New poll: Donald Trump still leads, but Ben Carson makes strong gains  —  Shares -  —  At 27 percent nationally, Donald Trump maintains his frontrunner status among Republican primary voters, but Ben Carson is now close behind him, a new CBS News/New York Times poll finds.

Price Tag of Bernie Sanders's Proposals: $18 Trillion  —  Democratic presidential candidate's agenda would greatly expand government  —  WASHINGTON—Sen. Bernie Sanders, whose liberal call to action has propelled his long-shot presidential campaign, is proposing an array of new programs …

Obama hits ‘coddled’ liberal college students  —  President Obama is weighing in on the discussion over political dialogue on college campuses, saying students shouldn't be “coddled” from opposing views.  —  “It's not just sometimes folks who are mad that colleges are too liberal that have a problem.

How Hillary Clinton is using old photographs to make herself more ‘relatable’  —  In a bid to burnish her image with voters, the Clinton campaign is flooding the Internet with nostalgic pictures of the Democratic front-runner.  —  Splashed across social media and the airwaves, the photos are hard to miss.

Thrasher fires back at Rubio  —  Florida State University President John Thrasher fired back at Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio, who yesterday dissed on the university.  —  “He's a nice kid,” said FSU President John Thrasher, who served with Rubio in Florida legislature.

Fecklessness 101  —  Apparently the Obama administration turned down a Russian offer to dump Assad... because the Administration was sure he was going to fall on his own.  The Guardian reports: … If true, this was a staggering missed opportunity.  The President's string of misjudgments …

Federal Data: U.S. Annually Admits Quarter Of A Million Muslim Migrants  —  A Breitbart News review of State Department and Homeland Security data reveals that the United States already admits more than a quarter of a million Muslim migrants each year.  President Obama intends to add another 10,000 Syrian migrants on top of that.

Having sex with robots is really, really bad, Campaign Against Sex Robots says  —  Imagine: It's 2030, or 2040, or 2050.  You're at home with your robot.  It's a hot night, and there's not much to do.  You're feeling a little romantic.  So you sidle on over ...  Stop.

Facebook is working on a ‘dislike’ button  —  CNBC's Julia Boorstin reports on Mark Zuckerberg's latest town hall.  —  Facebook is working on a “dislike” button for its posts.  —  The company's co-founder and chief Mark Zuckerberg revealed the ongoing tests during a question and answer session on Tuesday.

Alabama Official: God Told Me to Ban Saggy Pants  —  God may also ban short skirts and skimpy dresses in the Alabama town of Dadeville.  —  He thought about it, prayed about it, and now an Alabama councilman is close to ending one local evil that's plagued him for years: saggy pants.

Obama won't watch second GOP debate  —  President Obama will follow news coverage of the second Republican presidential primary debate on Wednesday night, but he won't be tuning in.  —  “He has better things to do,” press secretary Josh Earnest said when asked why Obama is skipping the debate, which will air on CNN.

Donald Trump's Grand Inquisitor  —  Hugh Hewitt drew Trump's ire with a smart question.  On Wednesday night, the conservative talk radio host will be ready for round 2.  —  Getty  —  When the motor-mouthed mogul next takes the stage with the ten nearest rivals who have failed for months to trip him up …

A Pro-Clinton Super PAC Is Going Negative On Bernie Sanders  —  The group links Sanders to Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and the United Kingdom's new Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn.

Nationalist Group Wants TX Secession on Primary Ballot … Texas already seceded once — in 1861, by popular vote in a statewide election.  —  But the Texas Nationalist Movement wants a repeat a century and a half later, and thinks the March GOP primary is the place to start.

America's Voting Machines at Risk … Technology has changed dramatically in the last decade, but America's voting machines are rapidly aging out.  In 2016, for example, 43 states will use electronic voting machines that are at least 10 years old, perilously close to the end of most systems' expected lifespan.

Post-ABC poll: Most say Kim Davis should issue marriage licenses to gay couples  —  Sixty-three percent of Americans say Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis should be required to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples regardless of her religious objections, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.