memeorandum: Trump pledges allegiance to GOP, rules out independent bid (Jeremy Diamond/CNN)

9:45 AM ET, December 16, 2015

Top Items:

Ben Schreckinger / Politico:

The 13 biggest moments of the GOP debate — The Republican presidential candidates went after each other right from the start of the CNN debate Tuesday night. Here are the most memorable and important moments: — 1. Trump rules out independent bid — Moderator Hugh Hewitt asked Donald Trump …

Discussion: CANNONFIRE and Bloomberg.com news

Frank Bruni / New York Times:

Cruz Blusters and Trump Sulks at Tense Republican Debate — Someone needs to explain carpets to Ted Cruz. — They're continuous stretches of material, usually rectangular, sometimes round. They're not staggered, interrupted, with stops, starts, holes and sharp jags so that they smother …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Prairie Weather, PoliticusUSA, The Huffington Post and Washington Post

Leon H. Wolf / RedState:

Winners and Losers in Tonight's CNN/Salem Debate — This was, in many respects, the best debate of the season. The moderators kept the focus for the largest part on the most meaningful conflict of the night - which was on the differences between Cruz and Rubio.

Discussion: Political Wire, New York Times, Hit & Run and Slate

New York Times:

In Republican Debate, Donald Trump and Marco Rubio Become Targets — Donald J. Trump came under sustained attack from Jeb Bush and other Republican presidential candidates on Tuesday night as they united against his plan to bar Muslims from entering the United States while tussling …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Vox, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, Poynter., Wall Street Journal, Political Wire, Trail Blazers Blog and FiveThirtyEight, more at Mediagazer »

John Podhoretz / New York Post:

Chris Christie just made the GOP race a lot more interesting — After being in the minors for two debates, Chris Christie graduated to the main stage of the Republican clash for the presidential nomination Tuesday night. And he made the most of it. — The governor of New Jersey …

Shushannah Walshe / ABC News:

Fifth Republican Presidential Debate: 7 Moments That Mattered — Less than 200 miles away from the scene of this month's ISIS-inspired attack in San Bernardino, California, the nine leading Republican presidential candidates used the final presidential debate of the year to loudly beat the drums of war.

Discussion: Politico, Associated Press, Hot Air, Bloomberg Business, TVNewser, Yahoo Politics, abc7.com, Bloomberg.com news and Daily Kos

Bloomberg Business:

Terrorism Dominates Republican Debate But So Do Personal Attacks — Terrorists aren't the only targets in the last Republican presidential debate of 2015. — michaelcbender — McCormickJohn — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump joined President Barack Obama …

Discussion: Hot Air, Washington Post, No More Mister Nice Blog, Los Angeles Times, Salon, The Moderate Voice, Politico, ABC News, Bloomberg View and The Daily Caller

Michael Crowley / Politico:

How Cruz and Rubio exposed the GOP's rift on foreign policy — Tuesday night's Republican debate revealed a deep rift in the Republican party over how to deal with Middle East dictators a decade after George W. Bush's neoconservative call for aggressively promoting American-style democracy in the region.

Leon H. Wolf / RedState:

Ted Cruz Has a Problem — Up until last night, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) 100%'s refusal to attack Donald Trump was defensible. Without question, it was smart politics, as his rise in the polls would attest. But it was also defensible on the merits as a guy who is a solid conservative in good standing …

Discussion: Moe Lane, Washington Post, The Gateway Pundit, Yahoo Politics and The Week

Jeremy Diamond / CNN:
CNN Republican debate: Winners and losers

Discussion: Towleroad and ImmigrationProf Blog

Will Rahn / The Daily Beast:
Was Marco Rubio Overrated All Along?

