SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:52 P.M. ET: 

NEW HAMPSHIRE POLLS – As expected, Marco Rubio is moving up in New Hampshire polls, but most experts on the state believe Trump will still win the primary.  On the Dem side, Bernie Sanders is still well ahead, although some polls show Hillary gaining some points.  The key question is whether voters actually like Bernie, or whether his support is a protest vote against Hillary's perceived dishonesty, phoniness, greed and corruption.  The perception is correct.  Another issue, rising across the internet, is whether Bill Clinton is hurting or helping his wife.  He usually polls positively as an ex-president, but the campaign has reminded voters of his White House scandals.  In addition he looks awful, and that reminds voters that he and Hillary are getting into their elder years.

COMMON SENSE FROM THE CATHOLIC BISHOPS OF GHANA – From CNS – (CNSNews.com) – In reference to two former Guantanamo Bay prisoners who were transferred to Ghana in West Africa, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference there said it was a “wrong and dangerous” decision, that the two men were “not refugees but time-bombs” who clearly “pose a threat,” and that the government should send them “back to wherever they came from.”  In a statement with the headline, “Accepting Former Guantanamo Bay Prisoners in Ghana: Wrong and Dangerous,” the Bishops’ Conference noted that the ex-Gitmo prisoner Mahmoud Omar Mohammed Bin Atef used to fight for Osama bin Laden, and the other ex-prisoner, Khalid Shayk Mohammed, had trained with Al Qaeda.  The bishops demonstrate a clarity of thought missing throughout the U.S. Government.  I thought Obama cared about Africa.  Apparently not.

CARLY FADING – Carly Fiorina's campaign began with such promise.  The expert debater started rising impressively in the polls, but then seemed to collapse.  Now she's been cut from Saturday's GOP debate.  From The Politico:   Carly Fiorina has been excluded from Saturday's Republican debate in Manchester, New Hampshire, ABC News announced on Thursday.  The former Hewlett-Packard CEO has lagged her GOP rivals in national and state-level polls, but she complained in an open letter to the Republican National Committee on Wednesday that the debate process is "broken" and urged the RNC to intervene on her behalf.
“Networks are making up these debate rules as they go along — not to be able to fit candidates on the stage — but arbitrarily to decide which candidates make for the best TV in their opinion," she wrote. "Now it is time for the RNC to act in the best interest of the Party that it represents.”  ABC News will not hold an undercard debate for the bottom tier of the winnowing field. Qualifications for the main debate stage included ranking among the top three in the Iowa caucuses, top six in New Hampshire polls or top six nationally.  I like Carly but I don't think her arguments are sound.  There are simply too many Republican candidates.  The Dems have two, so their debates are more focused, and you learn more about each candidate.  The GOP must figure out a way to run debates that make sense, while at the same time not shutting down candidates.  It's a tough order, but one of the benefits of America's oft-criticized "long" campaigns is that we eventually get to know the competitors pretty well. 

February 4,  2016