Told you so: Trump needs only to maintain his current level of support to win, not increase it

The New York Times, here:

If Mr. Trump maintains his current level of support in the remaining races, he would almost certainly secure the nomination.

With delegate allocation still incomplete at Real Clear Politics after yesterday's primaries, Donald Trump needs to garner less than 53% of the remaining delegates to win, a level consistent with his actual performance at the beginning of March (see here).

Trump has consistently needed between 50% and 54% of outstanding delegates to win throughout the period to date since February contests ended.

With his wins yesterday the percentage needed is moving back toward 50%, indicating his momentum is increasing.

Good news, Trump pulls the trigger: No more Republican debates

Story here.

His first executive order.

John Boehner voted for Kasich yesterday, calls Cruz "lucifer" and wants Paul Ryan if no one wins the primaries

Here:

"If we don't have a nominee who can win on the first ballot, I'm for none of the above," Boehner said at the Futures Industry Association conference here. "They all had a chance to win. None of them won. So I'm for none of the above. I'm for Paul Ryan to be our nominee."

Trump crushes previous nominees' performance yesterday and Limbaugh talks John Kasich, Marco Rubio and a shooting story

A speech last night by Marco Rubio suspending his campaign proves to Limbaugh that Marco is the real deal while his one accomplishment in an otherwise feckless Senate career proves otherwise, that's what you should be thinking about.

Maybe Rush is waiting for the drugs to kick in. 

Trump 2016 handily beats both McCain in 2008 and Romney in 2012 in OH, IL, FL, MO, NC primaries by 39% (but not Romney in NC)

Ohio: McCain 636,256 Romney 460,831 Trump 727,832 (Trump by 14% over McCain)

Illinois: McCain 426,777 Romney 435,859 Trump 548,528 (Trump by 26% over Romney)

Florida: McCain 701,761 Romney 776,159 Trump 1,075,094 (Trump by 39% over Romney)

Missouri: McCain 194,145 Romney 63,882 Trump 382,093 (Trump by 97% over McCain)

North Carolina: McCain 383,085 Romney 638,601 (both were May cleanup primaries by the defacto nominees), Trump 458,151

Overall Trump by 39%: McCain 2.34 million Romney 2.37 million Trump 3.2 million 

Republican primary turnout in 2016 up 52% from 2008 in OH, IL, FL, MO and NC, Democrat enthusiasm in 2008 still beats by 9%

2008: 5.05 million

2016: 7.66 million

In the five states mentioned Republicans are voting in numbers 17.5% higher than Democrats in 2016.

In 2008 Democrats had all the enthusiasm: Democrats turned out in numbers 65% higher than Republicans.

Democrat turnout in these states in 2008 still beats Republican turnout in 2016 by 9%.

Democrat primary turnout down 22% overall from 2008 in OH, IL, FL, MO and NC combined

2008: 8.35 million

2016: 6.52 million

Missouri Primary 2016 turnout up 50% among Republicans, down 25% among Democrats compared to 2008

With Missouri still officially too close to call but with Trump in the lead by 1,726 votes in the Republican primary over Ted Cruz, turnout in 2016 is running 0.9 million v 0.6 million in 2008, up 50%.

Democrat turnout is down 25% at 0.6 million in 2016 v 0.8 million in 2008 with Hillary Clinton leading Bernie Sanders by 1,531 votes.

North Carolina Primary 2016 turnout about equal for both parties, just like in 2012

Republicans turned out 1.1 million in 2016 while Democrats turned out 1.08 million, rising just 13% and 11% over 2012 respectively.

In 2012 each party turned out 0.97 million in North Carolina (Obama of course was the Democrat incumbent president that year; Romney swept with almost 66% of the vote).

In 2008 Republicans turned out only 0.5 million (McCain swept with 74%) while 1.6 million Democrats duked out their contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Clinton lost to Obama by 230,000 votes in 2008, but in 2016 she has beaten Bernie Sanders by 156,000.

Trump's victory over Cruz in 2016 is by less than 40,000 votes.

Florida Republican Primary 2016 turnout up big as homeboys Trump and Rubio duke it out

Democrat turnout fell slightly from 1.75 million in 2008 to 1.66 million in 2016, about 5%.

Florida's closed Republican primary saw 2016 turnout rise to 2.27 million from 1.95 million in 2008 and 1.7 million in 2012, up 16% and 34% respectively.

