Numbers game
On the eve of the second GOP debate, a New York Times/CBS News poll shows that 39 percent of Republicans think the Donald is the party’s strongest candidate. Jeb! came in at 11 percent thinking he’s the strongest candidate (down from 23) and Scott Walker at 2 percent (down from 8). Is something radical actually happening in the GOP race? Or should we remember that it’s just September? Via The New York Times.
Just numbers
Poll reader and political guru Nate Silver at fivethirtyeight.com tells Anderson Cooper that he thinks it’s just September. He puts Trump’s chance of winning the nomination – and Carson’s — at about 5 percent apiece. Via CNN.
Big guns
We might find out tonight if a debate heavy on foreign policy will be the real test for Trump and Carson. Let’s just say that in Trump’s warmup, a 15-minute speech Tuesday night on national security, he offered this: “We’re going to make our military so big and so strong and so great — it’s going to be so powerful that no one is going to want to mess with us.” Via The Washington Post.
“Anchor babies”
Amy Davidson says that assuming the issue of so-called “anchor babies” (also known as “babies”) comes up in the debate, it may tell us a great deal about the GOP candidates. Via The New Yorker.
Bad comparison
Forget the Bernie/Corbyn, Democrats/Labour comparisons. The analogies don’t really work. Via The Cook Report.
Another one
And while we’re on the subject, Ezra Klein writes in Vox that all those saying that Bernie is the Democrats’ version of the Donald have it all wrong. Sanders is really the anti-Trump.
Old news
As the wildfires rage in California, scientists have concluded that California hasn’t been this dry in 500 years, around the time that Henry VIII was king. Via The Washington Post.
Conservatives warming
In light of Pope Francis coming to Capitol Hill, 10 congressmen have signed on to a resolution that it’s time to fight climate change. The strange thing is, the 10 congressmen are Republican. Via The National Journal.
Photo credit: DonkeyHotey, Creative Commons, Flickr.
