memeorandum: Inside Jeb Bush's $150 Million Failure (Eli Stokols/Politico)

11:10 PM ET, February 21, 2016

Top Items:

David Lightman / McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Trump poised to step on the GOP accelerator — GOP delegate selection process favors front-runners — Nevada caucus up next; Trump favored He leads in 8 of the next states — CHARLESTON, S.C. — Things sure look good for Donald Trump. — The Republican presidential race expanded across …

Discussion: The Last Refuge, JustOneMinute and Power Line

Josh Feldman / Mediaite:

Now Trump ‘Not Sure’ If Rubio's Eligible to Be President (UPDATED) — Donald Trump slyly raised questions this morning about Marco Rubio's eligibility to be president. — Yesterday, Trump retweeted something a supporter sent to him that seemed to gin up questions about Rubio's eligibility to be president in addition to Ted Cruz's:

Discussion: Washington Post, Slantpoint, RedState and Independent Journal Review

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:

GOP candidates chart different paths as race goes national on Super Tuesday — LAS VEGAS — After coursing through the first three intimate contests, the Republican presidential race is now accelerating to full throttle, becoming a truly national election that appears to favor celebrity front …

Discussion: Politico and ABC News

Scott Conroy / The Huffington Post:

Exclusive: Mitt Romney To Endorse Marco Rubio — The establishment wagons are circling. — Senior Political Reporter, The Huffington Post — COLUMBIA, S.C. — In a major development in the Republican presidential race, 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney will endorse Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) …

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette, Slantpoint, Hot Air, Guardian, The Moderate Voice, New York Magazine, Talking Points Memo, The Last Tradition, Washington Examiner, Gothamist, RedState, Raw Story, The Daily Beast, The Week and New York Times

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Trump win confounds critics who thought gaffes would do him in — SPARTANBURG, S.C. — For months, Donald Trump's antagonists in rival campaigns, in the GOP establishment and in the punditocracy have believed the time would come, someday, when Trump would say something so outrageous …

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Trump Optimists And Trump Skeptics Are About To Go To War

Discussion: Roosevelt Institute, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway and Hot Air

New York Times:
Ted Cruz and Donald Trump Head Toward Super Tuesday With G.O.P.'s Deepest Pockets

Discussion: Political Wire

Eliza Collins / Politico:
Trump questions Rubio's eligibility

Discussion: LawNewz, ABC News, Outside the Beltway, Hullabaloo and Washington Post

New York Times:
The Party of Bush Yields, Warily, to a New Face: Donald Trump

Discussion: BuzzFeed

Elaina Plott / National Review:
Following Jeb's Exit, Senator Heller Endorses Rubio

Discussion: Yahoo Politics and Power Line

Jonathan Swan / The Hill:
Secret anti-Trump donor revealed

Discussion: Da Tech Guy Blog, Politico and Bloomberg Business

Igor Bobic / The Huffington Post:
What Donald Trump's Win In South Carolina Says About The Republican Party

Discussion: Slantpoint, Washington Post and Vox

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
The party decided in South Carolina. Nobody cared.

Discussion: New York Times, The Moderate Voice, Yahoo Politics, Prairie Weather and Associated Press

ABC News:
‘This Week’ Transcript: Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Donald Trump

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, Yahoo Politics, Politicus USA, The Week, Outside the Beltway and American Power

ABC News:
ANALYSIS: Donald Trump Takes Ownership of Republican Party

Discussion: Downtrend and Associated Press

John Podhoretz / New York Post:
If Trump's foes don't unite soon, it's a Don deal

Discussion: The Last Tradition

Jon Ralston / Reno Gazette-Journal:

Ralston Reports: ‘Reid-Culinary bond’ won Nevada for Clinton — I'd like to congratulate the winner of the Nevada Democratic caucus: Harry Reid. — What's that, you say? Reid wasn't running? What am I talking about? — Saturday may well be the day that altered the course …

Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:

Sanders has the resources and a plan to go the distance. Will it matter? — Bernie Sanders, his momentum slowed by a loss to Hillary Clinton in Nevada, faces two tests in the weeks ahead: parceling out his formidable resources to the states that offer his best targets …

Discussion: Politico

Jeff Stein / Vox:
Why Nevada was a bad sign for Bernie Sanders's “political revolution”

Discussion: Associated Press, Mother Jones and No More Mister Nice Blog

Jamelle Bouie / Slate:
Barring a catastrophe, her nomination is inevitable.

Discussion: Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times

Breitbart:
Glenn Beck Responds to South Carolina Primary Results: ‘Join Me’ in a ‘Fast for Ted Cruz’

Discussion: Downtrend, The Daily Caller and The Gateway Pundit

John Wagner / Washington Post:
Bernie Sanders says lower turnout contributed to his Nevada loss to Hillary Clinton

Discussion: Politico and Occidental Dissent

Ed O'Keefe / Washington Post:

Fall of the House of Bush: How last name and Donald Trump doomed Jeb — For Jeb Bush's campaign, August was a cruel month. Donald Trump's attacks on the former Florida governor as a "low-energy" politician were beginning to stick, and the two were bickering over immigration.

Eli Stokols / Politico:

Inside Jeb Bush's $150 Million Failure — Jeb Bush, the Republican establishment's last, best hope, began his 2016 campaign rationally enough, with a painstakingly collated operational blueprint his team called, with NFL swagger, “The Playbook.” — On page after page kept safe in a binder …

Discussion: Yahoo Politics and RedState

Isaac Arnsdorf / Politico:
Trump rewrites campaign cash rules

Discussion: Associated Press, The Resurgent and Washington Post

WOOD-TV:

Police: Kzoo shooting suspect was Uber driver — KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) — The man suspected of shooting eight people in the Kalamazoo area, killing six, was an Uber driver who was apparently taking fares in between opening fire at various locations, police tell 24 Hour News 8.

Tom Cleary / Heavy.com:
Jason Dalton: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Discussion: NBC News, The Gateway Pundit, WOOD-TV, Politicus USA, Little Green Footballs, CBS New York, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Last Tradition and The Inquisitr News

Ronald Brownstein / The Atlantic:

The New Shape of the Republican Race — After his solid, broadly based victories in New Hampshire and South Carolina, Donald Trump now holds a commanding position in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. — But Trump still faces two “known unknowns,” to borrow the memorable phrase …

Jeffrey Toobin / New Yorker:

Looking Back — Antonin Scalia, who died this month, after nearly three decades on the Supreme Court, devoted his professional life to making the United States a less fair, less tolerant, and less admirable democracy. Fortunately, he mostly failed. Belligerent with his colleagues …

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Hullabaloo, The Moderate Voice and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Sam Adams / Mirror.co.uk:

Crowd CHEERS as Germany migrant hostel is burned out - and even try to stop firefighters battling the blaze — The blaze in the town of Bautzen early this morning caused serious damage to the former hotel which was being converted — A crowd is reported to have cheered as a building designated …

Discussion: Vox Popoli

Clyde Haberman / New York Times:

16 Years After Bush v. Gore, Still Wrestling With Ballot-Box Rules — Reflecting on baseball attendance, the philosopher Yogi Berra observed that “if people don't want to come to the ballpark, how are you going to stop them?” He could have said much the same thing about the American electorate.