If you didn't watch last night's Republican presidential debate, you missed a doozy. Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz came out swinging like boxers on a mission, challenging Trump on everything from his reluctance to release his tax returns to lawsuits and his traditionally left-leaning views on abortion. At times it felt like a 2-on-1 affair. Unfortunately, Cruz and Rubio may have awoken from their slumber a tad too late. It's jarring that it took these men ten debates to finally stick it to Trump. The fact of the matter is that, like many political pundits, the candidates (with the exception of Jeb Bush, who recently exited the race) underestimated Trump. They figured he would fizzle out eventually, so they never took his candidacy seriously -- that is, until he started racking up victories in the primaries and caucuses. Now they're trying to do anything they can to slow his momentum, but polls have him with sizeable leads in many of the states up for grabs o...

If you plan to vote for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton in the general election -- assuming each nabs their respective party's nomination -- you'll be glad to know that a new CNN/ORC poll shows they have comfortable leads among those likely to vote in the Palmetto State's primaries. In the Republican race, Trump has a commanding lead at 38%, followed by Ted Cruz with 22%, Marco Rubio with 14%, Jeb Bush at 10%, and Ben Carson and John Kasich trailing in the single digits. In the Democratic contest, Hillary Clinton has 56% while Bernie Sanders garners 38%, a considerable difference of 18 points. Trump's lead is fueled by widespread perceptions of him as the candidate best equipped to manage the still-feeble economy, foreign policy, and ISIS. They also feel he has the best chance to win in November and would be most likely to effect the changes in Washington so many voters are clamoring for. Clinton's lead comes largely on the strength of support she's...

Did you watch the Republican Presidential Debate last night? It made for entertainment television, that's for sure. Here were a few of my observations: The FOX moderators came out swinging, and they especially put Donald Trump on the spot. Some people think the barrage of tough questions asked of Trump signal that right-leaning FOX News is leading the charge to undermine his campaign. The only issue is that Trump could not rule out running as a 3rd party candidate if he were to not win the nomination. If that ends up happening, it'll split the Republican vote, effectively handing the campaign to the Democratic nominee (presumably Hillary Clinton).  Wouldn't it be something if Trump were in cahoots with one of the parties? I keep thinking whether his entry into the presidential race is part of a furtive scheme concocted with the Democrats to split the vote and get Hillary into the Oval Office. After all, Trump, a former Democrat, was known to cozy up with the Clintons....