Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump arrives at a campaign rally at the American Airlines Center on Monday in Dallas. Tom Pennington/Getty Images

 The fiscal conservative advocacy group Club for Growth said on Tuesday it was funding $1 million in advertisements attacking Republican Donald Trump in the early-nominating state of Iowa, the first concentrated campaign to dislodge the front runner in the race for the GOP nomination.

 The ads will launch on Thursday, a day after the second official GOP debate in which Mr. Trump will again take the center podium. They publicize statements Mr. Trump has made in recent years in which he takes positions on health care, taxes, and other issues that the group says align him with Democratic front runner Hillary Clinton. One ad ends with a picture of Mr. Trump and his wife posing with the Clintons. The ads also seek to undermine Mr. Trump’s efforts to cast himself as an outsider to Washington, calling him “just another politician.”

 “In fact, he’s the worst kind of politician,” spokesman Doug Sachtleben told reporters on Tuesday. “He’ll say anything to get elected, and then he’ll do just the opposite when he’s in office.” He suggested the group will expand its efforts against Mr. Trump, and said it would be open to joining forces with other organizations. “This is the beginning,” he said.

 Mr. Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 The group’s ad campaign has been several weeks in the making. Following the first GOP debate last month, Club for Growth President David McIntosh sent an email to the group’s members asking them to fund an anti-Trump campaign.

 He wrote: “One thing we know about Trump, because he tells us every five minutes, is that Trump has a LOT of money. Which means it is going to take SUBSTANTIAL funds to expose him for what he is – the WORST kind of politician!”

 Club for Growth typically throws its weight behind fiscal conservative candidates who support replacing the tax code with lower, flatter rates, repealing President Barack Obama‘s health law, and cutting government spending. The group has also gone after GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, criticizing his tax record as governor of Arkansas.

 When Mr. Trump first announced his campaign in June, Mr. McIntosh said the group did not plan to subject his candidate to the level of scrutiny it had other major GOP hopefuls, calling him not a serious Republican candidate.” But as Mr. Trump maintains his lead in the polls, some Republicans have ramped up their efforts to blunt his rise.

 Among the top donors in the first half of the year to Club for Growth Action—the group’s super PAC, which will pay for the ads—are some who have given millions to Mr. Trump’s rivals. Richard Uihlein, the CEO of a Wisconsin-based shipping company, gave a $2.5 million, together with his wife, to the super PAC backing Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. He gave the largest contribution to Club for Growth—$500,000. The group’s second-largest donor, hedge-fund magnate Robert Mercer, gave $11 million to the super PAC backing Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, and another $500,000 to the group supporting former Hewlett-Packard Co. chief executive Carly Fiorina.

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  ||||| Many Republicans and conservatives have criticized Donald Trump since he rose to first place in the polls — but for two months, none of them put up serious cash to try to stop him.

 On Tuesday, that changed. The Club for Growth — an anti-tax, anti-spending conservative pressure group — announced it would spend $1 million on anti-Trump ads in Iowa. Here's a look at one, which says Trump has a "very liberal" record and is "playing us for chumps," and calls him "just another politician."

 This is the first significant anti-Trump ad buy, and the political world will watch with bated breath to see if it helps knock Trump out of the lead in Iowa — and also to see how Trump, who hasn't run paid TV ads yet, will respond to a challenge on the airwaves.

 But it's no surprise that the Club for Growth is taking the lead. For months now, Trump and the club — which is mainly funded by wealthy investors and financiers — have been at each other's throats, publicly feuding on Twitter. On the surface, the dispute is about what happened around a meeting months ago, after which the club's president asked Trump for a $1 million donation.

 In reality, though, the feud gets to the heart of why the billionaire's candidacy is so dangerous to the conservative electoral coalition. The club's mission has long been to push the GOP far to the right on economic issues — slashing taxes and spending as much as possible. But Trump has pledged to protect Social Security and Medicare spending, and says the wealthy should be taxed more.

 That makes his candidacy incredibly dangerous to both the club and the current orthodoxy on tax and spending issues that exists across the GOP — an orthodoxy that the club helped bring about, and tries to enforce.

 The Club for Growth has tried to push the GOP far to the right on economic policy

 Despite keeping a low profile with the general public, the Club for Growth has gradually become an important player in GOP politics by funding primary challenges against politicians the group deems as tax-hiking, big-spending RINOs (Republicans in name only).

 The group's origins date back to the early 1980s, when wealthy investor Richard Gilder and several of his friends on Wall Street joined up to interview political office seekers about their views on economic policy. If Gilder and his friends liked what they heard — the bigger the tax and spending cuts, the better — they'd hand over campaign donations.

 "If you want to run as a Republican, you are going to have to be for smaller government, lower taxes, free trade"

 Eventually, however, the group's members became convinced that the Republicans they were helping elect to Congress were becoming too comfortable with the status quo. To prevent this, the group would target moderates in primaries, spending big to support conservative challengers. "We are saying that if you want to run as a Republican, you are going to have to be for smaller government, lower taxes, free trade," the club's then-president, Steve Moore, told the Washington Post in 2000.

 Eventually, some of the club's challengers, like now-Sens. Mike Lee in Utah and Marco Rubio in Florida, started to defeat their moderate, establishment-supported rivals. And the mere threat of an expensive, well-funded primary challenge caused many Republicans to move to the right on fiscal issues. "I always say politicians are cowards, and they really are. We say we're going to run someone against them, and they start wetting their pants," Moore bragged to the New York Times Magazine in 2003.

 Sometimes this strategy seemed to backfire. In 2009, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania avoided a repeat GOP primary challenge by the club's then-president, Pat Toomey, by switching parties and becoming a Democrat — and then provided one of the crucial 60 votes to pass Obamacare months later. And far-right club-backed challengers like Sharron Angle in Nevada and Richard Mourdock in Indiana have won their primaries, and lost badly to Democrats in general elections that were supposed to be competitive.

 But overall, the party has moved in the direction the club wants. Republican politicians have become more united in opposition to tax hikes, and in support of entitlement-cutting budgets like Paul Ryan's (which despite trillions in cuts is still too moderate for the club). Specter may have voted for Obamacare, but Toomey now holds his seat. This change in the GOP isn't entirely due to the club, but the group is perhaps the most prominent and best-funded player that's trying to scare congressional Republicans away from moderating via primary challenges.

 Donald Trump's economic policies are the exact opposite of what the club wants

 During Trump's presidential campaign, the mogul has gained notoriety for his pledge to deport 11 million unauthorized immigrants, and for his claims that the Mexican government is sending criminals and rapists across the border. This has led many to view him as a far-right fringe candidate.

 But it's not so simple. Indeed, on the tax and spending issues that the club has always cared about most, Trump is a downright heretic in the modern GOP. He's pledged he'll make "no cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid." He's said he'll hike taxes on the wealthy, especially hedge fund managers, whom he refers to as just "guys that shift paper around" and "get lucky."

 Trump has called the club "pathetic" and "phony," and suggested it's a "scam operation"

 And — worse yet for the club — there's some evidence that his views are quite popular among Republican voters. A 2014 Gallup poll found that 45 percent of Republicans thought the wealthy pay too little in taxes, compared with just 21 percent who thought they pay too much. Similarly, more Republicans want to raise spending on Social Security and Medicare than cut it. And when Theda Skocpol and Vanessa Williamson interviewed Tea Party supporters for a political science study, the people they talked to "were very anxious that Social Security and Medicare be maintained."

 The wealthy elite GOP donor class that funds campaigns — and the think tanks that help mold conservative ideology, and the advocacy groups that enforce ideological discipline — have, so far, succeeded in preventing Republican politicians from adopting these views, even though they seem rather popular.

 But Trump, who's self-funding his campaign, doesn't need to raise money from these sources. He's free to take whichever positions he thinks will win him the most votes.

 Donald Trump has been fighting with the club for months

 So when Trump announced his presidential candidacy on June 16, the Club for Growth immediately released a statement trashing him. Citing the mogul's past support for single-payer health care and a huge tax on wealth, club president David McIntosh said Trump was "not a serious candidate for president."

 But Trump soon revealed that just weeks earlier, McIntosh had come to meet him in New York — and, in a letter soon afterward, had asked him for a $1 million contribution to the club. Trump, who didn't pay up, tried to argue that the club was opposing his candidacy in revenge. In a barrage of tweets, he called the club "pathetic" and "phony," and suggested it's "a scam operation." He even tweeted out the letter from McIntosh asking for the money.

