Today was Leap Day. That gave political candidates an extra day to look good to voters. They blew it.

Communique from the political campaign playground: The Trump Kid razzed the Rubio Kid about his big ears. The Rubio Kid shamed the Trump Kid about his small hands.

Donald Trump refused to disavow the Ku Klux Klan and former Grand Wizard David Duke. The only thing worse would be if he approved the all-white slate of actors winning the Academy Awards.

There's a slight difference

There's a slight difference in opinion between Donald Trump and a former Mexican president about who's going to pay for a wall on the border that Trump says is necessary to keep illegal immigrants out of the U.S. Trump tells voters Mexico will pay the $10-to-$12-billion cost of the wall. Ex-President Vicente Fox stated flatly in interviews his country is "not going to pay for that f-----g wall."

Ben Carson set off an Internet social media buzz when he said during the Republican debate in Texas that in considering a nominee for the Supreme Court, "The fruit salad of their life is what I will look at."

Donald Trump told Ted Cruz, "you should be ashamed of yourself" for not being endorsed by any of his fellow U.S. senators. Cruz does have endorsements from more than two dozen House members. Trump just picked up his first two congressional endorsements. And after all those campaign contributions he has made in the past!

Billionaire casino owner Donald Trump hit the jackpot in Nevada, winning the Republican caucuses handily with 45.9 percent of the vote. It was his third consecutive victory on the road to the GOP nomination. Marco Rubio finished second with 23.9 percent of the vote, followed by Ted Cruz with 21.4 percent.

Vice President Joe Biden isn't embarrassing the Obama administration with many gaffes these days but something he said in the past is giving grief to the White House. In 1992 he said: "Once the political season is under way and it is, action on a Supreme Court nomination must be put off until after the election is over." That echoes the Republican opposition to President Obama's swift move to fill the vacancy left by Justice Antonin Scalia's death.

Taxpayers were rightfully angry to learn several months ago that incompetent Veterans Affairs officials had been rewarded with generous bonuses. The Daily Caller turned up another scandalous decision. After the St. Louis VA hospital potentially exposed 1,800 patients to HIV and was closed twice for serious medical safety issues, the manager, Rima Nelson, was not fired. Instead she was sent to the Philippines to manage a seldom-used clinic in Manila. She gets the same $160,000 salary and lives in a condo provided by the government.

If Ted Cruz becomes president, will he hold important meetings in a storage closet? That's what he did when he called a meeting with Ben Carson to try to smooth out relations between their two campaigns after a Cruz staffer put out false information during the Iowa caucus that Carson was dropping out. A Carson representative said "the meeting did not go well."

The time the lights went out in Georgia gave Donald Trump an opportunity to pound home one of his main talking points. When a rally in Atlanta suddenly went dark, Trunk quipped, "because the lights didn't work, I won't pay the rent. That's the way we have to negotiate for our country."

President Obama must have had a critical tee time on the day Antonin Scalia was lying in repose at the Supreme Court. The Daily Caller reports he spent less than two minutes paying respect to the late justice. He did not attend Scalia's funeral.

Donald Trump has tangled with corporate tycoons, heads of TV networks, former presidents and other presidential candidates, and now he's taking on the Pope. Trump took issue with a remark Pope Francis made in Mexico that "building walls ... and not building bridges, is not Christian." The current Republican frontrunner, who has pledged to build a wall on the Mexican border to block illegal immigrants, fired back saying no leader "should have the right to question another man's religion or faith."

Since he's so far ahead in the presidential race, could Trump be thinking: "Forget about the smalltime job of being president -- I'm running for Pope!"

In a brazen display of one-upmanship in his battle with Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, Socialist Bernie Sanders is proudly boasting of being an 'honorary woman." Feminist Gloria Steinem bestowed the title several years ago. Meanwhile, Hillary has a hard time convincing voters she's an "honorable woman." She could give a straight answer to the question of whether she had always told the truth -- just that she "tried."

Some spectators weren't sure whether they were at a political rally or the Westminster Dog Show when Hillary Clinton, in the middle of a speech, began barking like a dog. The Democratic presidential candidate said she was mocking Republican claims.

Many offices, including those in federal agencies, observe "casual Friday" and allow employees to loosen rules on attire. The practice seems to be followed every day on President Obama's current golfing vacation in California. He took time away from the golf course to host an annual summit of 10 Southeast Asian leaders at Sunnylands, a 200-acre desert estate with its own nine-hole course. It was billed as a "no-tie" summit and Obama appeared tieless at a news conference held during the meeting. What was most noticeable was when he went open collar a few days earlier to comment on Supreme Court Justice Scalia's death.

The Obama administration and other boosters of the Iran nuclear agreement argued the release of billions in frozen assets would allow Iran to rejoin the world trading community. So how areTehran's rulers spending the money? Officials announced Iran would spend $8 billion on the purchase of Russian-made arms (in addition to funds spent earlier in building a Russian-Iranian military alliance).

