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GOP debate: Early numbers suggest record audience — Early overnight Nielsen ratings suggest that Thursday's Republican debate was not just the most-watched primary debate in history — it may have been twice as big as the previous record-holder. — The debate on Fox News …
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Talking Points Memo, FOX News Radio, OnPolitics, WSJ, National Review, Mashable, The Gateway Pundit, Daily Mail, Jezebel and The Daily Caller, more at Mediagazer »
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Fox News Couldn't Kill Trump's Momentum and May Have Only Made It Stronger — Judging by Thursday's electric debate, he may have sensed his true opponent before anyone else had a clue: the network. — t joshuagreen — A few hours before Thursday's Fox News debate, a friend of Donald Trump's confided to me that Trump was nervous.
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Politico, NBC News, Bloomberg View, Business Insider, The Week and New York Magazine


A Foxy, Rowdy Republican Debate — The first question to Chris Christie was about the nine credit downgrades that New Jersey had suffered since he became its governor. — Ben Carson was reminded of his domestic-policy blunders, of his foreign-policy blunders, of a whole raft of loopy statements …
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The Gateway Pundit, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Liberaland and No More Mister Nice Blog

Donald Trump: Megyn Kelly ‘behaved very nasty to me’ — CLEVELAND — Donald Trump says he didn't get a fair shake. — Speaking in the spin room behind the debate stage, Trump said the questions he received from the moderators Thursday night “were far tougher” than those asked of the other candidates.
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Syracuse Post-Standard, The Moderate Voice, Yahoo Politics, Hinterland Gazette and Taylor Marsh


Graham: Trump questions were an ‘inquisition’ not a debate — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is criticizing Fox News, saying the moderators of Thursday night's debate were too harsh with GOP rival Donald Trump. — “This was more of an inquisition than it was a debate,” Graham said on MSNBC's “Morning Joe” on Friday morning.
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CNN, Politico, Instapundit and Associated Press


Trump: Fox News Questions “Not Nice,” “Inappropriate” — CLEVELAND — Donald Trump criticized the questions asked by Fox News in the opening presidential primary debate on Thursday, calling them “inappropriate” and saying that Megyn Kelly “behaved very badly.”
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The Hill, Talking Points Memo, The Jawa Report, Daily Kos, The Daily Beast, ABC News, BizPac Review, Guardian, Hot Air, Raw Story, Washington Post, Naked Politics, Politico and National Review


Winners and losers from the first Republican presidential debate — The top 10 Republicans running for their party's presidential nomination debated for the first time Thursday night in Cleveland. It was amazing in every sense of the word and I loved every minute of it.
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The Week, New York Magazine, Slate, Talking Points Memo, FiveThirtyEight, Betsy's Page and Guardian

Donald Trump lunched with Fox's Roger Ailes
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Talking Points Memo and BuzzFeed


My Position on the Iran Deal — Every several years or so a legislator is called upon to cast a momentous vote in which the stakes are high and both sides of the issue are vociferous in their views. — Over the years, I have learned that the best way to treat such decisions is to study …
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New York Post, The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, USA Today, Bloomberg View, Daily Kos, Gothamist, Algemeiner.com, Wall Street Journal, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Hot Air, Israel Matzav, Tablet Magazine, Talking Points Memo, US News, Mashable, NBC News, Mediaite, Washington Times, BuzzFeed, CBS New York, Fox News, The Daily Caller, NPR, Business Insider and Slantpoint
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Chuck Schumer Opposes Iran Nuclear Deal, Shaking Democratic Firewall — WASHINGTON — Senator Chuck Schumer, the most influential Jewish voice in Congress, said Thursday night that he would oppose President Obama's deal to limit Iran's nuclear program. — “Advocates on both sides …
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Washington Monthly, JustOneMinute, The Hill, CNN, Althouse, Outside the Beltway, Reuters, Betsy's Page, Balloon Juice, Medium, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Power Line, Instapundit and USA Today


MoveOn rips Schumer on Iran, says Dems should find ‘a new leader’ — The liberal activist group MoveOn is assailing Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) for his decision, announced late Thursday night, to oppose the nuclear deal with Iran. — “Our country doesn't need another Joe Lieberman in the Senate …
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National Review


GOP candidates take turns bashing Obama's Iran deal
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ABC News, Washington Post and Algemeiner.com

Why I'm opposing the Iran nuclear deal
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Washington Free Beacon

Schumer comes out against Iran deal
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Washington Post, Business Insider, Hot Air and Politico


The GOP debate: 7 takeaways — The first Republican debate of 2016 turned out to be an empty-calorie joy ride. — Takeaway 1: Jeb Bush was meh. Getty — That was fun. Now what? — The first Republican debate of 2016 was an empty-calorie joy ride, thanks to Donald Trump …
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The Debate's Biggest Winners-And Losers — 22 political experts give their snap reactions. — Getty. — SHARES — ‘The best two performances came from John Kasich and Marco Rubio.’ — Get POLITICO Magazine in your feeds — By John Hudak, Brookings fellow in Governance Studies and author of the GovFix blog.
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Washington Post

Winners at the G.O.P. Debate Did Not Include Bush and Trump
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Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Washington Free Beacon, Political Wire and FiveThirtyEight

Trump Alters the Way the Rest of the Field Is Perceived
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alicublog, Bloomberg Business, Hit & Run and Politico

Trump wins the Internet
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The Huffington Post, Human Events, BizPac Review, Yahoo Politics and The PJ Tatler

Republican debate: Donald Trump still focus of campaign after sprawling fight - live updates
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CBS New York, Hollywood Life, Raw Story, Mashable, US News, Business Insider, The Last Refuge and The Daily Caller


Recordings: State rep asked aide to hide relationship — Lansing — State Rep. Todd Courser planned the distribution of a fictional email alleging he had sex with a male prostitute in a bid to conceal his relationship with Rep. Cindy Gamrat, according to audio recordings obtained by The Detroit News.
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Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Daily Kos, Fusion, Associated Press, Right Wing Watch, Jezebel, Raw Story and Lawyers, Guns & Money


Transcript: Read the Full Text of the Primetime Republican Debate — Ten Republican presidential candidates met in Cleveland for a primetime debate on Fox News. — At the debate, real estate mogul Donald Trump, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio …
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The Atlantic, Jaltcoh, The Federalist, Defense One, Hullabaloo and Althouse
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Democrats tweet sexist attack on Carly Fiorina — Share Tweet Reddit Digg Mail Print SMS More — During Thursday's undercard debate, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina noted her business experience, which during her tenure saw the tech company's revenue double to $90 billion.
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Althouse, The Daily Caller and Hot Air
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Oops: Jeb's Website Publishes, Then Deletes, Attacks on Walker, Rubio — The former Florida governor's campaign describes the attacks as “draft pages.” — Jeb Bush's official campaign website on Thursday briefly featured two separate sections attacking two top Republican rivals …
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Washington Monthly, Political Wire, No More Mister Nice Blog and Politico