Illinois Primary 2016 turnout up 53% among Republicans, unchanged among Democrats

Democrat turnout in the primary in 2016 was about the same as in 2008: 1.97 million v 2 million.

Republican turnout was considerably higher in 2016 over prior years. In both 2008 and 2012 Republicans turned out 0.9 million voters, but this year it's up to 1.38 million, 53% higher.

The reason?

Well it ain't Ted Cruz.

In Ohio it looks like independents came out big for John Kasich yesterday

Democrat primary turnout in 2008 in Ohio was 2.2 million (in 2012 0.5 million for the incumbent Obama), but in the 2016 contest last night it struggled to round off at 1.2 million.

On the Republican side, turnout yesterday in Ohio was 2 million in contrast to 2008 and 2012 when turnout was 1.1 million and 1.2 million respectively.

Since Republicans and independents only could vote in the Republican primary in Ohio, not Democrats, it looks like independent support for the Ohio governor carried the day for John Kasich yesterday.

Trump declared the winner in Illinois

Trump and Clinton win North Carolina

Drudge can't spell Missouri

Kasich and Clinton declared winners in Ohio

Little Marco finally drops out of the race for president

The Hill reports here:

Marco Rubio dropped out of the Republican presidential race on Tuesday night after losing badly to Donald Trump in his home state of Florida.

Trump and Clinton declared victors in Florida

Sorry Mark Levin, Ted Cruz is not a constitutionalist . . .

. . . he's a Canadian.

Polling in the Iowa Democrat Presidential Caucus 2016 got it wrong by 95%

Polling in the Massachusetts Democrat Presidential Primary 2016 got it wrong by 79%

Polling in the Oklahoma Democrat Presidential Primary 2016 was off by an astounding 620%

Polling in the South Carolina Democrat Presidential Primary got it wrong by 73%

Polling in the New Hampshire Democrat Primary got it wrong by 68%

Polling in the Michigan Democrat Presidential Primary only got it wrong by 107%

Arizona caller to Laura Ingraham devastates Rush Limbaugh, says he's part of the establishment that doesn't listen

Well, he is deaf.

Hillary: In Libya "we didn't lose a single person"

Except for those four guys in Benghazi, who still don't count to her.

Here:

"Now, is Libya perfect? It isn't." Clinton said. After contrasting her approach toward Libya with the ongoing bloodshed in Syria's civil war, Clinton said "Libya was a different kind of calculation and we didn't lose a single person ... We didn’t have a problem in supporting our European and Arab allies in working with NATO."

Ted Cruz piling on Donald Trump as divisive like Obama reminds me of . . .

. . . the mushy headed liberal George W. Bush smearing Pat Buchanan as a 1920s nativist.

New Hampshire taught us that nothing John Kasich says can be taken seriously

December 28th:  “If I get buried in New Hampshire, it’s over.”

February 9th: Trump 35.3% over Kasich 15.8% in New Hampshire (2.2:1)

March 14th: "This is the craziest election that we've had in decades. And I'm taking things one day at a time."

Like Mussolini, Trump breathes air

Die you hypocrites, die.

It's hard to overstate what an ignoramus is Mark Levin about tariffs and trade

Mark Levin is a lawyer, not an historian, and not an economist, and not much of a hail fellow well met, either. Always seeking approval at others' expense, he should rather seek to convince without spite than to confound without understanding.

His tariff rant this evening ignores that the America of his precious founders was a tariff regime until the dreaded income tax of 1913.

The America of the founders was also a limited government for that reason until that very day.

But open wide the avenue for revenue, and you open the maw of the Leviathan and crawl into it.

We haven't been the same since, slowly dissolving in its mandibular juices on our way to the shit pile of history.

If Mark Levin had any brains about the founding, he'd know this.

There's that 47% figure again: The percentage of Muslim-Americans who consider themselves Muslim first

Here.

Ted Cruz' many flip-flops: Obamatrade, foreign workers, illegal alien amnesty, birthright citizenship, Edward Snowden, crop insurance

Nicely detailed with links by Laura Ingraham, here.

John Kasich would legalize all illegals within the first 100 days of his presidency, which would open the floodgates to millions more

Noted here in a list of all Kasich's extreme positions on illegal immigration:

In last Thursday’s CNN debate, Kasich told voters that he would enact the largest amnesty in U.S. history within his first 100 days in office. “For the 11 and a half million who are here, then in my view if they have not committed a crime since they’ve been here, they get a path to legalization. Not to citizenship. I believe that program can pass the Congress in the first 100 days,” Kasich said.

