memeorandum: Clinton Outspends Sanders in Super Tuesday States (Mark Murray/NBC News)

8:10 PM ET, February 23, 2016

Top Items:

Michael Isikoff / Yahoo:

With GOP nomination looming, Trump slated to take witness stand in fraud trial — Here's a part of the political calendar that nobody in the Republican Party seems to have noticed: This spring, just as the GOP nomination battle enters its final phase, frontrunner Donald Trump could be forced …

Discussion: Politico and The Lonely Conservative

Daniel W. Drezner / Washington Post:

My very peculiar and speculative theory of why the GOP has not stopped Donald Trump — What if political scientists are to blame for his rise? — GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump's victory in South Carolina, his expected victory Tuesday in Nevada, his poll dominance in the upcoming states …

Discussion: Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, New York Magazine, Althouse and Vox

Rasmussen Reports:

Trump's Lead Grows with Jeb Out of the Race — With Jeb Bush out, Donald Trump has widened his lead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. — The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Republican Voters finds Trump with 36% support …

Discussion: Washington Times, Infowars, Talking Points Memo and Political Wire

Ross Ramsey / The Texas Tribune:

UT/TT Poll: Cruz Leads Trump in Texas; Rubio Lags Behind … UT/TT Poll, February 2016 - Methodology UT/TT Poll, February 2016 - Summary — With a week remaining before the Texas Republican primary, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz has an 8-percentage-point lead over Donald Trump, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.

Discussion: NBC News, Hot Air, Political Insider blog, Washington Post, The Right Scoop, KXAN-TV, Trail Blazers Blog, The Argo Journal and Dallas Morning News

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
GOP wakes up to Trump nightmare

Discussion: Daily Kos, New York Times and The Hill

Mike Allen / Politico:
Koch brothers' D.C. guru joins Marco Rubio team

Discussion: New York Times, Bloomberg Business, Political Wire, Washington Post, Mother Jones, Guardian, The Week and Daily Kos

Nolan D. McCaskill / Politico:
Kasich: 'I don't know if my purpose is to be president'

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Ben Domenech / The Daily Beast:
Why Evangelicals Are Born Again for Donald Trump

Discussion: USA Today, alicublog, Hot Air, New York Magazine, Hullabaloo, Washington Times, Washington Post and The Federalist

Sahil Kapur / Bloomberg Business:
Four Problems With the ‘Winnowing’ Theory of Trump's Downfall

Discussion: Instapundit and Washington Post

Talking Points Memo:

Key GOP Senators Emerge From Meeting: No Hearing For Obama SCOTUS Nom — Key Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee emerged from a closed door meeting in Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's office Tuesday united in their determination not to consider any nominee to replace Antonin Scalia until the next president takes office.

Discussion: Slate, Hullabaloo, Mediaite, Washington Post, Balloon Juice, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, The Week and Daily Kos

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Nightmare builds for Senate GOP — It's a bad time to be a Senate Republican. — Justice Antonin Scalia's death has put Supreme Court politics at the top of the Senate agenda — to the detriment of vulnerable Republican senators running for reelection in blue states.

Discussion: Hot Air, Washington Post, Yahoo Politics, Daily Kos, Washington Monthly, Althouse, ThinkProgress and Chicago

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:

Mitch McConnell Is Already Threatening To Block The Next President's Supreme Court Nominee Too — Just hours after Justice Antonin Scalia's death, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced that he would confirm no one President Obama nominates to fill Scalia's seat.

Discussion: Associated Press and No More Mister Nice Blog

David M. Herszenhorn / New York Times:

Senate Republican Leaders Say They Won't Meet With an Obama Supreme Court Nominee — With cracks showing in the G.O.P. ranks, the majority leader, Mitch McConnell, showed no sign of relenting to pressure from the president and Democrats.

Discussion: Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, Talking Points Memo, LifeNews.com, LawNewz and Althouse

Adan / Infowars:
VIDEO: OBAMA CRACKS JOKE ABOUT SCALIA'S DEATH

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News

CNN:
McConnell: Senate won't act on Obama Supreme Court nominee

Discussion: Bloomberg Business, RH Reality Check, Slate, Slantpoint, Talking Points Memo, CNBC, Hot Air, Common Dreams, RedState, Washington Free Beacon, Shakesville, twitchy.com, Daily Kos, Downtrend, Politico and Pew Research Center …

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
GOP Judiciary: No hearing on Obama court nominee

Discussion: Politico, RedState, Infowars and RealClearPolitics

Spencer S. Hsu / Washington Post:

U.S. judge orders discovery to go forward over Clinton's private email system — A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that State Department officials and top aides to Hillary Clinton should be questioned under oath about whether they intentionally thwarted federal open records laws by using …

Discussion: MichelleMalkin.com, Power Line, Political Wire, Guardian, The Daily Caller, Washington Free Beacon, Hot Air, CNN and Althouse