 .@club4growth should release the letter they sent me asking for $1,000,000. When I said no, they came out against me. A scam operation? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 7, 2015

 This is mainly a red herring — an attempt at spin by Trump. The club's views on economic policy are well-established, and have been for decades. When Republicans run in primaries with a platform like Trump's, the club tries to take them down. That's its whole reason for being.

 The true conflict here is a struggle for control of GOP orthodoxy. Conservatives have had a stranglehold on Republican economic policy ideas for years now. Tax cuts for the rich and entitlement cuts for average Americans have become the party's platform, despite the dubious electoral benefits of such an approach. This has been great for the Club for Growth and its wealthy backers — though they of course still see the establishment as full of RINOs, and want the party to do much more. The rise of Trump puts this triumph at risk — so he must be stopped. ||||| Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

 After weeks of quiet and not-so-quiet discussions about how to derail Donald Trump, the first major conservative group has decided it can wait no longer.

 Josh Voorhees Josh Voorhees is a Slate senior writer. He lives in Iowa City.

 The Club for Growth, a powerful and deep-pocketed free-market advocacy group, announced Tuesday that its super PAC will spend $1 million on a television ad blitz in Iowa attacking the current GOP front-runner. The group has been sparring with Trump for a few weeks now on Twitter and elsewhere, but the ad buy is the first time that it or any other conservative group has decided to spend big on the airwaves in a bid to bring The Donald back to Earth.

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 The first of the two TV spots is largely a repeat of attacks we’ve seen before: It hits Trump for his previous support of universal health care and the 2008 Wall Street bailout, and his more recent suggestion that he would hike taxes on hedge fund managers and impose tariffs on companies that outsource their manufacturing (both of which are lumped together by the ad as simply supporting “higher taxes”). “In many cases, I probably identify more as a Democrat,” Trump says in a clip from 2004 that is played twice during the 30-second commercial.

 The second ad, meanwhile, blasts the billionaire businessman for his support of a 2005 Supreme Court decision that cleared the way for the government to use eminent domain in the name of economic development—a somewhat wonky issue that might not fire up the average American but one that is aimed directly at the type of anti-establishment Tea Party voter who has helped Trump rise to the top of the polls. Both of the ads come with taglines suggesting that the real estate mogul is far from the outsider hero he presents himself as on the stump. “Trump,” the narrator says in one, “just another politician.”

 There’s a certain irony to the fact that the Club for Growth is now doing the heavy lifting for a Republican establishment that is increasingly fretting about Trump’s unexpected staying power. Traditionally the group has focused most of its resources on electing fiscally conservative hardliners to the U.S. House and Senate—hardliners who have made life less than pleasant for GOP establishment leaders like John Boehner and Mitch McConnell. (The group spent big to help Rand Paul get elected in 2010 and Ted Cruz to do the same in 2012.) Still, the club has played the presidential primary game before, most notably in 2008, when it spent heavily to attack Mike Huckabee for his record on taxes and spending while governor of Arkansas.

 The big question, of course, is whether the Trump-targeting attacks will work. The billionaire has survived similar Republican-in-name-only digs before. Megyn Kelly and co. grilled him on his liberal past during the Fox News debate last month, and Jeb Bush and other GOP hopefuls have since leveled similar criticisms. Such attacks, though, have failed to strike a chord with Trump’s unique band of supporters, many of whom appear more attracted to the businessman’s anti-establishment anger and brash bluster than anything else. Maybe these voters simply don’t care about the party line. The fact that the new attacks are coming from a super PAC, meanwhile, will play into Trump’s ongoing criticism of his GOP rivals for being too dependent on the type of wealthy patrons that are funding their campaigns and working behind the scenes. |||||

Write a summary.

– Donald Trump's campaign may be about to hit its first big test. Club for Growth will drop $1 million on anti-Trump ads in Iowa, to begin airing tomorrow, reports the Wall Street Journal. The anti-tax, anti-spending group has already aired one ad that attacks Trump's "very liberal" record and labels him "just another politician." Why the hate? Vox explains the group, which falls to the far right on economic issues, has been feuding with Trump since he announced his run. Though Trump's views on immigration make him seem like a far-right candidate, his promises of "no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid" and higher taxes on the wealthy place him closer to the left. "When Republicans run in primaries with a platform like Trump's, the club tries to take them down," reports Vox. "That's its whole reason for being." The Club's president David McIntosh wasted no time in attacking Trump back in June, noting he was "not a serious candidate." But things heated up weeks later when Trump shared a letter from McIntosh asking for a $1 million contribution. Trump has suggested the "phony" group is attacking him because he refused to comply. "He'll say anything to get elected, and then he'll do just the opposite when he's in office," a Club for Growth rep says, adding the group may team with other conservative or Republican groups against Trump. "This is the beginning." "If nothing else, the ads will provide the latest test case for whether the former reality TV star is really as immune to the laws of politics as he currently appears to be," notes Slate. "For Republicans and their conservative allies who worry that Trump is inflicting daily damage to their eventual nominee's 2016 chances, $1 million is small price to pay to find that out."


Write a summary based on this article:

Astronauts who have gone on spacewalks consistently speak of space's extraordinarily peculiar odor.

 They can't smell it while they're actually bobbing in it, because the interiors of their space suits just smell plastic-y. But upon stepping back into the space station and removing their helmets, they get a strong, distinctive whiff of the final frontier. The odor clings to their suit, helmet, gloves and tools.

 Fugitives from the near-vacuum — probably atomic oxygen, among other things — the clinging particles have the acrid aroma of seared steak, hot metal and welding fumes. Steven Pearce, a chemist asked by NASA to recreate the space odor on Earth for astronaut training purposes, said the metallic aspect of the scent may come from high-energy vibrations of ions.

 "It's like something I haven't ever smelled before, but I'll never forget it," NASA astronaut Kevin Ford said from orbit in 2009. [Space Sights and Smells Surprise Rookie Astronauts]

 But astronauts don't dislike the sharp smell of space, necessarily. After a 2003 mission, astronaut Don Pettit described it this way on a NASA blog:

 "It is hard to describe this smell; it is definitely not the olfactory equivalent to describing the palette sensations of some new food as 'tastes like chicken.' The best description I can come up with is metallic; a rather pleasant sweet metallic sensation. It reminded me of my college summers where I labored for many hours with an arc welding torch repairing heavy equipment for a small logging outfit. It reminded me of pleasant sweet smelling welding fumes. That is the smell of space."

 The interior of the International Space Station smells a little more mundane. Pettit, who recently returned from a second six-month-long mission on the ISS, told SPACE.com, "[The space station] smells like half machine-shop-engine-room-laboratory, and then when you're cooking dinner and you rip open a pouch of stew or something, you can smell a little roast beef."

 Editor's note: This story has been corrected to state that Pearce was not hired, but was merely asked, by NASA to recreate the odor of space.

 Follow Life's Little Mysteries on Twitter @llmysteries. We're also on Facebook & Google+. ||||| WASHINGTON - For rookie astronauts flying aboard the International Space Station, the food is good, the rocket thrusters are loud and there?s an odd tang in the air - apparently from outer space.

 ?It?s a very, very different environment than I expected,? Discovery shuttle pilot Kevin Ford, a first-time spaceflyer, said from orbit late Friday.

 One of things Ford wasn?t ready for is the weird smell.

 ?From the [spacewalks] there really is a distinct smell of space when they come back in,? Ford said from the station in a Friday night news conference. ?It?s like?something I haven?t ever smelled before, but I?ll never forget it. You know how those things stick with you.?

 In the past, astronauts have described the smell of space as something akin to gunpowder or ozone.

 The sounds of spaceflight have also been surprising, especially when Discovery fires up its large maneuvering thrusters, Ford said.

 ?It definitely gives the shuttle a kick and you just feel a little twang throughout the whole orbiter when they?re firing to keep you in position,? he added.

 Of the 13 astronauts aboard the International Space Station and docked shuttle, nearly half are taking their first trip to space. For some, it?s a short trip aboard the shuttle, which blasted off last week with three rookies aboard.

 Other first-time spaceflyers are on the station for the long haul. Some have already been there for months, so the term ?rookie? barely applies.

