memeorandum: Excerpts from Biden's Gridiron Dinner speech (Politico)

3:25 PM ET, March 6, 2016

Top Items:

Battleground Tracker poll: Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton lead in Michigan — Donald Trump holds the lead heading into the final days before the Michigan primary, looking to extend his overall delegate lead after a string of Super Tuesday wins. Trump is at 39 percent, Ted Cruz is in second place …

Discussion: YouGov US Opinion Center News, Washington Post, Guardian and Politico

Rebecca Savransky / The Hill:

Cruz: Media is sitting on bombshells about Donald Trump — Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz — (Texas) said on Sunday that the media is sitting on explosive negative information about front-runner Donald Trump — with plans to run it later in the year to tear the candidate apart.

Discussion: Political Wire

Michael Goodwin / New York Post:

Don't panic, GOP — Donald Trump can beat Hillary — At the end of “The Candidate,” the engrossing 1972 film about the underbelly of campaigns, rookie politician Robert Redford is shocked by his triumph. Grabbing his handler, he pleads, “What do we do now?”

Discussion: Infowars

Politico:

Excerpts from Biden's Gridiron Dinner speech — Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday addressed Washington's press corps at the Gridiron Club's annual dinner. The transcript was provided by the White House. — [Walk to podium with “Hail to the Chief” playing] — God, I love that song.

Discussion: BuzzFeed and The Week

Mark Murray / NBC News:

Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton Hold Big Leads in Michigan: Poll — Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are leading their competitors by double digits in Michigan's March 8 primary, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll. — In the Republican race, Trump gets support …

Discussion: Political Wire

Alexandra Jaffe / NBC News:
Rubio on Losses: ‘The Map Only Gets Better for Us’

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Colin Campbell / Business Insider:
‘I want Ted one-on-one’: Donald Trump calls on Marco Rubio to drop out of race

Discussion: Althouse and Hot Air

Jose A. DelReal / Washington Post:
Cruz gains steam with 2 wins on ‘Super Saturday’; Trump calls on Rubio to drop out

Discussion: Associated Press, Politico, CNN, Washington Monthly and Outside the Beltway

Associated Press:
Cruz wins Kansas, battles for KY in GOP fight for delegates

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Politico and New York Magazine

Elisha Fieldstadt / NBC News:

Former First Lady Nancy Reagan Dead at 94 — Former first lady Nancy Reagan has died, according to a spokeswoman with the Reagan Library. She was 94. — The cause of death was congestive heart failure, according to her rep Joanne Drake. “Mrs. Reagan will be buried …

Discussion: American Spectator, Hit & Run, The Week and Fox News Insider

Lou Cannon / New York Times:

Nancy Reagan, an Influential and Stylish First Lady, Dies at 94 — Nancy Reagan, the influential and stylish wife of the 40th president of the United States who unabashedly put Ronald Reagan at the center of her life but who became a political figure in her own right, died on Sunday at her home in Los Angeles.

Discussion: The Atlantic, Vox, Washington Monthly, New York Magazine, Outside the Beltway and TalkLeft

TMZ.com:

Nancy Reagan — Dead at 94 — DEAD AT 94 — EXCLUSIVE — Nancy Reagan has died ... TMZ has learned from a close family member. — The former first lady was living in Bel Air and has been in failing health in recent years. — Mrs. Reagan married Ronald in 1952 and went on to became …

Discussion: Slantpoint, Patterico's Pontifications, Mediaite and Just Jared

ABC News:

Nancy Reagan, Former First Lady, Dies at 94

Discussion: Yahoo Politics, Politico, Mitt Romney, Associated Press, fox13now.com and Towleroad

Fox News:
Nancy Reagan, widow of Ronald Reagan, dead at 94

Discussion: protein wisdom

Lois Romano / Washington Post: Nancy Reagan dies at 94; first lady was a defining figure of the 1980s

David Remnick / New Yorker:

American Demagogue — Nearly three decades ago, Howard Kaminsky, of Random House, called on the real-estate developer and self-marketing master Donald Trump at his office on Fifth Avenue. Kaminsky brought along a cover design for “Trump: The Art of the Deal,” its author's literary début.

Discussion: Politico and Althouse

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Chickens, Home to Roost — WASHINGTON — HERE'S why the Trump campaign is wicked fun: — I watched Donald Trump in New York for decades, as a bachelor swanning, a party fixture mingling, a master of bling and bluster. — I went with him on his art-filled plane in 1999 as he dipped …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Douglas Rivers / YouGov US Opinion Center News:

Civil War in the G.O.P. — Mitt Romney has some sway in the Republican Party - but not with Trump voters … On Thursday, Mitt Romney fired the first shot in the Republican civil war. In a speech at the University of Utah, Romney denounced Donald Trump as a “phony” and a “fraud” with …

David McCabe / The Hill:

Limbaugh on Trump: Much bigger upside than downside — Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh said Sunday that there's a “much bigger upside than downside” in the Republican presidential candidacy of real estate developer Donald Trump — “I think with the case of Trump …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and JustOneMinute

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

Rubio downplays poor Super Saturday showings — is downplaying his perfomance in the four states that held GOP caucuses or primaries on Saturday, saying that he had had long known “this would be the roughest period of the campaign.” — Speaking primarily in Spanish at a press conference in Puerto Rico …

Discussion: Independent Journal Review, Politico and Talking Points Memo

Jonathan Easley / The Hill: Cruz takes two Super Saturday contests, Trump said to win La.

Manuela Tobias / Politico:

Sanders wins Kansas — Bernie Sanders has won the Kansas Democratic caucuses, according to the Kansas Democratic Party, handily defeating Hillary Clinton. — The party declared Sanders the winner with 90 percent of districts reporting. Forty thousand Kansas Democrats participated in the caucuses …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, U.S. Uncut, Talking Points Memo, The Week, Washington Monthly and BostonGlobe.com