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Washington Post, National Review, Eschaton and Fox News Insider

Dan Balz / Washington Post:
GOP candidates have an unruly fight over serious issues, with no clear winner

Discussion: New York Times, CNBC, The Atlantic, National Review and Business Insider

Shane Goldmacher / Politico:
Bush v. Trump: Behind the Vegas rumble

Discussion: Bloomberg.com news and Washington Times

Paola Chavez / ABC News:
Best Lines of the Final GOP Debate of 2015

Discussion: abc7.com

Hunter Walker / Yahoo Politics:
Jeb Bush takes on Trump: 'You're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency'

Discussion: Politico, The Hill, Reuters, Bloomberg.com news and Vocativ

Robert Costa / Washington Post:
Trump meets with GOP mega-donor but says, 'I don't want his money'

Discussion: Political Wire, New York Times, USA Today, Hot Air, ThinkProgress, The Week and Mediaite

Mark Murray / NBC News:
Jeb Bush's $35 Million: The Least Effective TV Ad Campaign in Presidential History?

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Washington Post, The Gateway Pundit, Political Insider blog, Truth Revolt and WBUR

Hunter Walker / Yahoo Politics:
The spotlight — and target — is on Cruz in the last GOP debate of 2015

Discussion: Politico, ABC News and Bloomberg.com news

MJ Lee / CNN:
Terror threat dominates GOP debate

Discussion: Fox News

Jonathan Swan / The Hill:
Rubio ridicules ‘ridiculous’ Obama climate deal

Discussion: Politico, Yahoo Politics, whorunsGov, Bloomberg.com news, Outside the Beltway, Talking Points Memo, The Times of Israel and ThinkProgress

ABC News:

Most Now Oppose an Assault Weapons Ban; Doubts About Stopping a Lone Wolf Run High (POLL)

Discussion: Vox, Politico and Washington Times

Michael A. Cohen / BostonGlobe.com:

Donald Trump and the ugliness in Las Vegas — LAS VEGAS — There was a lot of rancor and ugliness on display at Donald Trump's rally Monday night at the Westgate Casino. There were fights between protesters and an unforgiving hotel security team, accompanied by cries of “Sieg Heil” directed at Black Lives Matter protesters.

Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Trump's protester problem

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Breitbart, Independent Journal, Mediaite, BuzzFeed and Instapundit

Washington Post:

5th Republican debate transcript, annotated: Who said what and what it meant — Nine Republican candidates are participating in tonight's 2016 presidential debate in Las Vegas: Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), former Florida governor Jeb Bush, former tech executive Carly Fiorina …

Discussion: Althouse, USA Today, The Week, Hit & Run, Mother Jones and ACASignups.net

David Neumark / Wall Street Journal:

The Evidence Is Piling Up That Higher Minimum Wages Kill Jobs — President Obama says there is ‘no solid evidence.’ Yes there is—lots of it. — The movement to raise the federal minimum wage has become ever more ambitious. In 2013 proponents deemed $9 an hour acceptable; today the demand is for $15.

Discussion: Cafe Hayek

Arturo Garcia / Raw Story:

Republican chickenhawk Huckabee speaks to youth: ‘Get off your butt’ and defeat ISIS — DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY! — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) used a question about US military involvement in Syria to denounce not only Hillary Clinton, but young people during a Republican presidential candidate on Tuesday.

Tierney Sneed / Talking Points Memo:
Huckabee To Lazy, Pot-Smoking Youth: 'We Aren't Gonna Give You Anything!'

Discussion: Business Insider

The Hill:

Ryan unveils sweeping $1.6T deal on government funding, taxes — Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) announced to the House Republican Conference on Tuesday night that leaders have reached a sweeping year-end deal on taxes and funding the government after days of intense negotiations.

Discussion: Politico, Al Jazeera America, Bloomberg Business, Hullabaloo and Talking Points Memo

Andrew McCarthy / National Review:

Why People Hate the Media, Chapter 732,851,997 ... The Washington Examiner headline had me doing a double-take: “North Carolina town rejects solar farm, fears it will deplete sun's energy.” — Seriously? — So I read the report, which inauspiciously begins with correspondent Don Hawkins getting wrong …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Mother Jones