 ?The food is wonderful,? said rookie astronaut Nicole Stott, who arrived at the station Sunday on Discovery to begin a three-month stay. ?Of course we have a mix from all the partners now.?

 The result, she said, is a sort of orbital smorgasbord that includes food from the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan and Europe.

 ?I think you can find something for everyone,? Stott said.

 Discovery?s seven-astronaut crew is in the middle of a 13-day mission to deliver fresh supplies and new science gear to the space station. The astronauts ferried Stott to the outpost to replace another NASA astronaut who will come home on the shuttle.

 They also delivered a $5 million treadmill named after comedian Stephen Colbert.

 Even some of Discovery?s grizzled veterans were surprised by the life aboard the station, which is the $100 billion product of 16 different countries.

 ?It?s really awesome to see all the work that?s been achieved up here since our last flight,? said Discovery commander Rick Sturckow, who is making his fourth flight to the station. ?They?ve added a new solar array and some new modules. The station is something that all the international partners can be very proud of for their contributions.?

 New Image Gallery - Shuttle Discovery's Midnight Launch

 New Video - Meet the STS-128 Shuttle Astronauts

 Video - Food in Space: An International Smorgasbord

 SPACE.com is providing complete coverage of Discovery's STS-128 mission to the International Space Station with Managing Editor Tariq Malik and Staff Writer Clara Moskowitz in New York. Click here for shuttle mission updates and a link to NASA TV. |||||

– Outer space may be soundless, but it's apparently not odorless. Life's Little Mysteries recently stumbled upon a 2009 interview with a NASA astronaut that's too good to not resurrect. In it, Kevin Ford spoke of picking up the weird odor while undertaking spacewalks. It's not something he could smell while embarking on them (the plastic odor of the spacesuit delights the nose then), but once back in the International Space Station, the smell is there: a metallic odor that Life's Little Mysteries describes as having the "aroma of seared steak, hot metal, and welding fumes."


Article:

“Great experience to see these animals up close…”

 We had a great experience looking at grizzly bears and wolves, up close and personal. The Center saves these animals and educates the public about these special members of our environment. It is a good value because you get two days for the price of one. I fully recommend this side trip to Yellowstone. Take your camera!!! Great for all age groups. – Glenn R, TripAdvisor ||||| A grizzly bear that fatally mauled a hiker in Yellowstone National Park was killed after DNA evidence linked the animal to the scene of a second hiker's death a month later, a park official said Monday.

 The decision to euthanize the 250-pound (113-kilogram) female bear was meant to protect park visitors and staff, Superintendent Dan Wenk said.

 However, the investigation remains open, and officials might never know definitively whether the same bear that killed California hiker Brian Matayoshi on July 7 also took the life of John Wallace of Michigan in August.

 Evidence showed multiple bears, including the sow, were near Wallace's body but not if the sow made any contact with Wallace. The bear was allowed to remain free after Matayoshi's death because park officials said it was reacting naturally to defend its two cubs.

 "We made a decision at that time, based on all the information available, that we did not have a bear with a history or a bear that was demonstrating any predatory nature," park spokesman Al Nash said.

 The deaths of Matayoshi and Wallace were the first blamed on a bear inside the park in a quarter-century. Two fatal maulings occurred just outside the park in 2010.

 There were no witnesses to Wallace's killing. He was hiking alone in Yellowstone's Hayden Valley, about eight miles (13 kilometers) from where Matayoshi was killed. The mauling occurred in a backcountry area frequented by bears, and signs posted at trailheads warned visitors to take precautions.

 By the time Wallace was found by other hikers a day after the mauling, one or more bears had fed upon his body, Nash said. Authorities couldn't determine from the evidence whether the sow bear "attacked Mr. Wallace or came upon the scene subsequent to the attack, but we certainly know the bear was at the scene," he said.

 The sow bear was linked to the scene through DNA analysis of hair and scat samples found near Wallace's body, Nash said.

 The two cubs were captured and relocated to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone.

 In the aftermath of Wallace's death, park officials said they did not believe the responsible grizzly was the same one that had killed Matayoshi because they found no cub tracks at the scene. Investigators now believe those tracks might have washed away in a rain storm that went through the area before Wallace's body was discovered.

 Chris Servheen, a grizzly bear recovery coordinator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said investigators have concluded the sow bear was at the scene for some time. He said details would be released when investigators complete their report into the attack, which is expected to take another month.

 Servheen also said park officials had made the best decision they could after Matayoshi's death, given the circumstances.

 Since the mauling, park officials have captured at least seven bears in the Hayden Valley. DNA, tracks and other evidence from the scene showed at least nine bears were present around the general time of Wallace's death, drawn by two nearby bison carcasses.

 All of the captured bears were radio collared and released.

 An estimated 600 grizzlies live in the greater Yellowstone area, which includes parts of Wyoming, Montana and Wyoming. A recent report showed run-ins between humans and that growing bear population reached record levels last year, with 295 conflicts recorded by researchers.

 Three of every four of those involved bears killing livestock or damaging property to get food, garbage, livestock feed or other human-related foods. Nine human injuries were reported in 2010 _ almost double the long-term average of five a year. |||||
What is a summary?

– A mama grizzly linked to the mauling death of two hikers in Yellowstone Park has been killed by rangers. Two men were mauled to death in separate incidents over the summer in the first bear killings in Yellowstone in a quarter of a century. Bear DNA found at the site of the first mauling was also found at the site of the second death a month later. In the first attack, a grizzly sow with two cubs chased and killed a man as he hiked with his wife. A report by Yellowstone rangers concluded that a possible "contributing factor" to the mauling was that the couple "ran from the bear while screaming and yelling," and they decided not to track down the grizzly. "We made a decision at that time, based on all the information available, that we did not have a bear with a history or a bear that was demonstrating any predatory nature," a park spokesman told the AP. But the same sow's DNA was found at the site of the second killing of a hiker walking alone—although tracks and DNA from several other bears were also found at the body, and rangers can't be certain which animal killed the hiker. The euthanized grizzly's two cubs were captured and relocated to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center wildlife park in West Yellowstone. An estimated 600 grizzlies live in the greater Yellowstone area.


Here is a news article: Roseanne Barr is at it again.

 The controversial comic took a cringeworthy shot at Bill Cosby early Wednesday, tweeting an image of her scarred, discolored face with the caption, “Got in a tussle w bill cosby. U [should] see that [motherf**ker].”

 The 62-year-old then deleted the shocking tweet after the feedback from her followers was overwhelmingly negative.

 MORE: Two More Women Step Forward Accusing Bill Cosby Of Sexual Assault

 Two hours later, she clarified things by posting the same picture with the caption, “Got a chemical peel to look more sexier. Joked about tussling cosby.�?

 The outspoken comic, who like Cosby was one of the most successful sitcom stars of the 80s and 90s, didn’t exactly dance around The Cosby Show star’s mounting issues when asked by the NY Daily News Friday.

 Got a chemical peel to look more sexier. Joked about tussling cosby pic.twitter.com/2tiRMy3WEj — Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) November 26, 2014

 “I don’t wanna get sued or have him send anyone to beat me up,�? she told the paper, “but I think it’s obvious: 13 to 1.”

 MORE: Defiant Bill Cosby Slams ‘Unfair’ Allegations In Audio Response To Rape Scandal: ‘This Is All About Celebrity, Period!’

 In the chat, she called the scandal surrounding Cosby “the best and the worst thing.

 “It’s horrible when you peel back the curtain and see what’s behind it,�? she said, “but it’s so great that people now have the capacity to actually look at the truth and see how it adds up.�?

