Recent News

It was the most significant week yet in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Tech executive Carly Fiorina’s hopes rose—along with her poll numbers, fundraising, and crowd counts—after a masterful performance at the GOP’s first debate, albeit a breakout showing for the also-ran candidates who trailed in public polling.

John Kasich’s Appeal to Moderates Gains Traction in New Hampshire

Gov. John R. Kasich of Ohio unabashedly promotes his expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare, shows little appetite for relitigating culture-war battles like same-sex marriage and offers not much more than a shrug when asked about Hillary Rodham Clinton’s turning over her email server to the F.B.I.

Kasich Moving Up

Less than a month ago, the main question regarding Ohio Gov. John Kasich was whether he would qualify for one of the 10 slots available to GOP candidates for the first debate, which was held in his home state of Ohio. Now, as Politico reports, he’s surging in the polls in New Hampshire and posing a direct challenge to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush for one of the top spots in the field:

Kasich putting the squeeze on Jeb

In just a ... Read More >>

The Five Plausible GOP Candidates

After their first presidential debates, it is time for Republicans to get serious. Donald Trump won’t be their nominee. Neither will Ben Carson. Nor will any of the men in the 5 p.m. undercard event last week. Despite Carly Fiorina’s strong performance, it is hard to believe that the GOP would turn to someone who was fired as Hewlett-Packard ’s CEO in 2005 after a tenure charitably described as controversial, and whose only run for elective office resulted in a landslide loss in 2010 to Sen. Barbara Boxer in California.

You’ve already heard a lot of different takes about who won and who lost the first Republican presidential debates last week. We’ve deliberately waited to name names; winning the media spin after a debate is often more important than “winning” the debate itself. But now it’s been several days, and we have some post-debate polls to look at (seven as of this writing, to be exact).¹ And there are a few clear winners and losers.

Who Will Republicans Come Around to in 2016?

This is the quadrennial Republican silly season, when candidates without a prayer of election get their moments in the limelight, sometimes topping the polls before crashing.

The polling and the pundits agree: Carly Fiorina deserves to be on the main debate stage come next month at the Reagan Library.