The gloves are coming off in the Republican presidential race, but what about pants? In the last GOP debate Donald Trump charged that Jeb Bush had threatened to "take his pants off and moon everybody." Truth is, Bush had told a reporter in jest that if he did such a thing "the press guys would never notice." It was similar to Trump saying recently he could go into a New York street and "shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters."


Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia enjoyed a good joke so as he rests in peace he might be smiling at the chaos his death on a hunting trip in Texas created in the current presidential campaign. It certainly took the focus off of Common Core and eminent domain.

While serious matters are developing on Capitol Hill in Washington and in national politics, The Hill newspaper reports that President Obama was meeting the challenges of a California golf course "known as one of the toughest in the world."  He played "the famed Stadium Course" at PGA West in La Quinta, Calif. He was on the West Coast for a four-day Democratic fundraising trip.

Bernie Sanders to Hillary Clinton: "You're not in the White House yet."
HC to BS: "Been there, done that."

Hillary Clinton is the object of yet one more investigation of her actions as secretary of state. The Washington Post reported the State Department's inspector general subpoenaed the Clinton Foundation for documents related to work that required approval from the Hillary Clinton State Department. That makes at least four investigations by federal agencies involving the Democratic presidential candidate.

While the Democratic contenders for Barack Obama's job toss around imaginary figures running into the trillions, the sitting president is talking about the real thing. President Obama is sending Congress a $4.1 trillion spending plan for FY2017, complete with a $2.8 trillion tax hike. The Office of Management and Budget says budget deficits will grow to 2.8 percent of the eonomy. The cumulative effect will be to increase the national debt from $19 trillion to $27.4 trillion over the next decade.

How Your Taxes Are Spent
California proves that states can be as wasteful with taxpayers' money as the federal government. Under a law passed by the state assembly an estimated 605,000  driver licenses were issued to illegal immigrants in California last year. Approximately 830,000 undocumented immigrants have applied for licenses. The increase in applicants is estimated to cost $141 million over the next three years.

After he raised eyebrows by repeating a memorized talking point over and over at the last Republican debate, Sen. Marco Rubio defended his odd performance and said he would keep doing it. Having made a poor showing in the New Hampshire primary he now admits "I did not do well" in the debate and tells supporters, "That will never happen again."

If Donald Trump should happen to win his bid to become president of the United States he may decide to pass up the White House and stay in his own place in Washington. Trump has spent $200 million to convert the Old Post Office Building six blocks away into a luxury hotel. It will have a 6,300 square foot suite -- the "Trump Townhouse" -- with a private entrance on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Credit Howard Dean for being candid. The former governor and Democratic presidential candidate uttered a blunt truth when he termed labor unions "super PACs that Democrats like. Dean, a Hillary Clinton supporter, was blasting Clinton opponent Bernie Sanders for bragging about not having a super PAC while taking money from unions.



"There's a special place in hell for women who don't support other women," says Madeleine Albright, a predecessor of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. And for those who do support her, a not so special place in hell?

How Your Taxes Are Spent
The National Institutes of Health is spending $200,131 on a study using food trucks to get Hispanic construction workers to stop smoking on lunch breaks.

Hillary Clinton, once tagged a shoo-in for the Democratic presidential nomination, is doing a lot of polling to find out what went wrong. In fact, she spent $720,000 on polls last quarter -- more than the six top Republican candidates combined.

Clinton's daughter Chelsea is not helping much in the battle against challenger Bernie Sanders. Campaigning for her mother in Minnesota, she told a crowd, "We also need to strip away the immunity that President Sanders -- excuse me -- Senator Sanders ..."

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents are being ordered to "stand down" on enforcement of controls on illegal immigrants.They're being told to release them and no longer order them to appear at deportation hearings. "We might as well abolish our imigration laws altogether," agent Brandon Judd told Congress.

It's no wonder Hillary Clinton acts surprised at all the fuss about the lax security in handling top secret emails while she was secretary of state. In a 2007 interview uncovered by the Daily Caller she told ABC News that although she did not have a security clearance as first lady she was "often provided" classified information.


The candidate with a comb-over wants a do-over. Donald Trump accused Ted Cruz of stealing his first place finish in the Iowa caucuses should be held again. Cruz said his accuser was just having a "Trumpertantrum".

As to be expected the Republican field of contenders in the presidential race is shrinking. Mike Huckabee ended his campaign on the night of the Iowa caucuses and since then Rick Santorum and Rand Paul have dropped out after their poor showings in the caucus and polls.

At an Iowa campaign event a voter asked Hillary Clinton if she became president would she consider  appointing Barack Obama to the Supreme Court. "Wow, what a great idea," she said. "Nobody has ever suggested that to me." Not even Barack Obama?


When is Canadian-born Ted Cruz going to question the eligibility of Melania Trump, a U.S. citizen only since 2006, to be the First Lady?

Politicians are supposed to kiss babies, not make them cry. Former president Bill Clinton violated the standard practice while campaigning for his wife in Iowa. According to the Daily Caller, "a baby was brought to tears by Bill Clinton droning on and on."