Politico
Hillary Clinton is expected to single out Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley during a speech in Wisconsin on the Supreme Court, calling on him to hold hearings on the nomination of Merrick Garland. Additionally, GOP Senators will finally start meeting with Judge Garland. Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois will be the first senator to sit down with Garland. Other Republican Senator seem ready to consider sitting down with Garland as well, particularly those who have elections coming up and face strong competition from the left.
Time
A petition to allow guns at the GOP convention in July has received support from over 40,000 people. The Change.org petition argues that if guns are not allowed, attendees will be “sitting ducks, utterly helpless against evil-doers and criminals.” Cleveland is considered one of the more dangerous cities in the United States, and given the incendiary nature of recent rallies, guns may add a very frightening variable to the mix.
The New York Times
On Saturday, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders convincingly defeated Hillary Clinton in Alaska, Hawaii and Washington. The margins were significant. Sanders won in Alaska with 82% of the vote, in Washington with 73% and in Hawaii with 71%. These results may give credence to his campaign’s assertion that the Democratic nomination is yet to be a foregone conclusion.
FiveThirtyEight
Analyzing the eight Democratic debates so far this cycle, FiveThirtyEight has calculated the most often repeated phrases by Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Clinton’s top two repetitive phrases are: “to go after” and “to do more” Bernie Sanders’ most often used phrases include: “health care to all” and “major country on earth.”
The New York Times
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and GOP front-runner Donald Trump have gone personal with attacks. An anti-Trump super PAC recently released an ad featuring an old nude photo of Melania Trump. Hitting back, Donald Trump said that he would “spill the beans” on Ted Cruz’s wife Heidi, who suffered from depression a number of years ago.
USA Today
In positive news for his campaign, a new Monmouth University poll shows Ohio Gov. John Kasich beating Hillary Clinton by six points in a general election match-up. The poll showed Cruz trailing Clinton by six points and Donald Trump losing by 10 points. The results support an earlier poll released this week that also showed Kasich as the only Republican who beats Clinton.
USA Today
With no nominating contests until Wisconsin on April 5, the electoral season is taking a quick break. As it stands, Donald Trump is going strong with 739 delegates to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s 465. Ohio Gov. John Kasich is way behind with 143 delegates. Cruz is hoping for a win in Wisconsin, having recently received significant endorsements from Jeb Bush and Club for Growth.
CNN.com
In an eyebrow-raising statement from the former mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani said that Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton “could be considered a founding member of ISIS.” The reasoning he uses is that she was Secretary of State during President Obama’s withdrawal from Iraq and therefore largely deserves the blame for a burst in sectarian tensions that go back many hundreds of years.
Politico
The establishment’s best hope of stopping Donald Trump lies at the GOP convention in Cleveland, taking place in July. If the first ballot at the convention doesn’t present a winner, candidates will enter into a political brawl to sway the 2,472 delegates. The GOP doesn’t necessarily need an app per se, but would greatly benefit from some kind of technology that helps keep track of where delegates stand at any given time. This post explores the "race" for such technology by various candidate offices.
The Washington Post
Through Jan. 31 of this year, 680 companies have contributed a total of $68 million to super PACs. This makes up around 12% of the $549 million total raised by PACs. Some of this money comes from newly formed LLCs with “cryptic” names, making it difficult to decipher exactly who is funding the various PACs. These corporations are on pace to outspend total corporate donations in the 2012 cycle.