Debate Night
 
Seven candidates will take the stage tonight at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, for the eighth Democrat debate.  The debate is sponsored by ABC News and will air at 8:00 PM ET.  The participating candidates are:
 

• Former Vice President Joe Biden
• Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg
• Senator Amy Klobuchar
• Senator Bernie Sanders
• Billionaire activist Tom Steyer
• Senator Elizabeth Warren
• Businessman Andrew Yang

 
There is a lot at stake in this debate for all of the candidates.  According to the latest New Hampshire poll, Sanders and Buttigieg are essentially tied at 24% and 23% respectively, with Warren and Biden well behind at 13% and 11%.  No other candidate received double digit support.
 
As a result of the continuing chaos from the Iowa caucuses (the vote count is reportedly full of errors), Sanders and Buttigieg are battling it out for the right to claim front runner status. 
 
Meanwhile, the anointed "front runner," Joe Biden, is at risk of suffering another fourth-place "gut punch," while the other candidates are all fighting to remain relevant and viable.
 
Here's something to keep in mind:  All the so-called "experts" who are paid big bucks to go on national television to tell us the facts of the political scene have been proven grossly wrong.  Just flipping a coin would give you a better record than these folks!
 
We've been told for months that Joe Biden was the front runner, the inevitable nominee, the only one who could beat Donald Trump, and that electability was the only thing that mattered to Democrat primary voters.  Well, none of that appears to be true.
 
One breaking story today is that the Biden campaign has canceled a big ad buy in South Carolina, where his campaign is confident of victory, and redirected those resources to Nevada, where Bernie Sanders is surging.
 
Of course, Biden could still survive.  He's betting on a big showing next month on Super Tuesday, but his campaign strategy never accounted for the Bloomberg blitz.
 
Hold on -- it's going to be a wild ride!
 
 
 
The Ayatollah's "Final Solution"
 
As you know, President Trump recently proposed a bold peace plan that envisions a strong and secure Israel, as well as a free and economically thriving Palestinian state.  While no one in the Middle East wants peace more than Israelis, sadly, there are many who do not want peace with the Jewish state or even a piece of it.
 
This week, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, vowed to resist the president's peace plan and to continue supporting terrorism against the "Zionist entity."  Khamenei declared:
 
"What is the remedy [to the Trump plan]? The remedy is bold resistance. The Palestinian nation, personages and organizations should force out the Zionists and the U.S. with their selfless Jihad.  This is the only effective solution. . .
 
"Of course, I believe that the Palestinian armed organizations are going to resist; they will continue the resistance. The solution is resistance. . .
 
"We, the system of the Islamic Republic, consider it to be our duty to support the Palestinian resistance groups. We are going to support them, as much as we can and with all the means at our disposal."
 
This is the real obstacle to peace in the Middle East, not homes for Jews in Judea and Samaria.  Iran, not Israel, is the source of virtually all the chaos and instability in the Middle East. 
 
Iran is funding Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad.  Iran is propping up Assad in Syria and supporting the militias that are butchering innocent Iraqis.  Iran is backing the Houthi rebels in Yemen. 
 
While I applaud efforts to negotiate peace between Israel and the Palestinians, too often the West has misdirected its focus by asking Israel to make concessions.  But Israel isn't the problem. 
 
The Iranian regime is not interested in peace, and it will not allow Palestinians to make peace with Israel.  The ayatollah has repeatedly called for his own "final solution" – a second Holocaust through the "annihilation" of the Jewish state.  And that is why the Trump Administration's "maximum pressure campaign" against the ayatollah's regime is so vital. 
 
If the Islamic Republic of Iran ends its state-sponsorship of terrorism and ends its expansionist ambitions, then and only then may there be a real chance for peace in the Middle East.
 
 
 
Other Headlines
 

• The White House announced yesterday that U.S. forces took out Qasim al-Rimi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Yemen and a top deputy to Al-Qaeda's "supreme leader" Ayman al-Zawahiri.  Al-Rimi is at least the fourth major terrorist leader taken out by our tremendous warriors in recent months.  (Here, here and here.)

• The economy continues to defy all expectations.  Last month, 225,000 new jobs were created, greatly exceeding the 158,000 predicted by most economists.  Wages also rose more than expected.

• For years, the so-called "experts" told us that just 125,000 to 150,000 new jobs each month was the "new normal" and the best we could hope for.  These same "experts" blasted President Trump for cracking down on illegal immigration because we supposedly needed more workers.  Well, there are clearly plenty of Americans still looking for work and willing to work.

• House progressives yesterday passed a bill allowing illegal immigrants to sue their employers for damages, while also allowing labor unions to recruit illegal immigrants as members.  Just another example of the left putting American workers last.

• A federal appeals court dismissed another frivolous lawsuit filed by liberals against President Trump's businesses.

• Lastly, ponder this:  Mitt Romney went to the floor of the Senate to congratulate himself for his moral superiority because he voted to convict an innocent man.