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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, The Gateway Pundit, Mashable, 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, New York Magazine and The Week


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, Yahoo Politics, The Moderate Voice, 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


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


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 Daily Beast, The Jawa Report, Daily Kos, ABC News, BizPac Review, Guardian, Hot Air, Raw Story, Washington Post, Naked Politics, Politico and National Review


7 things Trump said that would have destroyed any other GOP candidate
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Jewish Telegraphic Agency, CNN and BuzzFeed

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, Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, Washington Post, USA Today, The Daily Caller, Bloomberg View, Daily Kos, Gothamist, Algemeiner.com, Politico, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Hot Air, Wall Street Journal, Israel Matzav, Tablet Magazine, Talking Points Memo, Mashable, US News, NBC News, Washington Times, Mediaite, BuzzFeed, CBS New York, Fox News, 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 …


MoveOn rips Schumer on Iran, says Dems should find ‘a new leader’
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National Review

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

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

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


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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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 …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Political Wire, No More Mister Nice Blog and Politico


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

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


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


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


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, RedState, Jaltcoh, The Federalist, Defense One, Hullabaloo and Althouse
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Judge sentences East Texas man to get married or face jail time — An East Texas couple says their choice to marry when they wanted to was taken away by a criminal court judge. — In July, a Smith County judge sentenced Josten Bundy to get married to his 19-year-old girlfriend as part of his probation …
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ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo and Raw Story