Charles Krauthammer: The three-cornered fight for the soul of the GOP

Polls can get it wrong in so many ways.

“Since the original posting of this story, Jeb Bush’s Campaign has reached out to ABC News, saying that Bush’s response of “no” indicated his disagreement with the premise of the question and was not in response to the question as to whether he believes Donald Trump is a Christian, ‘ the note said”.

From wanting to go back in time to kill baby Hitler, to finding Supergirl hot, to eating nails for breakfast, Jeb continues to fail on the campaign trail. I’d say it is no better than 50/50 that he beats Trump in a head-to-head; in fact I’d favor Trump if I had to pick one or another. Bob Dole that Trump would be less bad than Cruz as the party’s nominee. Ted Cruz is a gentleman, a person who would make Americans proud and our country respected.

I think most of the commentariat would be shocked to realize that the two Floridians have a roughly equal shot at NH at this point.

On the other end of the spectrum, a lot of Republican voters are gravitating toward either Donald Trump or Ted Cruz.

You should know me well enough by now to know the answer to that question. And in order to lock up the nomination before the Republican convention, a candidate will need to have secured slightly more than 60 percent of all of the delegates during the caucuses and the primaries. And it just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats…I love universal health care…Hillary Clinton, I think, is a terrific woman.

Rubio believes he can win either SC or Nevada, but even if he remains in the top three in the first four states, Rubio would win delegates because states award delegates proportionally until March 15.

Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa introduced Rubio at a campaign event, lending her folksy, Tea Party credibility to Florida senator who has alienated many Republicans by embracing the legalization of certain undocumented immigrants.

In the past, it was easier for a front-runner to pile up delegates in “winner take all” states, but for this election cycle the Republicans have changed quite a few things.

Yet while the big broadcast networks have devoted a tremendous amount of airtime to controversies involving the GOP frontrunner, they’ve spent surprisingly little time on one aspect of Trump’s biography that would seem especially important to voters in a conservative primary: the businessman’s past record of support for liberal positions and liberal politicians. I think he exemplifies a new direction for the GOP and is a great candidate to not only unite the division within the party but also the division in Washington. Of the total of 2,472 Republican delegates, 437 of them are unpledged delegates – and 168 of those are members of the Republican National Committee. “But it’s hard to be cautious when you’re in a life or death fight for your political life”.