Judicial Watch:

Federal Court Grants Judicial Watch Discovery on Clinton Email Issue — Judicial Watch Will Seek Testimony from Current and Former Obama Administration Officials — (Washington, DC) - Judicial Watch announced that District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan today granted Judicial Watch's motion …

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, LawNewz and Washington Free Beacon

Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Judge rules Clinton staff can be questioned about emails

Discussion: The Week

Julian Hattem / The Hill:
Kerry: State Dept. staffers can't use private server

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon

Missy Ryan / Washington Post:

Obama asks lawmakers to lift obstacles to closing prison at Guantanamo Bay — President Obama on Tuesday urged lawmakers to lift obstacles to closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba as he presented to Congress a long-awaited roadmap for shutter a facility he said symbolized …

Discussion: Speaker.gov, CNN, Business Insider, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and The Week

New York Times:
WASHINGTON — The White House on Tuesday sent Congress …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Daily Caller, Slantpoint, US News, Outside the Beltway and ACS Blog

Nick Gass / Politico:
Sanders praises Gitmo plan, takes shot at Clinton

Discussion: Common Dreams

Caitlin Cruz / Talking Points Memo:
Issa Compares Obama's ‘Unlawful’ Gitmo Closure Plan To Trail Of Tears (VIDEO)

Discussion: Washington Post and Hullabaloo

Halimah Abdullah / NBC News:
Obama: I'm ‘Absolutely Committed to Closing’ Gitmo

Discussion: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, Raw Story, Business Insider, Mediaite, Washington Free Beacon and MichelleMalkin.com

Leon H. Wolf / RedState:

Here are the Emails Between Rubio Campaign and ACU Regarding Rubio's Attendance at CPAC — A minor firestorm has erupted on the Internet over whether Marco Rubio will be attending CPAC this year. The ACU (which hosts CPAC) released a statement to Breitbart News indicating that Rubio has said that he is …

Discussion: National Review

American Conservative Union:
ACU Statement on Sen. Marco Rubio at CPAC 2016

Discussion: Townhall.com, Hot Air and Politichicks.com

Matthew Boyle / Breitbart:
Exclusive — Marco Rubio Plans to Skip CPAC, Pre-Eminent Conservative Gathering, in 2016

Discussion: FOX News Radio, RedState, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, The Daily Signal, Politico and Algemeiner.com

Glenn Thrush / Politico:

Ben Carson: Obama was ‘raised white’ — GREENVILLE, S.C. - Ben Carson is the only person in the 2016 presidential field who is vying to become the country's second African-American president. — If truth be told, however, he's not entirely sure he wouldn't actually be the first.

Financial Times:

Bill Gates backs FBI iPhone hack request — Bill Gates has broken ranks with Silicon Valley in the stand-off between Apple and the US government, saying technology companies should be forced to co-operate with law enforcement in terrorism investigations. — The Microsoft founder took issue …

Discussion: The Atlantic, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, CNNMoney, Re/code, Washington Post, Techdirt, Hot Air, The Hill, Fox News, NBC News, New York Times, Mashable, Taylor Marsh, Mediaite, Fox News Insider, NPR, MacRumors, LawNewz, Engadget, The Verge, The Week and Politico

Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:

ANOTHER GLITCH... RUBIO ROBOT Short Circuits - Repeats Itself 8 Times on O'Reilly (VIDEO) — Oh my... Oh my... Oh my... Oh my... Oh my... Oh my... Oh my... Oh my... Man or Robot? — Marco ‘Robot’ Rubio suffered a glitch Monday on The O'Reilly Factor. — The computer chip repeated himself 8 times

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News

New York Times:

Donald Trump in New York: Deep Roots, but Little Influence — It is impossible to miss when you fly into New York City and spot the golf course in the shadow of the Whitestone Bridge. It is hard to avoid when you stroll along Fifth Avenue, or venture past the skating rink or carousel in Central Park.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Mother Jones, Jezebel and The Week

Chuck Hickey / FOX31 Denver:

Dynel Lane, accused of cutting baby from womb, found guilty of attempted murder … BOULDER, Colo. — Dynel Lane, the Longmont woman accused of attacking another woman and cutting the unborn baby from her womb, was found guilty of six felony counts, including attempted first-degree murder …

Discussion: LifeNews.com, fox8.com, Jezebel and KTLA

WSB-TV:

Business owner requiring all employees to be armed — GRIFFIN, Ga. — A local business owner with several offices in Georgia is now requiring all of his employees to get a concealed carry license and be armed. — After each employee at Lance Toland Associates gets their license …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Mashable and LawNewz

Christine Rousselle / Townhall.com:

Conservative Writer Ben Shapiro Banned from CSULA — Early Tuesday morning, conservative writer Ben Shapiro revealed on Twitter that his planned speech on February 25 at California State University-Los Angeles had been canceled by the university's president.