 Roseanne returns to TV Friday with the debut of her new program, Momsters: When Moms Go Bad, on Investigation Discovery at 10/9c. ||||| Three Cosby Accusers Step Forward, Demand $100 Million Fund for Alleged Victims

 Frederick M. Brown / Getty

 Three more women are speaking out to accuse Bill Cosby of sexual assault. At a press conference on Wednesday, L.A. attorney Gloria Allred, who is representing the accusers, demanded Cosby place $100 million in a fund for his alleged victims and allow a panel of retired judges to decide whether the women's claims have merit or not.Allred – a civil-rights lawyer often in the headlines for cases involving women's rights and celebrities – proposed that Cosby should waive the statute of limitations on sexual assault claims, which would permit the women to file lawsuits against the beleaguered comedian."It could be advantageous for Mr. Cosby to give up the statute of limitations because there is a huge cloud on his reputation and legacy," she said.Cosby's attorney, Martin Singer, has blasted the wave of new accusations against Cosby. "These brand new claims about alleged decades-old events are becoming increasingly ridiculous," he said in a statement on Nov. 21.Allred told reporters that she had been approached by a number of women who claimed that Cosby either drugged or sexually assaulted them. "Many of those alleged victims contacted me to determine if they had any legal rights that they could assert against Mr. Cosby," she said. "Unfortunately, with a rare exception, I had to inform these women that it was too late for them to file a lawsuit against Mr. Cosby because of the statute of limitations.""If Mr. Cosby believes all the women are being untruthful, then this is his opportunity to prove it," she added. "What could be fairer than that?"In a statement provided by Allred, the three accusers all said they met Cosby in the '70s or '80s. Beth Ferrier, a Colorado native who first spoke to PEOPLE in 2006 when she supported a civil lawsuit filed by Andrea Constand against Cosby and told PEOPLE last month she felt "there needs to be an outcry" over Cosby's behavior, said she was an aspiring actress and model when she met Cosby through her then-agent in New York City in the mid-'80s and began an affair. After she broke up with him, he called her in Denver and invited her to one of his performances. While she was backstage, Ferrier alleges, Cosby spiked her cappuccino. "The next thing I knew, hours had passed, and I woke up in the back of my car alone. My clothes were a mess; my bra was undone. My car was in the alleyway behind the venue. I felt confused and disoriented. I had no idea what happened to me. The last memory I had was drinking Mr. Cosby's coffee."Ferrier said two security guards drove her home at Cosby's request. That same night, Ferrier said she drove to Cosby's hotel to confront him. "Mr. Cosby's explanation for what happened was that '[I] had too much to drink.' I did not believe him. I had not consumed any alcohol that night. I believe that Mr. Cosby drugged me in order to sexually assault me that night."Ferrier said she told the National Enquirer about her assault in 2005 and passed a lie detector test. However, she said, the paper didn't publish her story and instead ran an exclusive interview with Cosby, who denied all the allegations.Helen Hayes said she met Cosby in 1973 while attending Clint Eastwood's Celebrity Tennis Tournament in Pebble Beach, California. She said Cosby groped her right breast at a restaurant later that night. "I was stunned and angry because he had no right to do that and I did not know why he would behave that way," she said. "His behavior was like that of a predator.The third alleged victim, identified only by a first name, Chelan, said she met Cosby in Las Vegas in 1986 when she was 17 and working at the Hilton as a bell dispatcher at the bell desk. Chelan alleged Cosby invited her to his suite so he could introduce her to someone from the Ford modeling agency. There, she said, he gave her a blue pill he said was an antihistamine with a double shot of Amaretto.Chelan said Cosby walked her to the bedroom and began sexually assaulting her. "I could not open my eyes. I couldn't move or say anything. I felt something warm on my legs. Then I blacked out."She said she woke up hours later to Cosby clapping his hands and saying, "Daddy says wake up." He then gave her $1,500 to buy something nice for her and her grandmother, she said. ||||| Bill Cosby Breaks Silence Following Rape Allegations, Says "Thank You" to Supporters like Whoopi Goldberg

 Bill Cosby has finally broken his silence. The 77-year-old actor has been under fire after 20 women — including model Janice Dickinson — have come forward accusing the Cosby Show alum of sexual assault.

 PHOTOS: Celebrity scandal

 Cosby tweeted thanks to two of his celebrity supporters, Whoopi Goldberg and Jill Scott, on Wednesday, Dec. 3. "Thank you @WhoopiGoldberg," he wrote, as well as, “Thank you @MissJillScott, from the Cosby Family."

 PHOTOS: '80s stars then and now

 Goldberg defended the accused star during a heated discussion on The View on Nov. 20. "Perhaps the police might have believed [the allegation], or the hospital. Don’t you do a kit when you say someone has raped you?" the co-host said last month. "I hope somebody gets to the bottom of this, but I’m going to reserve my judgment because I have a lot of questions, as I said. It’s crazy, but I have a lot of questions, because I know we all have friends who have gone through this."

 Scott, who received an honorary degree from Cosby earlier this year at Temple University, slammed Twitter followers and the media for ruining the comedian's "magnificent legacy" on Monday, Dec. 1.

 PHOTOS: Celebs fight back on Twitter

 Dickinson, among some 20 other females, has claimed that Cosby drugged and raped her. In a tearful interview with CNN, Dickinson recalled an incident in 1982 and said: "I would like Cosby to come out and at least acknowledge that he is a pig, he is a monster, and he raped me." ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. |||||
A summary of this is?

– Bill Cosby has been pretty quiet since rape accusations against him started becoming big news, but this week tweets appeared on his Twitter feed for the first time since Nov. 17. "Thank you @WhoopiGoldberg," he tweeted Tuesday, following that up yesterday with "Thank you @MissJillScott, from the Cosby Family." Goldberg defended Cosby on The View back on Nov. 20, saying she planned to "reserve my judgment because I have a lot of questions." One of those questions: "Perhaps the police might have believed [the allegation], or the hospital," she said. "Don’t you do a kit when you say someone has raped you?" And Scott defended Cosby and his "magnificent legacy" on Monday, Us reports. Meanwhile, three more alleged Cosby victims came forward yesterday, People reports. Gloria Allred, who is representing them, held a press conference stating that Cosby should put $100 million in a fund for his alleged victims—and also waive the statute of limitations on sexual assault claims, which would allow the women to sue him. "It could be advantageous for Mr. Cosby to give up the statute of limitations because there is a huge cloud on his reputation and legacy," she said. "If Mr. Cosby believes all the women are being untruthful, then this is his opportunity to prove it. What could be fairer than that?" In the wake of the press conference, Cosby delayed two shows he was scheduled to do in New York Saturday, TMZ reports. (Roseanne Barr recently deleted a controversial Cosby tweet.)


Article:
Washington (CNN) Scott Walker announced Monday he is dropping out of the GOP presidential race.

 The Wisconsin governor entered the primary in July as a front-runner in Iowa and a darling of both the conservative base and powerful donors after winning battles against public unions in his left-leaning home state. But that promising start was quickly dashed after poor debate performances dried up support from donors.

 "Today, I believe that I am being called to lead by helping to clear the field in this race so that a positive, conservative message can rise to the top of the field. With this in mind, I will suspend my campaign immediately," Walker said at a news conference in Madison, Wisconsin.

 He encouraged other trailing Republican candidates to follow his path.

 "I encourage other Republican presidential candidates to consider doing the same so that the voters can focus on a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive, conservative alternative to the current front-runner," said Walker, referencing businessman Donald Trump. "This is fundamentally important to the future of our party, and, more important, the future of the country."

 The governor called some of his top supporters earlier Monday afternoon informing them of his decision, according to one Walker insider. This person said Walker's recent plummet in the polls was a big factor in his decision-making.

 He sounded "upbeat," they said, and his message to supporters was, "I did the best I could."

 Walker made "the Pawlenty decision," one strategist said, referring to former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's 2011 decision to drop out before piling up considerable debt.

 This decision came as no surprise to people working in Madison, one of whom described the last several weeks as "agony."

 Moving forward, Walker said the best use of his and the party's time would be to dedicate all resources to the eventual nominee.

 Walker's exit comes 10 days after former Texas Gov. Rick Perry became the first Republican to drop out of the 2016 race. It indicates the start of a winnowing process of a field that once numbered 17 candidates -- many of whom have struggled to gain oxygen in a summer in which headlines and polls have been dominated by Trump. With Walker's departure, the field stands at 15 candidates.

