A Trumped GOP Field

Rick Klein: “A new Fox News poll – the first major post-debate poll – shows Trump comfortably out front in the GOP race for president, securing a quarter of votes in the primary. The next two candidates nearly match him if you combine their numbers: Ben Carson with 12 percent, and Ted Cruz with 10. You want to know why Trump’s message is resonating? That’s nearly half the primary electorate split between those three men, backing two candidates who’ve never run for office, and a third who’s defined his time in the Senate by attempts to buck the institution and its leaders.”

“Jeb Bush is in danger of becoming a second-tier candidate, if he stays in the single digits for long before his super PAC starts unloading. Scott Walker and Mike Huckabee are right behind them, following by Carly Fiorina (another political outsider), a surging John Kasich, and Marco Rubio. Chris Christie and Rand Paul may have to continue their debate fight off stage in the hopes of becoming the last candidate to make the Top 10 at next month’s debate. August is far from February – but a campaign is finding a rhythm that Trump is banging out just about by himself at the moment.”