March 16, 2016 10:37 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Wednesday (March 16)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Don’t forget to finish up those NCAA Tournament Brackets before Thursday morning. It’s time to Get More Smarter with Colorado Pols. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example).

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► President Obama has nominated Merrick Garland to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court. Garland is currently Chief Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals (Washington D.C. district) and has received praise in the past from Republican Senators such as Utah’s Orrin Hatch. One of the longest-serving members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Hatch once said that there was “no question” Merrick Garland could be confirmed by the Senate…but that was before Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and friends promised not to do their jobs no matter who President Obama nominated.

Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) is going “full obstruction” on any Supreme Court nominee, and he continues to use rhetoric that Politifact has already revealed to be nonsense.

► Raise your hand if you correctly predicted the final three Republican Presidential candidates. Okay, put your hand down — you did not project a field of Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and John Kasich. On Tuesday, Trump won big in Florida, North Carolina, and Illinois, and appears to be the likely winner in Missouri. Only Kasich could put a cramp in Trump’s night, which he did by winning his home state of Ohio.

Meanwhile, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio dropped out of the GOP Presidential race last night after getting drubbed in his home state by Trump. All in all, writes Chris Cillizza for “The Fix,” Tuesday was a bad day to be a “Trump Denialist”:

According to NBC’s delegate calculations, Trump needed to win 52 percent of the remaining delegates if he had carried Ohio in addition to his Florida and other wins last night.  Now?  He needs 55 percent of the remaining delegates. Yes, 55 percent is more than 52 percent. (Good math!) But, it is far from insurmountable — particularly when you consider that the bulk of states still to vote are clumped in the West and the Northeast/Midatlantic, places that should be more friendly to Trump than the South and Plains-centric calendar to date…

…So much of the anti-Trump coverage that is pushed on these primary nights simply misses the boat. It is driven by wishful thinking on the part of the “not Trump” crowd who is desperately seeking a glimmer of hope that their long nightmare is coming to an end.

There was very little actually evidence last night to justify the amount of celebrating within the party establishment about Trump’s “demise”. That doesn’t mean that Trump will get the 1,237 delegates he needs — either before the Cleveland convention or during it. But, what it does mean is that he remains in the pole position in this race as the only candidate with a real case to win the nomination outright between now and June 7 when the primary process comes to an end. [Pols emphasis]

Trump: It’s what’s for President (for Republicans).

► Almost lost in the Trump madness and this morning’s Supreme Court announcement was the news that Hillary Clinton may have created an insurmountable lead over Bernie Sanders with big Tuesday victories:

The Ohio results represented a back-breaking blow to Sanders. His populist, anti-establishment insurgency has fired the energies of the party’s grass-roots progressives, and there is little doubt that he has both the determination and the resources to keep fighting…

…For all those assets, Sanders has fallen behind in the unforgiving arithmetic of the way Democrats choose their nominees. Clinton’s lead has been built by taking advantage of states where the demographics tilt heavily in her favor, particularly those with substantial populations of African Americans, while holding Sanders close in the states he has won.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has plenty of company in a room full of failed 2016 Republican Presidential candidates, but as the Washington Post writes, Rubio’s fall will be harder than most:

Then, alas, there is Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), christened “Little Marco” by Trump. The name stuck — and, after suspending his campaign Tuesday after Trump destroyed him in his home state, Rubio looks more diminished than ever. And he will soon be out of a job…

…What now? Rubio, often a no-show in the Senate, reportedly “hates” it and, last year, announced his intention not to run for his seat again. The ex-candidate and soon-to-be ex-senator is just 44 — he may return to try for the White House in 2020 or later. But, after losing his home state, he might not be able to make that run from a position of power.

The demise of Rubio and his uncertain future seems to be a popular topic in media outlets this morning. From Slate:

Rubio may have a political future in Florida or in the United States, but he is unlikely to ever be the bright shining political star that so many Republicans thought (and Democrats feared) he could be.

Elsewhere, Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner — an outspoken supporter of Rubio — probably wishes he hadn’t agreed to make this video.

► Jason Salzman updates his “Trump Watch” feature that tries to keep track of which Colorado Republicans are solidly in the Trump camp.

► Franklin Graham, the son of legendary evangelical leader Billy Graham, held a fist-shaking rally at the State Capitol on Tuesday that was widely attended by Republican legislators. Franklin Graham has been traveling the country preaching his belief that Satan is behind the effort to expand LGBT rights. Graham also played a significant role for the #YallQaeda terrorist group that took over an Oregon visitor’s center earlier this year.

► Longtime Denver Post editor Greg Moore announced his resignation from the newspaper on Tuesday. Moore’s sudden departure is fueling speculation that the Post may soon have a new ownership group.

► Discussions in the legislature over the so-called “Hospital Provider Fee” may be close to bearing fruit…or not? From the Colorado Independent:

Backing the governor and Democrats in the General Assembly on the hospital change plan is a near monolithic voice of the business community, including chambers of commerce and industry groups from around the state. The conservative grassroots group Americans for Prosperity is against it and has asked lawmakers to sign a pledge to protect TABOR and keep the hospital program as it is.

“I really believe that the leadership in the Senate wants to try do the right thing, and so I’m not going to give up on that and I’m not going to accuse them of kowtowing to the Americans for [Prosperity] or anything like that,” House Speaker Dickie Lee Hullinghorst said. “I think it’s something bigger than that and I think we’re going to address that.”

Timing is increasingly becoming an issue. Last session, a bill to reclassify the fee died after it was released late in the session.

► Legislation that would require criminal background checks for surgical technicians is making its way through the State House.

► President Obama has refused a request from William Koch in an attempt to get millions of dollars of refunds from royalty requests on mine properties. This is probably one of those scenarios where it’s not helpful to be a Koch Brother.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Colorado Springs City Council Member Helen Collins received an official slap on the wrist over ethics violations.

► Republican Presidential frontrunner Donald Trump is warning that there could be “riots” if he somehow loses the GOP nomination at the Party Convention in Cleveland.

ICYMI

► If Republicans are still looking for another candidate for President, House Speaker and prominent DJ Paulie D. Ryan might be willing to take the baton. He’s already received the endorsement of Former House Speaker John Boehner, which is…weird.

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