As with the first Democratic presidential debate hosted by CNN, the second debate sponsored by CBS did not produce a clear winner. Hillary supporters will claim she won the debate; Sanders supporters will say he was the winner and O’Malley supporters, all seven, will give him the nod.

Unlike the case with the Republican presidential candidates, there are very few policy differences among the Democrats. It is more about the details of those policies, whether it’s on healthcare, Wall Street, campaign finance or a fairer tax system.

The dynamics of the Democratic race have not changed. Barring an act of god, a Bill Clinton sex scandal or damaging revelations about the Clinton Foundation (Clinton Foundation … The Real Hillary Scandal), Hillary Clinton will become the Democratic presidential nominee.

Unfortunately for Democrats, there is some significant resistance against a Clinton nomination among progressives within the Party. Some have said flat out they would only vote for Sanders in the general election. It is hard to believe, but some progressives have a hatred for anything Hillary that almost rivals that of some Republican conservatives.

This could be problematic if progressives stay home on Election Day and do not support their party’s nominee.

All Democrats need to take a deep breath. The presidential election is just about one year from now. Passions will surely cool among progressives given the possibility of a President Trump or Carson or Cruz or Rubio or Bush or…!

Photo | AP

Hillary Clinton supporters were beyond giddy after her epic smackdown of Rep. Trey Gowdy and his band of Republican henchmen during the House Benghazi hearing last month. She was universally declared the winner of the eleven-hour inquisition.

After her stellar performance, Clinton saw her poll numbers rise and political pundits started questioning Bernie Sanders’ continued viability as a presidential candidate. Barring some act of god, they said, she will be the Democratic presidential nominee.

Well, I don’t know about an act of god but there is something in Hillary’s past that could derail her hopes of reaching the While House. It’s called the Clinton Foundation.

The $2 billon charitable organization set up by the Clintons in 2001 could turn out to be, as one political analyst described it, “The Mother of all Clinton Scandals.”

While the foundation has done some praiseworthy work around the world, its finances have come under renewed scrutiny in recent months amid reports of extensive donations by foreign governments to the foundation while the former First Lady was Secretary of State in the Obama administration.

Hillary opponents have long questioned the operation of what many have called a “criminal enterprise.” They have suggested it is just a slush fund for the Clinton clan. There have been allegations that the Clintons have siphoned off foundation money for personal and political use by utilizing creative accounting tactics.

But the allegations that the foundation received donations from foreign governments while Clinton was Secretary of State could be the most problematic. Because of admitted accounting “irregularities,” the foundation will soon be filing amended returns for at least the last two years. The new returns are sure to come under heavy scrutiny.

While Hillary has brushed off any question about the foundation’s activities and finances, she has not addressed the organization’s admission to Reuters earlier this year that it did not comply with an ethics agreement Clinton signed with the Obama administration in 2008 in order for her to become Secretary of State. That agreement required the names of every donor be published annually, with the State Department ethicists screening new funding from foreign governments. Some of the foundation’s charities did not do this or did so incompletely, citing “oversights”.

Stay tuned folks as this real, potentially crippling scandal unfolds. As Rachel Maddow is apt to say, “Watch this space!”
Photo | Tannen Maury/Bloomberg News

Last night’s fourth Republican presidential debate produced some fireworks but no clear winner. Each candidate was able to hold his (her) own. In lively back and forths, the candidates disagreed on taxes, military spending, foreign policy, immigration and bank bailouts.

But to a man (woman), they all seemed to think Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic presidential nominee. The candidates painted the Democratic front-runner as just your typical tax and spend liberal. They suggested a Hillary win would be a continuation of the failed Obama presidency.

But in a rare occurrence for a Republican presidential debate, Hillary Clinton’s name was invoked more often than that of Saint Reagan.

While there might not have been a clear winner in the Fox debate, there was a loser: Jeb. I say that not because Jeb Bush did not do well; he just did not do well enough. He sorely needed a strong, breakout performance but it never materialized. The problem with Jeb is that his personality is not suited for a debate stage filled with more aggressive, animated candidates. He will always look weak by comparison.

It is fairly certain, however, Jeb will live to fight another day. But the writing seems to be on the wall: barring some miracle, Jeb will not be the Republican presidential nominee.

Besides agreeing that Clinton will ultimately be the Democratic presidential pick, the candidates did agree on some basic Republican orthodoxy: cut taxes and eliminate regulations. They also all agreed that raising the minimum wage was a bad idea.

I did not see anything in last night’s debate that would cut into the poll numbers of the two Republican front-runners, Donald Trump and Ben Carson. I look for Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz to fight for third place … with old Jeb firmly ensconced as a second-tier candidate.

Photo | AP/Morry Gash

What happened to Carly Fiorina? After great performances in the first two Republican debates vaulted her into third place behind the front-runners Trump and Carson, she’s gone AWOL. The media has all but forgotten about the only woman running for the Republican nomination.

After her middling third debate showing, the one-time media darling will be fighting for her political life in tonight’s fourth GOP debate sponsored by Fox Financial Network and the Wall Street Journal.

Fiorina, along with Trump and Carson, are the only candidates who are true Washington outsiders. But unlike Trump and Carson, Fiorina has not been able to exploit her political inexperience.

Fiorina’s claim to fame has always been her business acumen. But as her profile grew, thanks to a cooperative media that needed a new story other than Trump or Carson, so did scrutiny of her stint as the CEO of Hewlett-Packard. The picture presented by the media of the rising political star soon became that of a failed corporate executive.

Without a new narrative to take its place, her political fortunes took a dramatic turn for the worse. The most recent polling has Fiorina in the middle of the Republican presidential pack, in the low single digits, along with second-tier candidates Kasich, Paul and Huckabee.

Another possible reason for Fiorina’s dramatic fall from grace among Republican voters could be the simple fact that she is a she. While Americans have become dramatically more willing to elect a female president over the last quarter-century, there still remains some reluctance, especially among Republicans, as YouGov found in March.

Whatever the reason(s) for her collapse, look for a feisty Fiorina to come out swinging among the field of seven men who will be looking to land some punches of their own.

Photo | huffingtonpost.com

Speaking at the National Religious Liberties Conference in Iowa last week, Republican presidential candidate, Sen.Ted Cruz, was quoted as saying, “ Any president who doesn’t begin every day on his knees isn’t fit to be the commander-in-chief of this country.”

The statement was made after right-wing pastor, Kevin Swanson, introduced Cruz to the stage and asked him how important it was for candidates to submit to Jesus Christ as “the king of the President of the United States.”

Wow! Exactly how, and when, did the Republican Party become the Party of God? When did Jesus become a Republican presidential candidate? The MSM completely missed that one!

Of course, Christian fundamentalism is a big part of Cruz’s appeal. Since being elected to the Senate in 2012, he has railed against “radicals and liberals” trying to strip religion out of the public sphere.

The problem for Cruz, Carson and some of the other “holy” panderers is that there just aren’t enough “religionists’ to ever elect one of them president. Thank God!

What I pray for everyday, Sen. Cruz, is for the day when someone like you is not seen as a viable candidate for the White House but one for the psych ward; when a candidate espousing views like yours is deemed mentally ill and automatically disqualified to hold public office.

I know that day is in the distant future, but a man can dream cant he? I’m guessing that day of the “New Enlightenment” is 100+ years away.

Like Martin Luther King Jr., I dream of the day when politicians will not be judged by their professed belief in a mythical sky creature but by the extent of their rational faculties.

Photo | Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)