Free Republic

I've just heard from a political operative whom I've known a long time and whose integrity I trust. This person is working with an organization—not one of the campaigns—that was in the field (using a very reputable pollster) Wednesday night in South Carolina. Here's what the pollster found:

Three top Jeb Bush fundraisers abruptly parted ways with his presidential campaign on Friday, amid internal personality conflicts and questions about the strength of his candidacy, POLITICO has learned. There are different versions of what transpired. The Florida-based fundraising consultants — Kris Money, Trey McCarley, and Debbie Alexander — have said that they voluntarily quit the campaign and were still working with Bush's super PAC, Right to Rise Super PAC. Others said the three, who worked under the same contract, were let go because they were no longer needed for the current phase of the campaign. None of the three...

Ohio Governor John Kasich said Thursday that he has been prodded toward a presidential bid by former Florida governor Jeb Bush’s failure to establish a commanding lead in the Republican primary. “Frankly, I thought that Jeb was going to just suck all the air out of the room. And it just hasn’t happened. No hit on Jeb,” Kasich said, explaining his consideration of a second run at the White House. The two-term governor and former US House member, who briefly ran for president in 2000, has failed to show much strength in early polling. But his leadership of a swing...

In an effort to contrast her position on immigration reform with that of Jeb Bush and other Republican presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton will stress that she supports the so-called “path to citizenship” for 11 million illegal immigrants during a campaign trip to Nevada, The Wall Street Journal reports: “She will say that the standard for a true solution is nothing less than a full and equal path to citizenship,” said a Clinton aide, previewing her remarks. “She will say that we cannot settle for proposals that provide hardworking people with merely a ’second-class’ status.” By contrast, Jeb Bush, whom some...