rolled in, accusing the winner of spreading falsehoods about him at caucus sites. Carson’s team claimed that Ted Cruz’s campaign deliberately sent emails to supporters to spread false rumors at caucus sites that Carson had dropped out, so his supporters would caucus for other candidates. And after initially denying any wrongdoing late Monday, Cruz apologized Tuesday and called it a “mistake.”
Marco Rubio: Reaching.
He did better than expected [in Iowa], finishing close to Trump. Rubio also gives the media a three-man race, which makes the election more suspenseful and exciting. He gives party leaders an option they find more palatable. And he validates what pundits expected all along: that Trump would fade, that Cruz is too harsh, and that in the end, the GOP would turn to a more electable nominee.... The flaw in predictions of a Rubio nomination was never Rubio. The flaw was that Rubio isn’t running in a general election or in the Republican Party of 2000. He’s running in the Republican Party of 2016. And there’s little evidence that today’s Republican electorate—as opposed to the media or the party establishment—is sufficiently unhappy with the top two finishers, Cruz and Trump, to nominate the guy who’s running third.
Rand Paul: Exiting.
Rand Paul, the libertarian-minded freshman senator who was once viewed as a formidable presidential contender, is suspending his White House bid. Paul discussed the matter with staff Wednesday morning and sent out a statement confirming the decision to drop out of the Republican presidential primary. "It's been an incredible honor to run a principled campaign for the White House," Paul said in the statement. "Today, I will end where I began, ready and willing to fight for the cause of Liberty."
Jeb Bush: Begging.
The former Florida governor, who has languished in national polls and finished a distant sixth in the Iowa caucus, resorted to asking a group of unmoved voters in New Hampshire to applaud his stump speech, according to a Wednesday New York Times report. Bush was met with complete silence after giving what the Times described as a “fiery” speech at the Hanover Inn, where he vowed to prioritize national security as President. “I won’t be out here blowharding, talking a big game without backing it up,” he said, as quoted by the Times. “Please clap,” he pleaded as the audience remained quiet.
Chris Christie: Bullying.
Nobody is less impressed with Marco Rubio’s earth-shaking, timeline-altering, epoch-defining third-place finish in Iowa than Chris Christie. The New Jersey governor—who has been campaigning intensely in New Hampshire, taking only brief respites to go on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and (time permitting) handle weather emergencies in his state—responded to Marco Rubio’s non-victory with a classic bit of Jersey machismo. “Unlike some of these other campaigns, I’m not the boy in the bubble… So when Sen. Rubio gets here, when the boy in the bubble gets here, I hope you guys ask him some questions,” Christie said. “Let’s get the boy in the bubble out of the bubble, and let’s see him play for the next week in New Hampshire.” That’s basically the equivalent of Christie grabbing his crotch and shouting “I got your caucus RIGHT HERE!”
Huckabee and Santorum: Collapsing.
The things that Iowa voters wanted in candidates in 2008 and 2012, are not, apparently, what they seek today. Consider the following. In 2008, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee managed to win the Iowa caucuses, taking 34.4 percent of the vote, more than nine points ahead of his next competitor, Mitt Romney. Four years later, former senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) narrowly edged Romney, earning 24.6 percent of Republican caucus-goers' votes.... [Neither] man is expected to claim first, second, third, fourth or even the fifth place in Monday's caucuses. They currently stand in seventh and 11th places, respectively, according to the Real Clear Politics average of polling. Their combined share of the vote? Five percent.
Clinton and Sanders: Debating.
After some deliberation, Senator Bernie Sanders has agreed to face Hillary Clinton in an additional debate on Thursday night. The Democratic National Committee had only sanctioned six debates for its candidates this election cycle. But with the race between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Sanders tightening in recent months, there was demand for more opportunities to hash out their policy differences in person. While Mr. Sanders had called for more debates, negotiations between the campaigns over the details were dragging on, leaving Thursday’s event uncertain. On Wednesday, Mr. Sanders said he would be there.
UPDATE: The video is even sadder...
me irl https://t.co/DEfMNYichq
— Dylan Scott (@dylanlscott) February 3, 2016