 Photos: Scott Walker's career Photos: Scott Walker's career Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker dropped out of the presidential race on Monday, September 21. He was seeking the Republican Party's nomination. Hide Caption 1 of 22 Photos: Scott Walker's career Walker fields questions from Bruce Rastetter at the Iowa Agriculture Summit on March 7, 2015 in Des Moines, Iowa. Hide Caption 2 of 22 Photos: Scott Walker's career Walker speaks at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference at National Harbor, Maryland, outside Washington, D.C. on February 26, 2015. Hide Caption 3 of 22 Photos: Scott Walker's career Walker speaks to guests at the Iowa Freedom Summit on January 24, 2015, in Des Moines, Iowa. Hide Caption 4 of 22 Photos: Scott Walker's career Walker speaks at his election night party November 4, 2014, in West Allis, Wisconsin. Walker defeated the Democratic challenger Mary Burke. Hide Caption 5 of 22 Photos: Scott Walker's career Walker shakes hands with Democrat challenger Mary Burke before facing off in a debate at the WMVS-TV studios October, 17, 2014, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Hide Caption 6 of 22 Photos: Scott Walker's career Walker has a scarf put on his head during a special service at the Sikh Religious Society of Wisconsin for the victims of the shooting at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin the previous day, on August 6, 2012, in Brookfield, Wisconsin. Hide Caption 7 of 22 Photos: Scott Walker's career Walker speaks during the Republican Jewish Coalition spring leadership meeting at The Venetian Las Vegas on March 29, 2014. Hide Caption 8 of 22 Photos: Scott Walker's career Scott Walker (left) shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping (center) before a meeting as Iowa Governor Terry Branstad (right) looks on at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on April 15, 2013. Hide Caption 9 of 22 Photos: Scott Walker's career Walker poses with a woman during the Republican National Convention at the Tampa Bay Times Forum on August 28, 2012, in Tampa, Florida. Hide Caption 10 of 22 Photos: Scott Walker's career Walker prepares to cast his ballot at Jefferson School to vote in the gubernatorial recall election June 5, 2012, in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Hide Caption 11 of 22 Photos: Scott Walker's career Walker (right) listens to Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal speak as they campaign at the Waukesha Victory Center on May 24, 2012, in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Hide Caption 12 of 22 Photos: Scott Walker's career Walker addresses the National Rifle Association Leadership Forum April 13, 2012, in St. Louis, Missouri. Hide Caption 13 of 22 Photos: Scott Walker's career Walker stands on the North Lawn of the White House before making remarks to the news media after a meeting of the National Governors Association with President Barack Obama on February 27, 2012. Hide Caption 14 of 22 Photos: Scott Walker's career President Barack Obama receives a Milwaukee Brewers baseball jersey from Walker (left) as he disembarks from Air Force One upon arrival at General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, February 15, 2012. Hide Caption 15 of 22 Photos: Scott Walker's career Walker listens during the 2011 Governors Summit of U.S. Chamber of Commerce June 20, 2011, in Washington, D.C. Hide Caption 16 of 22 Photos: Scott Walker's career Members of Code Pink (left to right) Medea Benjamin, Liz Hourican and Tighe Barry, hold signs to protest as Walker (center) takes his seat during a hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee April 14, 2011, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Hide Caption 17 of 22 Photos: Scott Walker's career Walker holds a letter from democratic State Sen. Mark Miller, one of the fourteen Wisconsin state senators who fled the state over two weeks ago, during a press conference on March 7, 2011, in Madison, Wisconsin. Hide Caption 18 of 22 Photos: Scott Walker's career Walker holds up a 'Wisconsin is open for business' bumper sticker as he speaks during a ceremonial bill signing outside his office at the Wisconsin State Capitol on March 11, 2011, in Madison, Wisconsin. Hide Caption 19 of 22 Photos: Scott Walker's career Walker delivers his budget address to a joint session of the legislature at the capitol March 1, 2011 in Madison, Wisconsin. Hide Caption 20 of 22 Photos: Scott Walker's career Walker speaks at a news conference inside the Wisconsin State Capitol February 21, 2011, in Madison, Wisconsin. Hide Caption 21 of 22 Photos: Scott Walker's career President Obama receives a Green Bay Packers NFL football team jersey with 'Obama #1' written on it from Walker (left) at Austin Straubel International Airport in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on January 26, 2011. Hide Caption 22 of 22

 The New York Times first reported Walker's plans to drop out. Those intentions were confirmed to CNN by a senior campaign official, a GOP strategist close to the campaign, and a senior GOP adviser with knowledge of his plans.

 Walker rocketed to the front of the GOP pack in Iowa after a rousing speech at the Iowa Freedom Summit in January -- and subsequently, his campaign pinned its hopes on the first state to vote in the presidential nominating process.

 But Walker was hurt by lackluster performances in the first two Republican debates. And his poll numbers suffered: In a CNN/ORC poll released Sunday , Walker failed to garner even one-half of 1% nationally among likely GOP primary voters.

 A GOP strategist close to the campaign told CNN that Walker "is a pragmatist above all else and just didn't see the path to a comeback."

 The strategist also said that the Walker campaign left last week's CNN debate feeling alright, but quickly realized the outside reaction was flat at best. This source added that the national polling drop was troubling but it was the collapse in Iowa that hit hardest, as that state was to serve as "our launchpad."

 "Hard to see a path for us without Iowa," one source said.

 There had always been hope in the Walker campaign that Trump supporters were not active caucus-goers, the source said, but it was hard to fight the popularity of both front-runner Trump and Ben Carson.

 Walker was also hurt by reversals on a host of controversial issues -- including birthright citizenship, on which he gave three different answers in the span of seven days. Those reversals were particularly damaging to his outsider image as non-politicians like Trump, Carson and Carly Fiorina climbed the polls.

 Walker delayed entering the campaign in part to raise money for his super PAC, which posted a $20 million haul in the first half of 2015.

 But once it launched, the campaign appeared to be bedeviled by a lack of hard dollars that it needed to pay staff, travel the country and pay filing fees to state parties. It will not be known how much money the Walker campaign raised -- or how quickly it burned through it -- until October 15, when the federal campaign finance reports are made public.

 "The money dried up -- and it dried up right after the Cleveland debate, and we never could get it back," a source close to Walker said of the August 6 debate.

 The super PAC will "wind down our existing efforts and return remaining resources to supporters," according to a spokesman for the group.

 Aimee Locke, a top Texas fundraiser for Walker, said she got no advance notice from the campaign, but said people in her network began to worry as CNN's new poll results showed Walker with less than 1% support nationally.

 "We were told that they were going to be some changes made, but we had no idea that this was the change that was going to be made," she said.

 Walker's exit is now almost certain to set off a fierce scramble for his big-money backers, led by the Ricketts family that has emerged as one of the GOP's most powerful financial contributors. Todd Ricketts, the campaign's finance chair, was scheduled to host a fundraiser for Walker in New York on Thursday.

 Trump complimented Walker on Twitter after the news of his decision broke.

 "I got to know @ScottWalker well -- he's a very nice person and has a great future," he said.

 I got to know @ScottWalker well—he's a very nice person and has a great future. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 21, 2015

 South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, also a GOP presidential contender, said Walker made the decision that was "best for him and his family."

 "You are down to 15. You got three basketball teams. The bottomline is Scott made a decision best for him and his family," Graham said. "He's a very accomplished governor and it shows you just how hard it is running with this many people. That's what it shows."

 AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka had some choice words for Walker -- best known for his anti-union efforts.

 "Scott Walker is still a disgrace, just no longer national," Trumka said. ||||| WASHINGTON (AP) — Even before Scott Walker dropped out of the race for president, his Republican rivals for the White House were chasing after the remnants of his once high-flying campaign.

 Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker pauses as he speaks at a news conference Monday, Sept. 21, 2015, in Madison, Wis., where he announced that he is suspending his Republican presidential campaign. (AP Photo/Morry... (Associated Press)

 Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker speaks at a news conference Monday, Sept. 21, 2015, in Madison, Wis., where he announced that he is suspending his Republican presidential campaign. (AP Photo/Morry Gash) (Associated Press)

 Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker speaks at a news conference Monday, Sept. 21, 2015, in Madison, Wis., where he announced that he is suspending his Republican presidential campaign. (AP Photo/Morry Gash) (Associated Press)

 Walker's opponents openly gossiped about the Wisconsin governor's political challenges as they gathered in California for last week's presidential debate. Once he formally left the race Monday afternoon, the jockeying only intensified.

 As Walker was calling it quits during a news conference at home in Wisconsin, his national finance co-chairman, Anthony Scaramucci, was fielding calls from five campaigns — including from three candidates themselves.

 "Out of respect to him, I want to talk to him before I do anything with anyone else," said Scaramucci, who was on deck to host several New York City fundraisers for Walker this week.

