Paul Ryan announced that he will accept the office of Speaker, but only if several conditions are met.

1. All factions among House Republicans must support him
2. Changes in the House Rules. made as a team – some which would limit the ability of one faction to topple him as they did Boehner.
3. Fewer fundraising demands to still allow him to have work,life and family balance.

It is unclear if the Freedom Caucus in particular is willing to go along with Ryan’s demands.  Representative Daniel Webster (R-IL) has previously stated that he will run regardless of Ryan’s bid.  The Freedom Caucus remains committed, at this time, to Webster.

Full story on CNN

Just when you thought the Democratic nomination race was dull, sources claim that Vice President Joe Biden will enter the race for the Democratic nomination for President with and announcement in 48 hours.

Full Story at the Weekly Standard

In another show of media objectivity, tonight’s host for the Democratic Presidential Debate, CNN’s Anderson Cooper is listed as  a past member of the Clinton Global Initiative – a project of the Clinton Foundation.  Also listed of course was ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, who was forced to make an on-air apology for failing to disclose contributions to the Foundation.  Membership in the Initiative is by invitation only and costs $20,000.  Spokespersons for CGI reported that members of the media were not required to pay $20,000.  While we now Stephanopoulos contributed to the Foundation, it is unknown if Cooper did also.

It is certainly clear that by membership, Cooper allowed the Clinton’s to use his name for fundraising.  Already, CNN has reported that Cooper does not want a debate where the candidates attack each other, even though that was the express intention of CNN for the Republican debate.  CNN and Cooper have demonstrated a complete lack of objectivity for this charade of a “debate.”

Full story at Weekly Standard

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) told Republicans that he would not be able to secure the 218 votes needed to be elected and that he has decided to drop his candidacy to replace John Boehner (R-IL), who is stepping down as Speaker of the House and leaving Congress at the end of the month.  There are two remaining candidates who have announced bids to replace – Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Daniel Webster (R-FL).  The Republican Freedom Caucus, consisting of about 40 of the more conservative House members, has endorsed Webster.  The Republican House Caucus tweeted, “Today’s leadership election has been postponed until a later date.”

Full Story at CNBC

In the latest episode in the drama that is the Trump campaign, Trump asserts he will indefinitely not appear on Fox News citing unfair coverage.  This of course is a renewal of the feud where Trump claimed that he was treated unfairly in the first Presidential debate, particularly by Fox’s Megyn Kelly who questioned Trump regarding his comments about women.  He initially boycotted Fox, but then claimed he had a conversation with his “good friend” Roger Ailes, CEO of Fox News, and that the issue was resolved.

Later, when Megyn Kelly returned from vacation, he lashed out at her on Twitter criticizing the show and saying “The bimbo is back.”  Fox publicly stood by Kelly and attacked Trump’s comments.  Trump agreed to lower the vitriol of his Twitter comments and resumed appearances on “friendly” shows – Greta Van Susteren’s “On the Record” and Sean Hannity’s “Hannity.”

Despite Trump’s promise to turn down the volume, he continued to attack Megyn Kelly, Fox cancelled a Trump appearance on Bill O’Reilly’s show “The O’Reilly Factor” and issued this statement:

“At 11:45am today, we canceled Donald Trump’s scheduled appearance on The O’Reilly Factor on Thursday, which resulted in Mr. Trump’s subsequent tweet about his ‘boycott’ of FOX News,” the statement reads. “The press predictably jumped to cover his tweet, creating yet another distraction from any real issues that Mr. Trump might be questioned about. When coverage doesn’t go his way, he engages in personal attacks on our anchors and hosts, which has grown stale and tiresome. He doesn’t seem to grasp that candidates telling journalists what to ask is not how the media works in this country.”

Trump has continued tweets on Twitter criticizing media coverage of him and his comments – especially Fox – and claims that he is the one boycotting them.

While Trump has been masterful at getting himself in the news, this tactic is stale and old.  His numbers are in decline and no amount of whining will change that.  Van Susteren and Hannity completely pandered to him, giving him mountains of free coverage almost nightly.  Others at Fox were not as enamored by Trump and objectively reported on Trump – which he viewed as “unfair coverage.”

It’s time to move past the summer of silliness and get down to the business of selecting a serious candidate.  A candidate who cries every time someone doesn’t speak well of him isn’t serious.  It’s time to get past the reality show and get back to reality.

Full Story at Politico

Scott Walker is out of the race.  He is announcing the suspension of his campaign for President in a press announcement at 6:00 P.M. EDT in Madison, WI.  His New Hampshire campaign chair, Cliff Hurst, announced that he is endorsing Marco Rubio for the Republican nomination for President and will serve as New Hampshire state co-chair of the Rubio campaign.  New Hampshire is home to the first Presidential primary next February.

Full Story on the Cliff Hurst endorsement.

Scott Walker has called a press conference in Madison at 6:00 P.M. EDT.  It is widely expected that he will announce that he is withdrawing from the race for the Republican nomination for President.  Walker, an early favorite of many conservatives, who once led the field in the polls – especially in the crucial early caucus state of Iowa – has dropped to less than 1% in the last CNN poll.  If he quits, he will be the second Republican to drop from the race.  Rick Perry announced his withdrawal from the race on September 11th.

Voter Gravity, a polling company that targets smartphone users, released a poll today that shows Fiorina with 22 percent support among Granite State GOP primary voters. She has a 4-point edge over Donald Trump, who has 18 percent support.  Ben Carson came in at 10 percent support – followed by John Kasich, Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio.

Of course, one “flash” poll targetting smart phone users doesn’t confirm that the Trump juggernaut is derailed.  However, there is no question that the debate impacted several candidates.  It grew Carly Fiorna’s stock from minor league to major player.  The Donald is not “untouchable.”  Ben Carson may not be the Trump alternative.

Voter Gravity Poll Results

A few hours before being expected onstage, Donald Trump cancelled a speaking engagement with the Heritage Action Presidential Forum citing a “significant business transaction” that had been delayed.  Losing no time, Governor Bobby Jindal, Trump’s most vocal foil of recent, tweeted the following: