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Mike Huckabee, left, and Lindsey Graham, right, shake hands as Rick Santorum looks on during a break in the CNN Republican presidential debate at the Venetian Hotel & Casino on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Lindsey Graham is dropping out of the race for the White House. The SC Senator announcing the news on YouTube this morning.
Meantime, new polling shaking up the race for the White House.
Ted Cruz confirmed as the new front-runner in Iowa.. as Donald Trump slips to number two, and comes under criticism for his lack of ground operations in the nation’s first voting contest for President. The New York Times writing, “Mr. Trump has fallen behind in the nuts and bolts of organizing. A loss in Iowa for Mr. Trump, where he has devoted the most resources of his campaign, could imperil his leads in the next two nominating states, New Hampshire and South Carolina, where his get-out-the-vote organizations are even less robust.”
A new CBS poll shows Trump gets 31% to Cruz’s 40%. Marco Rubio is number three at 12%. Ben Carson continues a steep fall from grace, now polling at just 6%.
In New Hampshire.. it’s reversed according to CBS. Trump leads the Granite State with 32% to Cruz’s 14%. Rubio gets 13%. Interestingly, Chris Christie rising there to 11%. Chris Christie has been spending much of his energy, money and appearances in New Hampshire.
The CBS polls show, Hillary Clinton remains in the lead in Iowa and South Carolina. Sanders still leads in New Hampshire.
The Democrats held a debate Saturday night in Manchester, New Hampshire. It was primarily focused on foreign policy and homeland security.. generally benefitting Hillary Clinton.
Dan Balz writing in the Washington Post today that it seemed Sanders’ debate performance was unlikely to generate the kind of momentum he needs, “The latest Democratic debate underscored the sense of urgency that surrounds the campaign of Bernie Sanders. Having caught fire over the summer, the senator from Vermont appears to have plateaued. He has just six weeks to expand his appeal and show that his grass-roots army is actually capable of toppling Hillary Clinton. As much as they admire what he has done in this campaign, few in the Democratic Party think that is possible. In the past two months, the Democratic nomination contest has settled into a quiet zone, with Clinton again seen as a prohibitive front-runner.Whatever vulnerabilities she might have in a general election - and she does - Clinton is again a prohibitive favorite to win the her party's nomination, despite the enthusiasm that Sanders's anti-establishment campaign has generated and despite polls showing him leading in New Hampshire and not far behind in Iowa.”
In the debate, Hillary Clinton practically ignored Sanders and focused her ire on Trump.
Colleen McCain Nelson and Peter Nicholas writing in the Wall Street Journal, “Democrat Hillary Clinton is increasingly framing her presidential pitch with an eye toward Donald Trump, showing how the Republican businessman has come to dominate the debate in both parties and signaling an inflection point in the campaign as 2016 nears. With just six weeks until the Iowa caucuses, Mr. Trump's blunt talk and controversial proposals -- such as his plan to bar all Muslims from entry to the U.S. -- are driving much of the political conversation. In the third Democratic debate Saturday, Mrs. Clinton largely looked past her two primary foes and injected Mr. Trump into the conversation, denouncing his ideas as wrongheaded and potentially dangerous.”
Abby Phillip and John Wagner writing in the Washington Post, “Trump - who was attacked by name nine times during Saturday night's event, including five times by Hillary Clinton - returned fire during a pair of combative Sunday morning talk-show interviews. Focusing on Clinton, Trump called her weak and accused her of being a liar for making an unsubstantiated claim that Islamic State terrorists were using Trump's comments on Muslims in its recruitment propaganda.”
Enrique Marquez who is accused of helping the San Bernardino terrorists is in court today, and facing a judge in a detention hearing in Riverside, California. Marquez is accused of helping Syed Farook and Tafsheen Malik. He allegedly bought two of the guns used in the massacre. He also reportedly palnned terror attacks with Syed. Three more victims were laid to rest this weekend. Will Carr reporting.
One person killed and dozens were hurt when a woman drove her car onto the sidewalks in front of the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas several times. She was arrested and is having blood drawn to test for drugs and alcohol. Police say it was intentional but not terrorism.
All Nashua, New Hampshire school are closed today after a threat of violence against the city’s two high schools.
A fake bomb forced the emergency landing of an Air France flight from Mauritius to Paris and the emergency evacuation of the plane in Kenya. It’s the fourth hoax against Air France in the past few weeks.
An unmanned Russian rocket carrying supplies to the space station successfully launched today from Kazakhstan. It was the maiden liftoff for the modified version of Russia’s “Progress,” a rocket type that’s been in operation for four decades!
A SpaceX launch of a Falcon 9 rocket was delayed. The same rocket suffered a catastrophic failure in June.
The Taliban has overrun the southern Afghanistan district of Helmand in another blow to the Afghanistan government.
Three rockets from Lebanon hit Israel overnight. No injuries.
Horrible mess up last night at the Miss Universe pageant. The top prize mistakenly awarded to Miss Colombia who was actually runner up. Miss Philippines won, but she was initially declared number two. When pageant officials realized their mistake, Miss Philippines was re-crowned, but it was cut off by television stations airing the contest. Whoops.
FIFA officials Sepp Blatter and Michael Platini have been banned from soccer for 8 years. They are implicated in a bribery and fraud scandal.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens took in more than $500 million this weekend… a new record Box Office opening.. by a long shot.
Stocks will open higher, but oil continues to fall.
Iran hackers may have infiltrated a dam in New York.