Recent News

CNBC has set the stages for the Republican presidential debate next Wednesday.

The 6 p.m. undercard will feature Rick Santorum, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, George Pataki and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. They will be relegated to the early slot because their average national poll numbers in the last five weeks are below 2.5 percent.

Poll confirms likely GOP debate participants

The stage at next week’s third Republican presidential debate is likely set, and the cast of characters who will participate in the prime-time panel this time around appears to be the same as the previous debate.

A month of extensive New Hampshire advertising on Jeb Bush’s behalf has failed to boost his support and likely Republican primary voters there view him as inferior to frontrunner Donald Trump on most key attributes.

USA TODAY GOP Power Rankings: Trump back in charge

Four weeks ago, we were predicting the demise of Donald Trump. Today, his grip on the GOP nominating contest seems as strong as ever.

Twenty-one of the 30 political experts we survey each week gave first-place marks to Trump this week, his highest total since Week 3 of our Power Rankings survey.

Biggest Losers: Finance Reports Show Who’s Ready to Throw in Towel

Donald Trump spent more on hats than Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal raised in three months. Democrat Martin O’Malley’s fundraising for the quarter was dwarfed by rival Bernie Sanders’s haul in just the 24 hours after Tuesday’s debate. And Hillary Clinton’s parking expenses surpassed Lincoln Chafee’s entire third-quarter haul.

See who is likely to make the cut, and who’s on the bubble, for the next GOP debate.

What spending can tell us about the health of a presidential campaign

Thursday is the deadline for presidential campaigns to submit their third quarter fundraising reports to the Federal Election Commission. Many campaigns — confident in their numbers or hoping to inoculate the response to bad ones — have already released top-line details. For all of them, though, it’s a moment that’s not unlike heading to the doctor for a particularly invasive examination.