SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 7:54 P.M. ET: 

THE MAIN BOUT – From The Politico:   Mysterious outside groups are asking state parties for personal data on potential delegates, Republican campaigns are drawing up plans to send loyal representatives to obscure local conventions, and party officials are dusting off rule books to brush up on a process that hasn’t mattered for decades.  As Donald Trump and Ted Cruz divide up the first primaries and center-right Republicans tear one another apart in a race to be the mainstream alternative, Republicans are waging a shadow primary for control of delegates in anticipation of what one senior party official called “the white whale of politics”: a contested national convention.  The endgame for the most sophisticated campaigns is an inconclusive first ballot leading to a free-for-all power struggle on the floor in Cleveland.  Personally, I can't wait.  It would be a great exercise in a political party acting like a political party.  Bargaining.  Debating.  Looking the candidates over, in the flesh.  And it's unlikely a party convention would nominate a jerk.  Those delegates have to face their families.

GOP SUPREME COURT STAND SOFTENING – From the Washington Times:   Cracks were emerging Tuesday in congressional Republicans’ position of blocking automatically any candidate nominated by President Obama to fill the Supreme Court seat of the late Antonin Scalia.  Sen. Thom Tillis, North Carolina Republican, voiced caution Tuesday about the GOP blocking any Obama nominee without a hearing.  “I think we fall into the trap if [we] just simply say, sight unseen, we fall into the trap of being obstructionists,” Mr. Tillis said on the Tyler Cralle radio show.  But Mr. Tillis added of the president, “If he puts forth someone that we think is in the mold of President Obama’s vision for America, then we’ll use every device available to block that nomination.”  This is a good strategic move.  It reminds me of the movie mogul Jack Warner's line:  "I don't want to see that S.O.B. in my office again...unless I need him."  By leaving the door a crack open, but insisting on a consensus candidate, and vowing to defeat anyone who isn't a consensus candidate, the Republicans can come out of this well.  Most important, the nation might actually wind up with a fine justice.  Remember, the Senate's Constitutional role is to advise and consent, not just consent.  If the president were smart – and there are questions – he'd openly seek the Senate's advice on nominees.

COBURN SLAMS DONALD – From the Washington Examiner:  Former Sen. Tom Coburn is angry about being quoted in the latest Donald Trump attack on Ted Cruz.  Coburn called the quote an "absolute fabrication."  As part of his never-ending criticism of Cruz, Trump's Twitter feed retweeted and pushed a quote ostensibly from Coburn criticizing Cruz as "one of the most dishonest people" in Washington. Coburn never said this.  During a phone interview with the Washington Examiner, the former Oklahoma senator fired back at Trump.  "It's an absolute fabrication. I've never said that, period," Coburn told the Examiner. "It's unfortunate he would use my name to say something dishonest. It's a total fabrication."  Coburn is a fine man, and was a respected senator.  I'd take anything he said to the bank.

February 16, 2016