Hillary's jobs plan: We are going to put a lot of coal miners out of business

Last night, video here.

Defectors from Cruz to Trump are getting through to talk radio this morning

To both the Laura Ingraham Show and the Chris Plante Show, citing the failure of Cruz to stick to principle over the left's attacks on Trump rally attendees in Chicago.

John Kasich spotted supporting Trump

OK, maybe it's his twin brother.

Here.

Donald Trump appeared in Boca Raton, Florida tonight in a scene right out of Patton

Cruz doubles down on tactics of the left, weds Trump to Obama (who might as well be Hitler) as divisive

Like Benedict Arnold John Kasich learned nothing by being present at the founding

David Horowitz, here.

Trump: The man without a compass goes from racist to violent ideologue in one week

The hysteria continues.

And if that doesn't work, they'll try something else next week.

Prediction: Marco Rubio will become a Democrat after his US Senate term expires

Yeah, I know, whattayamean after.

Losing the propaganda war: Foolish Rush Limbaugh's big Lewandowski problem

Rush Limbaugh let his partisanship for Ted Cruz show on Friday when he prematurely ejaculated all over the Corey Lewandowski non-story here and here before it became clear here and here that Michelle Fields is just trying to sell her boobs new book.

Friday was a very bad day for Rush Limbaugh and the other Ted Cruz propagandists.

None of them dared touch the radioactive bombshell Drudge stories showing Ted Cruz has been faking his Southern Baptist bona fides. ("If we don't cover it, it doesn't exist").

Limbaugh's attempt to make the Carson endorsement of Trump the story of the day instead of Cruz' lies about his background utterly failed.

And now the Lewandowski story falls apart.

But expect no mea culpas from Limbaugh or any of the others.

They're just a pack of weasels.

Who's the worse liar, Obama or Cruz?

Obama lied (among many other things) about his mother's health insurance, but Cruz lied about his religion.

Hmmmmmmmm.

Legal immigrant for Trump expresses outrage that illegals try to cut in line when his family complied with the law

This morning in Bloomington, Illinois at a rally for Trump.

Constitutional law prof featured in WaPo argues Ted Cruz is ineligible to be president

Mary Brigid McManamon, constitutional law professor at Widener University’s Delaware Law School.

Here on January 12th:

Donald Trump is actually right about something: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) is not a natural-born citizen and therefore is not eligible to be president or vice president of the United States.

Trump: News cameras zoom in on rally disruptions, never pan to show the thousands supporting him

Here:

Interruptions have become so common that they fit into a part of Trump’s familiar talking points. He complains that news cameras won’t pan a venue to show the breadth of his following when he asks. But, he insists, those lenses will peer into the crowd if a protest breaks out. “The dishonest, disgusting media,” he said at The Midland. Saturday night, he pledged to press charges against anyone who disrupts his speeches. “They have to explain to Mom and Dad why they have a record!” he said. The crowd hooted in appreciation.

Good idea!

Flashback: 20% of self-identified conservatives voted for Obama in 2008*

*Tony Blankley, American Grit (Washington, D.C.: Regnery, 2009), 185.

And it looks like they'll be voting for Hillary in 2016.

John Kasich also has too few signatures to run in Illinois, but no one cares!

Ain't democracy wonderful? John Kasich doesn't care about the rules, and neither does anyone else!

Here:

CHICAGO, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Despite not receiving the minimum number of signatures required in all congressional districts in Illinois, Ohio Gov. John Kasich will remain on the ballot.

Last week was the deadline for candidates to submit signatures to appear on the ballot in the state's March 15 primary. Kasich did not have enough valid signatures in the 1st, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th congressional districts, according to the Illinois State Board of Elections. In the 14th district alone, he is short by 779 signatures.

Kasich campaign admits it doesn't have enough valid signatures to run in Pennsylvania

Here:

HARRISBURG — Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s own lawyer agrees the presidential campaign submitted fewer valid signatures than are required for the candidate to appear on Pennsylvania’s primary ballot. But he argued in court Wednesday that it doesn’t matter because an objection to Mr. Kasich’s nominating petitions was filed 13 minutes too late.