 By the end of the night, several campaigns had moved from outreach to bragging about who from Walker's team they had won over. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz talked up additions in Iowa, Georgia and Nevada. Former Walker supporters in Iowa and New Hampshire said they were now in for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

 Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush called Walker a "great public servant" — and quickly urged Walker's supporters to consider him. Walker had a large Iowa organization, complete with leaders in each of its 99 counties, and Bush said he and his team were trying to win them over.

 "That's been some of the effort this afternoon and going forward," Bush told reporters after a campaign stop in northern Iowa. "We're working them hard for sure."

 Warning that the 2016 campaign had become too nasty, Walker said Monday he's "being called to lead by helping to clear the field in this race so that a positive conservative message can rise to the top." While stepping aside, he urged others to quit, too — suggesting that a smaller pool of candidates would be better positioned to take down Republican front-runner Donald Trump.

 "I encourage other Republican presidential candidates to consider doing the same, so the voters can focus on a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive conservative alternative to the current front-runner," Walker said.

 None are expected to do so anytime soon.

 Ohio Gov. John Kasich distributed a fundraising appeal 90 minutes after Walker's announcement noting that he's "the only Midwestern governor in the race who can bring our values to Washington, D.C." Former technology executive Carly Fiorina is surging on the back of a strong performance in the second GOP debate.

 Some in the party suggested the biggest beneficiary of Walker's exit may be Rubio, who, like Walker, is considered a fresh face with the ability to unify the GOP's divided factions.

 Both men are under 50 and hold a "next-generation appeal," said Frank Luntz, a Republican pollster who is unaligned in the race, but offered his California home to Walker for a post-debate fundraiser last week.

 "They're both ideological without being uncompromising, and they have both earned their conservative stripes," Luntz said, noting Walker's fight with public-employee unions and Rubio's battle with then-Republican favorite Charlie Crist in the GOP contest for Florida Senate in 2010.

 Walker and Rubio also share a personal connection and acknowledged early speculation that they might run on the same ticket.

 "It was personally hard, but you know when it's over," said Cliff Hurst, who was Walker's New Hampshire co-chairman. Yet he said he had recently turned his attention to Rubio. "I've always been impressed with his character, his intelligence and his knowledge of how it all works," he said.

 It may take weeks for a clear picture to emerge of the political landscape without Walker. But with several of the more than a dozen candidates still in the race registering in the low single digits in national polls, the competition for Walker's staff and donor network will only intensify in the coming days.

 Within minutes of Walker's announcement, the Chicago-based Ricketts family was bombarded with calls from six GOP campaigns, including from some of the candidates themselves, a person close to the family said.

 The billionaire family is likely be very active in the primary process as donors to someone else, but they don't immediately know who that person will be, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss private conversations with the family.

 "Our nation's future is at stake," said Todd Ricketts, who served as a national finance co-chairman for Walker. "And while I was proud to help Gov. Walker, I will keep working hard to make our country a better place."

 ___

 Associated Press writers Tom Beaumont and Catherine Lucey in Des Moines, Iowa, and Kathleen Ronayne in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this report. ||||| Scott Walker is now officially out, announcing at a press conference Monday that he was withdrawing from the presidential contest so that a “positive conservative message can rise to the top of the field” and buttress the current frontrunner, Donald Trump.

 Amounting to one of the shortest presidential campaigns in modern history –- lasting just 71 days -– Walker had seen his polling numbers crater in recent months compared to the time ahead of his entry into the field, when he was widely viewed as one of the most promising contenders.

 Running as a Washington outsider and heralded for his success in pushing through conservative reforms in the politically purple state of Wisconsin, Walker’s campaign began to lose steam almost as soon as it was launched.

 So what happened?

 After polling as the frontrunner in the first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa for the better part of the year, Walker’s numbers began to slip in Iowa and nationally as Trump surged to the top of the field. In the most recent national poll, released by CNN/ORC over the weekend, Walker registered just 0.5 percent. And in Iowa, Walker slid from 19 percent to 5 percent in just six weeks of NBC News/Marist polling.

 In addition to Trump’s climb, Walker’s fall was abetted by his own lackluster performance in the first debate and a series of missteps in articulating his position on immigration reform and at one time suggesting that he considered building a wall with Canada to be a “legitimate idea.”

 But Walker’s hasty exit from the Republican nominating contest was about more than just sagging poll numbers and sloppy statements. It was about money, sources told ABC News.

 Walker's campaign did not file its financials with the Federal Election Commission because of the short time it was in existence.

 The size and scope of Walker’s campaign, which was reportedly comprised of some 90 paid staff, had been built for a frontrunner. And when Walker failed to perform as such, the fundraising simply couldn’t keep up with the operation.

 Reed Galen, a Republican political consultant who served as John McCain deputy campaign manager until July 2007, points out that the campaign never had the benefit of frontrunner status while Walker was actually in the race, since Walker’s strongest stretch in the polls – particularly in Iowa – came before he was a declared candidate.

 “The campaign did not exist with the benefit of being a frontrunner,” Galeen said. “And so now you're in a place where you thought you would be in first place … you get a heightened sense of your success based on 42 minutes at a podium, then a lackluster performance at the first debate, he’s had a number of issue on immigration and birthright citizenship, and all these things aggregate together in a noxious mix.”

 And while Walker did have a Super PAC raising money for him during that time, Super PACs alone cannot support campaigns.

 “Regardless of how much Super PAC money you have behind you, these candidates have to take a good hard look at their prospects and say I could keep doing this, but let’s be realistic and wake up on Tuesday morning, am I going to be in a better place?” Galeen said. “Do I have the time to get to the next debate, which is the next opportunity for me to make a splash.”

 A few days ago, Walker had reshuffled his campaign calendar to refocus his efforts on Iowa and South Carolina, two states where his message had shown early promise among the conservative Evangelical base of voters. But even with a focus on those states, Walker’s campaign was facing organizational woes.

 Duane Cottingham, an Iowa political activist who was supporting Walker’s efforts in the caucus state, said he was upset to hear the news of Walker’s decision to exit the race but that the campaign failed to mobilize the grassroots support and organization that is so necessary to winning the caucuses there.

 “They had volunteers and they never learned to use them,” Cottingham said. “No successful campaign that I’ve ever encountered can operate successfully without tying the finance organization to the campaign organization, and this one never got there.”

 For his part, Cottingham was also a small-scale donor to the campaign and said he’d like to know where his money went. “How could they spend so much and accomplish so little?”

 Richard Schwarm, a former state chairman of the Iowa Republican Party, said he remains surprised by Walker’s tumble from favor in the state and said the campaign would have likely benefitted from the Iowa straw poll, a decades-long tradition which the state GOP retired this year, and would have come at a time when Walker maintained strength in the polls.

 “I think he would have benefited if he could have gotten out and built for that and find out if you do have an organization,” Schwarm said. “But too many people were committed to it not continuing that it wasn’t going to continue.”

 Stanley Hubbard, a Minnesota media mogul who had previously been one of Walker’s top donors, told ABC News in an interview prior to the news that he was dropping out of the race, that he was planning to withdraw his exclusive support from Walker and give money to a number of other Republican candidates, including Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina, and Ben Carson. Hubbard also recommended media coaching to the governor as a means to improve the power of his messaging.

 “Why does one person come across and someone else doesn’t?” Hubbard said. “I’ve been in TV business a long time and there are ways you can get training to get your message across.”

 “And if Scott can’t figure that out, he might as well drop out,” Hubbard added.

 And drop out he did. ||||| Before there was Donald Trump or Ben Carson or Carly Fiorina, there was Scott Walker — a defiant outsider who portrayed himself as the regular-guy champion of the GOP’s burn-the-Beltway base.

 After a promising start last winter, the two-term Wisconsin governor turned out to be a tentative and mistake-prone candidate who badly fumbled core Republican issues — especially birthright citizenship — that Trump and other top GOP candidates handled with relative ease.

 Story Continued Below

 Several senior Republicans with knowledge of his campaign said the 47-year-old Walker — who won two elections and survived a recall effort without the help of national consultants — was simply too confident in his own abilities and often acted, ineptly, as his own campaign manager.

 “The impression I had,” said one veteran GOP operative, “was that Scott was making it up as he went along.”

