2016 Election

Sen. Bernie Sanders today launched the first television ad of his campaign. The Hill reports: The ad titled “Real Change” will air statewide in Iowa and New Hampshire and is part of a buy exceeding $2 million, according to a release from the Vermont Independent’s campaign. The ad’s title recalls President Obama’s theme of “hope and change” from 2008, but …

Billionaire Paul Singer is perhaps the most high-powered marriage equality advocate on the right, but that hasn’t stopped him from endorsing LGBT rights foe Marco Rubio. The Guardian reports: Marco Rubio has gained the backing of Republican mega-donor Paul Singer in a major boost for the Florida senator’s presidential campaign. The endorsement comes two days after Rubio was widely praised …

Whatever the Wall Street Journal is doing, they better STOP doing it right now. Or else Donald Trump is going to do something and those WSJ commies will know that something has been DONE, by golly!

Michigan activists yesterday filed the paperwork to place a broad LGBT anti-discrimination constitutional amendment to a public vote in November 2016. The Detroit Free Press reports: Dana Nessel, the Michigan attorney who took the same-sex marriage case all the way to the Supreme Court, is leader of Fair Michigan, which hopes to begin gathering petition signatures for the ballot proposal early …

The Hill reports: Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain says America’s restaurant industry would shut down if Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election. Bourdain blasted Trump’s vow to deport illegal immigrants if elected, saying it would leave the nation’s kitchens empty. “If Mr. Trump deports 11 million people or whatever he is talking about right now, every restaurant in America would …

The Cruz campaign capitalized on the GOP debate flap today by rushing out a clip touting their candidate as the only one who stands up to them there evil gotcha journalists who insist on asking policy questions.

This weekend GOP presidential candidates are scheduled to meet and plot on how to remove the RNC from future debate decisions. RNC chairman Reince Preibus, hoping to thwart a palace coup, has beaten them to the punch and fired NBC. From his letter: I write to inform you that pending further discussion between the Republican National Committee (RNC) and our …

You guys, Sarah Palin has a very important opinion about the GOP debate flap: “Finally it occurs to folks this idiotic practice of ‘throwing GOP candidates to the wolves’? Yeah. I’ve been there. I’m beyond crying you a river… beyond EVER claiming ‘victim status’ but for y’alls edification, I sure don’t remember all this GOP outrage and the establishment’s conscience …

The GOP presidential field is so unhappy with this week’s CNBC debate that they are actually plotting a revolt against their own party. Politico reports: Republican presidential campaigns are planning to gather in Washington, D.C., on Sunday evening to plot how to alter their party’s messy debate process — and how to remove power from the hands of the Republican …

1.5M views in 24 hours. Rolling Stone recaps: The first Democratic presidential debate of the 2016 election will be remembered for several things: The man Jim Webb killed in Vietnam, Bernie Sanders’ selfless condemnation of the hubbub about Hillary Clinton’s e-mails and, now thanks to Bad Lip Reading, selfless commendation of her “dynamite pinto beans.” After masterfully turning the horrifying …

Ted Cruz, Bobby Jindal, and Mike Huckabee are all scheduled to speak at an Iowa event organized by Pastor Kevin Swanson, who regularly calls for a return to the “biblical punishment” for homosexuality. Right Wing Watch points us to the press release: Over 1,600 Christians around the country are gathering for a National Religious Liberties Conference, Freedom 2015, November 6th-7th …

As you can see by the above tweets by French Ambassador Gerard Araud, the French are not very happy about the snide comment Jeb Bush directed at Marco Rubio last night when he said, “I mean, literally, the Senate — what is it, like a French work week? You get, like, three days where you have to show up?” Those …

Hillary Clinton today jumped into the Houston battle today in a tweet that preceded the below White House announcement by two hours. The Human Rights Campaign and Houston Unites are also going all-out in the last few days before the referendum.

Rachel Maddow will moderate a “forum” for the Democratic presidential candidates which will be held at South Carolina’s Winthrop University on Friday, November 6th. The event will be carried by MSNBC and coverage will begin at 6PM with a special live edition of Hardball co-hosted by Chris Matthews with Steve Kornacki. Anderson Cooper hosted the first Democratic debate so this makes …

During last night’s GOP debate, Ben Carson got very indignant when the moderator pointed out his long-running relationship with a nutritional supplements company which has paid out millions over deceptive marketing. Carson: “That is total propaganda. And this is what happens in our society — total propaganda. I did a couple speeches for them. I did speeches for other people. …

According to 54% of Drudge Report poll respondents, Donald Trump was the winner of last night’s GOP debate. Trump also topped the last two Drudge Report debate polls. Coming in dead last is Teabagistan’s least favorite candidate Jeb Bush with only 0.52% of the votes at this writing.

Pundits are saying that Lindsey Graham won tonight’s undercard debate, where we also learned that Rick Santorum doesn’t have a problem with beer monopolies. Other than that, meh. Now comes the debate that might actually mean something, although if the earlier debate is any indication, candidates won’t feel compelled to stick to the supposed sole topic of economic issues. Watch …

Sen. Lindsey Graham says the debate undercard format “sucks” but at 6PM Eastern he’ll be onstage with Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal, and George Pataki. You can watch live online with your cable system login or via the live stream below (if it works!) Tonight will likely be the end of at least one if not more of these four.

The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel is furious with Marco Rubio, who has essentially abandoned his Senate duties in pursuit of the GOP nomination. From their editorial board: Rubio has missed more votes than any other senator this year. His seat is regularly empty for floor votes, committee meetings and intelligence briefings. He says he’s MIA from his J-O-B because he finds …

The Washington Post has reluctantly awarded Hillary Clinton its “four Pinocchios” Fact Checker rating for her claims about DOMA. After a lengthy look back into the history of DOMA, they conclude: This is a difficult claim to fact-check, because Clinton essentially explained what she believed her husband was thinking when he supported DOMA. Clearly, The Fact Checker has no insight …