SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET: 

SECOND POLL VERIFIES TRUMP FLORIDA BLOWOUT –  Less than a week until the first winner-take-all Republican primaries, Donald Trump is trouncing Marco Rubio on his home turf, according to a new Fox News poll.  In the race for the Republican nomination, Trump receives 43 percent among Florida likely GOP primary voters. Rubio is a distant second with 20 percent, closely followed by Ted Cruz at 16 percent. John Kasich comes in fourth with 10 percent.  Here is what’s driving the vote: a 63-percent majority of likely Republican primary voters feels “betrayed” by politicians in their party -- and they go heavily for Trump over Cruz (49-18 percent), with Rubio and Kasich way behind (12 percent and 11 percent respectively). This poll ratifies the CNN poll we reported on earlier today, and even has Trump in a larger lead.  I just don't see how Rubio can catch up by Tuesday. 

IS THIS SERIOUS? – From the Blaze:  Attorney General Loretta Lynch testified Wednesday that the Justice Department has “discussed” taking civil legal action against the fossil fuel industry for “denying” the “threat of carbon emissions” when it comes to climate change.  Huh?  Why don't we just tear up the Constitution entirely and call it a day?  I cannot believe such a discussion took place within the Justice Department, except perhaps as a sop to the climate-change religionists who dominate the Church of Obama.  The climate-change debate among scientists is real and serious.  This is not the 15th century.

WHY? – Jeb Bush is having meetings.  From The Hill:  Jeb Bush is meeting with the three Republican presidential candidates seeking to take down front-runner Donald Trump before Thursday's GOP debate, according to a new report.  Bush is huddling with Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ohio Gov. John Kasich before the Miami debate, The New York Times reported Wednesday.  The former Florida governor repeatedly clashed with Trump during his own GOP presidential campaign, which ended late last month after disappointing results in early-voting states.  Bush is meeting Rubio on Wednesday and speaking with Cruz and Kasich on Thursday before the debate.  It's unclear whether Bush will endorse a candidate before March 15, when both Ohio and Florida vote in winner-take-all primaries, the Times said.   It's also unclear whether his endorsement will mean anything, positively or negatively.  Jeb Bush is a good man and was a fine governor of Florida.  But someone of his tempo, style and background just wasn't going to make it this year.

KASICH PREDICTS OPEN CONVENTION – From The Hill:  Republican presidential candidate Ohio Gov. John Kasich said Wednesday that he doubts any of the four remaining candidates can win the 1,237 delegates needed to become the GOP nominee and that a contested convention is the likeliest outcome.
Speaking at a town hall event on Fox News, host Greta Van Susteren asked Kasich, who has yet to win any state, if he has a path to the nomination.  “We’ve picked about half the delegates, and we have, of course, the other half to go,” Kasich responded. “And there was this poll today … Trump was at 27, Cruz was at 25 and I was at 24, so it’s really, really jammed and close."  Look, it's possible.  Many in the news business would love to see a contested convention, just for the drama.  The problem, of course, is that Trump could blackmail the convention by threatening a third party if he wasn't given the nomination.   If he carried out the threat, it's likely that no Republican could be elected.   Reads like a good novel, soon to be a minor motion picture.

March 9,  2016