 “It’s no longer about just backing an outsider in principle; people want somebody who is completely outside the system,” says Heather Stancil, co-chair of the Madison County, Iowa Republican Committee — an area that was supposed to be a Walker electoral stronghold.

 “It makes me scratch my head; the only thing I can attribute Walker’s failure to is that people do not want someone tainted by any relation to government at all,” she added. “They are so fed up they don’t trust anybody. He said he was an outsider, but he also had that taint of working in government.”

 His stunning fall, from top tier hopeful to a so-called “asterisk candidate” who couldn’t break 1 percent in the latest CNN poll, also illustrated the limits of fundraising in a 2016 that was supposed to be dominated by unregulated campaign spending. Both Walker and former Gov. Rick Perry, who dropped out earlier this month, represent a two-man money-couldn’t-buy-them-love club on the sidelines. Super PACs affiliated with Perry and Walker raised millions in the weeks leading up to their collapses — Walker’s alone banked more than $20 million.

 But Walker had far less success raising hard money for his campaign and struggled to bankroll staffers in the states and travel.

 Walker, a deeply religious evangelical Christian who waged a years-long battle against public employee unions in his home state while touting his back-of-Harley working-class roots, had an impressive entrance into the race. He delivered a powerful defense of economic and cultural conservatism in a fiery speech at Rep. Steve King’s Iowa Freedom Summit in January in which he talked about braving a union sympathizer’s threat to gut his wife “like a deer.”

 But angry as Walker was — his super PAC was named “Unintimidated” — he just wasn’t quite angry enough.

 Liz Mair, a former Walker aide who was fired earlier this year, took to Twitter on Monday to enumerate the mistakes her one-time boss had made — and said he often seemed overmatched by the velocity and information overload inherent in a modern presidential campaign.

 At the top of her list: “Not educating himself fast enough on issues outside governor's remit” and “Not training himself out of tics incl[uding] instinctively answering 'yes' and 'absolutely' to things, comparing lots of things to union fight.”

 But his sudden exit from the race on Monday (so sudden many staffers learned of their impending unemployment on Twitter) said just as much about the toxicity of the environment as the flaws of the man. Walker’s charisma-free Midwest pique simply couldn’t compete with Trump’s bellowing, telegenic challenge to the party establishment — during a primal-rage 2016 primary season when any candidate with a connection to government starts at a disadvantage.

 Walker’s campaign had been imploding for weeks, but his public low point — and one that made him vulnerable to charges of weakness — was his stumbling response to the birthright citizenship proposal, a quixotic bid to challenge the 14th Amendment guarantee that all people born in the U.S. be given citizenship rights. Over the course of seven days in August, Walker rattled out no fewer than three positions — a call to challenge the amendment, a solid “no” when asked if he planned to challenge existing laws, and a call for the status quo.

 “It's okay to flip-flop, but not as frequently as Flipper. Almost everyone (except Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush) has changed positions in this race. Donald Trump used to be a raging liberal (and perhaps he still is),” wrote conservative blogger Ed Straker, hours before Walker’s fall. “But even Trump, once changing his position, didn't go back and forth and back and forth several times within the space of a few days. … He quickly became known as being squishy on immigration.”

 Until the summer, Walker seemed to have a sturdy regional strategy that seemed Trump-proof. He staked his chances on Iowa’s deeply conservative GOP caucus electorate — and he had a regional hook The Donald couldn’t dream of — having spent part of his childhood in Iowa. But he struggled to stake out an identity beyond his battles with unions.

 “You can say you fought against the unions, and you are a conservative, but eventually you have to have a compelling national policy proposal that captures people’s imagination,” said longtime Republican pollster David Winston. “Walker didn’t have that.”

 To say that he peaked early is an understatement: Walker led the Iowa pack in February with 25 percent and sat in third place nationally for much of the year. He plummeted to 3 percent and 10th place in Iowa by September — and fell off the charts last week.

 The two Republican debates — which might have served as a safety net for his free-falling candidacy — were unmemorable, and his bland passivity at last Wednesday’s otherwise raucous showdown proved fatal.

 On a night when Carly Fiorina rose, instantly, from the ranks of also-rans to second or third place, Walker found himself shut out of the back-and-forth — logging a mere eight minutes of talk time, compared with Trump’s 20 despite his best efforts to interrupt.

 “He was a terrible candidate, but he also got Trump-ed,” said one Walker ally.

  ||||| Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker dropped out of the GOP presidential race Monday evening, urging other candidates to do the same so voters will coalesce around a candidate who can topple front-runner Donald Trump.

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 "The Bible is full of stories of people who were called to be leaders in unusual ways," Walker said in prepared remarks at a press conference in Madison, Wis., recalling when he sat in church the previous day.

 "Today, I believe that I am being called to lead helping to clear the field in this race so that a positive, conservative message can rise to the top of the field," Walker said.

 "I encourage other Republican presidential candidates to consider doing the same, so the voters can focus on a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive, conservative alternative to the current front-runner," he continued.

 "We need to get back to the basics of our party," the Wisconsin governor added.

 Walker is the second major Republican presidential candidate to end his campaign, following former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who suspended his White House bid on Sept. 11.

 There are 15 candidates still in competition for the Republican presidential nomination.

 "This is a difficult decision, as so many wonderful people stepped up to support our campaign," Walker said, thanking his volunteers, staffers and family.

 "Most of all I want to thank God. I want to thank God for his abundant grace. Win or lose, it has always been more than enough," Walker said.

 Walker said the Republican Party needs to focus on private sector job creation, cutting regulations and emphasizing a strong military.

 Even before he took to the lectern at The Edgewater hotel for his statement, which lasted just shy of four minutes, rival campaigns had started touting on social media that they had poached some of his aides for their own campaigns.

 Still, several Republican opponents offered kind words for Walker on his way out, including Trump, who tweeted before Walker's announcement that "he's a very nice person and has a great future."

 "He remains one of the best governors in the country and I have no doubt that he'll continue the fight for conservative principles," Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said in a statement.

 "Republicans are lucky to have Scott on our team," Rubio added.

 Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) similarly wished Walker well, tweeting that he believed Walker would "remain a vital voice in the Republican Party." Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Walker has "a proven record of fighting for conservative reforms. I know he'll continue to do that as Governor."

 Walker's poll numbers have plummeted over the past couple of months and recent reports have suggested that his campaign was in financial trouble. His team has been scrambling to reassure nervous donors that he could win in Iowa over the likes of Trump and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.

 Walker had fallen out of the top five in Iowa, an early-voting state where his campaign had focused on gathering support, and his poll numbers dove brutally after the first GOP presidential debate in early August.

 His prospects further soured on Sunday, when a CNN/ORC International Poll found him receiving the support of less than 0.5 percent of Republicans nationally after the second debate last week, where he spoke the least of the 11 candidates on the prime-time stage. Trump, meanwhile, spoke more than twice as much as Walker did.

 Walker, who was reelected to a second term as governor last year after fending off a recall attempt in 2012, had relied heavily on his executive experience in Wisconsin and his battles against public unions there.

 The governor attracted the attention of President Obama and Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, who both traveled to Wisconsin in recent months to criticize the GOP candidate.

 A few GOP contenders have surged in polls in recent weeks, such as former business exec Carly Fiorina, and Rubio. But Walker was only losing support, and he voiced frustration Monday with Trump, whose rise coincided with Walker's fall.

 The Progressive Change Campaign Committee said in a statement on Walker withdrawing from the race that "Donald Trump just handed a victory to unions and working people, and a defeat to one of the worst governors and corporate sell outs in the nation."

 Another liberal group, Americans United for Change, echoed that sentiment while bashing Walker as "one-trick labor bashing pony and the novelty seems to have worn off even among Republican primary voters."

 "Let Walker’s early collapse be a lesson to the other Republicans," the group's president, Brad Woodhouse, said in a statement. "Assaulting the labor movement isn’t just a loser economically, it’s a loser politically."

 Walker said in his brief prepared remarks that he hoped the remaining GOP candidates would find a leader "to refocus the debate" on issues that he pushed for, including a greater focus on private workers. ||||| Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) announced Monday that he was suspending his campaign for the White House, urging other candidates to follow suit. (Reuters)

 Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) announced Monday that he was suspending his campaign for the White House, urging other candidates to follow suit. (Reuters)

 Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who was once considered a formidable candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, announced Monday that he will quit the GOP race in the face of plummeting support and mounting financial difficulties that left him with slim hopes of finding a path to victory.

