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Rubio's Minnesota finish will allow his campaign, at long last, to call him a winner. The freshman Florida senator is in dire need of a spark to help him continue making the case to party leaders, donors, and anti-Trump voters that he remains the best hope to stop the billionaire businessman from romping to the nomination.

4. Keep Hillary out the fray and enlist allies like Obama and Bill Clinton to criticize on her behalf . . Even with the carefully crafted plan, there are fears that it may not be enough to stop Trump. According to private polling obtained by the New York Post, Trump's support in his own backyard is 'surprisingly strong' despite the state's history of voting for Democrats. . . A major problem for Clinton is likeability. 'In the suburbs and upstate, Trump has a net positive while Hillary is a net negative,' a Republican operative told the New York Post. 'She’s...

Donald Trump has added a press conference at his Mar-A-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., on Super Tuesday, fueling speculations of another high-profile endorsement...Some speculate that Florida Gov. Rick Scott could announce his support of Trump at the press conference, which is scheduled two weeks before Florida's Republican primary.

What Christie offers Trump, then, isn't voters, and it probably isn't the emotional appeal of a beloved character. As the announcement press conference made clear, Christie will over the short term continue to play the other role he played effectively while a candidate: serial bully toward Marco Rubio.

"He's with a pile of makeup putting it on his face, I said Marco, easy with the makeup, you don't need that much. You know the story with Marco. I watched Marco with this man [Christie]. Where Marco, he was right over here I asked him I said are you okay? He looked like he just came out of a swimming pool. He was a mess." Trump said Rubio was putting makeup on with a "trowel." "He's a nervous Nellie," Trump claimed. "I watched him backstage, he's a mess, the guy's a total mess. I joked recently, could you imagine...

The super-PAC supporting John Kasich tried a new ploy with potential donors Thursday: Give us money, and maybe Sen. Marco Rubio can become Kasich's running mate now and president in 2024.

Are the wheels about to come off Trump? Forget the late push to reshape Marco Rubio, with cheery endorsements from the losing Republican presidential candidates - namely, Romney, McCain, and Dole. Good men, nice words, wrong moment. Put aside the capable former Supreme Court litigator, who polls say can beat Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz. What is happening to the Trump story? Stories are appearing with facts hard to ignore, even for Trump supporters. Something in his story is beginning to not ring true. Trump offers three things that appeal - bluntness, political incorrectness, and self-claimed business acumen. The blunt talk...

"I'll cross that bridge when I get there, but we'll lose," he said when asked if he would vote for Trump as GOP nominee. "No, we won't lose," Graham added. "We'll get slaughtered." . . . Graham has given little indication he'll endorse another candidate and said Wednesday that he was "disappointed" Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) isn't a stronger challenge to Trump.

The debate will be carried live in Spanish via Telemundo, the only Spanish-language network to be sanctioned by the Republican National Committee, with questions likely to focus on issues facing Texas and southern states as well as the Latino community.

Despite her win in the Nevada caucuses Saturday, Hillary Clinton’s lead among Democrats over Bernie Sanders has evaporated nationally, 45% to 43%, according to the latest IBD/TIPP poll. Last month, Clinton topped Sanders 50% to 38%. On the GOP side, Donald Trump held steady at 31%. Ted Cruz dropped a point to 20%. Marco Rubio, however, saw his support climb eight percentage points to reach 18% — a clear sign that much of the support of candidates dropping out the race have been gravitating to Rubio. Meanwhile, Ben Carson has 8% and John Kasich has risen to 7%. Both are...

"I would think that because of the fact that while I'm very political - I'm not a politician - I would want to choose a politician," the candidate told FOX Business Network's Neil Cavuto. Trump's national campaign co-chair told the Boston Herald the candidate is looking for a "diamond in the rough" as a potential running mate.

Seats for Houston's first Republican Presidential debate have become prime political real estate. The debate kicks off at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Moores Opera House at the University of Houston. Just 800 available seats will be divided between the candidates, party officials and members, donors and sponsors. . . According to Telemundo, the UH debate will be the first put one by the GOP focusing on "Latino issues" like border policy and immigration reform

Gov. John Kasich suggested that religious businesses shouldn't be able to decline to service same-sex celebrations. . . But if you're a cupcake maker and somebody wants a cupcake, make them a cupcake," said the Ohio governor. "Let's not have a big lawsuit or argument over all this stuff. Move on. The next thing, you know, they might be saying if you're divorced you shouldn't get a cupcake."

"I don't know if my purpose is to be president. My purpose is to be out here, doing what I think I need to be doing and we'll see where it ends up. And if it's not this crusade, then it will be another one. Maybe it will be a really small one somewhere in my kid's school. Who knows?" said the governor.

He is telegenic, ambitious, eloquent - in both English and Spanish - and thinks fast on his feet. He has one of the most important political posts in Texas and is a rising star in the GOP. . . The newspaper also reported that Barbara Bush wants her son to help stop Donald Trump's seemingly steady march toward the GOP nomination

the delegate math is close to conclusive: Donald Trump will be extremely close to the 1,237 delegates he needs to formally claim the party's nomination by the end of the primary process.

DO NOT VOTE ON THIS THREAD. This is the nightly DISCUSSION thread for the ongoing 2016 Free Republic Caucus. Per caucus rules, no comments are allowed on the caucus thread itself - hence this open chat thread. If you'd like to vote in the caucus, please look in the sidebar for the link, or check downthread here. Thanks, and let 'er rip! Windy

South Carolina was a bittersweet moment in Election 2016. Let me just get rid of the bitter, so I can focus on the better (the Bush uprooted). Anti-Establishment Ted Cruz did not win one county in South Carolina. Not one. Ouch! Is Cruz turning into Mike Huckabee 2008 and Rick Santorum 2012? I hope not, but if his showing in South Carolina is indicative of where he's headed, then he needs to pack up and go back to raising hell on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Now for the sweet, and it is too good not to relish. John...

"Now that my good friend Jeb Bush is no longer running, I'm supporting Rubio," . . Dole said that if Trump were to become president, the real estate mogul might "surprise" people with his performance, especially if he surrounds himself with qualified and experienced advisers. . . "I'd be happy to be his adviser," Dole added.

"Rubio-Kasich, Kasich-Rubio - I think those combinations, if they could consolidate and come together, would be [a] very potent ticket in the fall and maybe help us stop Trump," . . But I can tell you this, that I think I understand the nation pretty well in terms of what problems we have as Republicans," Graham said, ripping Trump's rhetoric on Hispanics and his "race baiting and religious bigotry."