 The stunning announcement came after two months of mounting problems that had put his once-highflying campaign into a downward spiral. Walker led the polls in Iowa earlier this year, but his standing in recent surveys dropped into single digits. Nationally, his numbers suffered even more.

 Walker bowed out with explicit criticism of the negative tone of the Republican race, which he said had descended into personal attacks, and with thinly veiled criticism of front-runner Donald Trump.

 “Today I believe I am being called to lead by helping to clear the field in this race so that a positive conservative message can rise to the top of the field,” Walker said in Madison, Wis. He urged others to do the same to give voters a choice among a limited number of people who can offer “a positive conservative alternative to the current front-runner.”

 Walker’s candidacy, like those of other elected and former elected officials, began to erode because of the growing support for three non-politicians — Trump, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina. But Walker’s plight was compounded by strategic mistakes and self-inflicted wounds that raised questions about his readiness to serve as president.

 1 of 26 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × A look back at Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s political career View Photos Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walkerr announced Monday that he will quit the 2016 GOP race. Caption The Wisconsin governor announced Monday that he will drop out of the 2016 GOP race. Sept. 21, 2015 Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker speaks at a news conference in Madison, where he announced that he is suspending his presidential campaign. Morry Gash/AP Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.

 Walker’s departure comes less than two weeks after former Texas governor Rick Perry announced that he would suspend his candidacy. Both decisions reflect the unforgiving impact of public opinion polls in this early stage of the campaign and the apparent role that the candidate debates are playing in shaping attitudes.

 Walker’s decision, like that of Perry, points to another reality of campaigning in this cycle: Having a well-funded super PAC is no insurance that a candidate can survive in the face of poor poll numbers. In the vicious cycle of modern-day campaigning, weak poll numbers quickly dry up fundraising, making it difficult to pay for everyday operations, which brings further retrenchment and, in the case of Walker, eventual extinction.

 In an era of reality-TV politics, Walker, a Harley-riding Midwest everyman, suffered as well from a personality that was easily overshadowed. His advisers believed he had performed adequately in last week’s debate, but he was judged more harshly by critics who said he seemed to fade into the background through long portions of the forum.

 Gary Marx, who coordinated Walker’s outreach to conservative movement groups, said Monday that it had been hard to generate enthusiasm from the start.

 “The ‘conservative governor who is a fighter with results’ wasn’t the right message for these times,” Marx said. “It has not been resonating at all this year, across the board and throughout this process.”

 Walker can bequeath few supporters to other candidates, but he has something of great value: a national network of major contributors who had flocked to him during his battles against labor unions in Wisconsin and who helped his super PAC raise $20 million in just two months this summer. Other teams were already at work to woo those contributors as Walker bowed out.

 Walker’s campaign had been reeling for the past month, and there were calls from donors and others for a shake-up among his top staff. The large cadre of staff members and paid consultants around Walker had been on what one called a “death watch” for the past several weeks.

 The governor’s political team had been bracing for spending cuts, layoffs and a change in leadership, according to one Republican operative working with the Walker team. Still, the candidate kept his deliberations very close, with most staff, including senior aides, finding out only Monday that he had decided to end his campaign. It was Walker, apparently, who concluded that the effort was no longer viable.

 Several Walker donors, prominent supporters and fundraisers said they first learned Walker was dropping out from media reports.

 Minnesota businessman Stanley S. Hubbard and his wife have been longtime supporters of the Wisconsin governor, but they began to lose faith as Walker fell in the polls. Over the weekend, the Hubbards decided to start donating to other GOP candidates — Fiorina, Carson, Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

 “We could see this coming, although we hoped Scott could do something to turn it around,” Hubbard said in an interview Monday evening. “It’s like picking a TV anchor: You can have five people and give them each the same script, and they will say the exact same thing, and at the end of the day everyone will say, ‘That one was the best.’ I guess it’s called star power.”

 New York investment broker Eric Anton, a top Walker donor, said he was surprised Walker dropped out as quickly as he did, adding that he had thought the campaign would try to make changes first. Anton said he was “so depressed” by the news. “My heart is broken,” he said.

 Asked whom he plans to support now, Anton named three favorites: Rubio, Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) and Fiorina.

 Elected governor in 2010 after having served as Milwaukee County executive, Walker came to national attention in early 2011 when he sought to restrict collective-bargaining rights for public employee unions in Wisconsin.

 The confrontation brought thousands of angry demonstrators to the state capitol in Madison and generated threats against Walker and his family. In that clash, Walker held firm, and the GOP-controlled legislature enacted his spending cuts and union restrictions.

 But that did not end the battle. In 2012, Walker was forced into a recall election and another brutal confrontation with the unions and the left. Walker survived that recall and won reelection in 2014.

 He came into the presidential campaign with unexpected force, delivering a fiery and well-received speech at a gathering of conservatives in Iowa in January. But he became a victim of his sudden success, proving quickly that he was not well prepared for the rigors of a presidential campaign.

 “It was nice for him to get that attention in the short run, but it set up expectations he couldn’t hope to maintain,” said Vin Weber, a former Minnesota congressman and an adviser to Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign.

 Some Republicans believe that Walker drew the wrong lessons — and a false sense of confidence — from his battles in Wisconsin. He stumbled when asked about evolution. He appeared to suggest that his clashes at home prepared him to take on Islamic State terrorists. He changed his position on comprehensive immigration reform.

 He formally announced his candidacy just two months ago, pledging that he alone among the GOP candidates had demonstrated that he could fight and win against the Democrats. At the time, he was leading polls in Iowa, the state that he and his campaign saw as critical to winning the nomination.

 That changed after Trump got into the race. Faced with renewed scrutiny, Walker again wobbled. In recent weeks, he suggested that he favored ending birthright citizenship, which is guaranteed by the Constitution, then spent days working his way out of it.

 A final blow came Sunday when a new national CNN-ORC poll showed Walker registering at less than 1 percent.

 Jamie Johnson, who had been Perry’s Iowa state director, was in the audience for Walker’s weekend Faith and Freedom dinner speech. He said the onetime front-runner seemed listless and lost.

 “Someone asked me: ‘What’s happened to Walker?’ ” Johnson recalled. “I said: ‘You know how some candidates are trying to find his voice? He’s trying to find his core.’ And boy, you could see that onstage. The old blue shirt with sleeves rolled up twice wasn’t cutting it anymore.”

 More than one Republican said over the past weeks that a politician known for his discipline and focus had lost his balance as troubles mounted.

 As Johnson put it: “Walker changed the direction of his ship so many times that he created a whirlpool, and the ship went down.”

 Robert Costa, Philip Rucker, David Weigel and Sean Sullivan contributed to this report. |||||Summary:

– Scott Walker is out of the GOP race after a campaign that peaked well before it officially began: He led the polls in Iowa for much of the year, but he has dropped out of the race after just 71 days, which ABC News reports is one of the shortest modern presidential campaigns on record. Where did it all go wrong for the Wisconsin governor? Insiders tell Politico that Walker was overconfident, and though he tried to act as his own campaign manager, he seemed to be "making it up as he went along," causing plenty of strategic blunders. Fundraising dried up as Donald Trump's rise pushed him to the sidelines, leaving him with a large organization but little support. His sudden departure from the race came after he failed to make an impression at the second debate and a CNN poll found his support at well below 1%. "He was a terrible candidate, but he also got Trump-ed," a source tells Politico. More: Sources tell CNN that although a super PAC supporting him had plenty of cash, Walker's campaign funds started to dry up after the first debate as donors looked elsewhere. Walker "is a pragmatist above all else and just didn't see the path to a comeback" after his poll numbers collapsed even in Iowa, a campaign insider says. Walker was hurt by flip-flops on issues like birthright citizenship, where he changed his position three times in a week, CNN notes, and by gaffes like suggesting he would consider building a wall along the Canadian border. In his exit speech last night, Walker said he had been "called to lead by helping to clear the field in this race so that a positive conservative message can rise to the top of the field." He urged other candidates to follow his lead so a clear alternative to Trump could emerge, the Washington Post reports. Some of Walker's former rivals praised him as he left the race, including Marco Rubio, who called him "one of the best governors in the country," and Donald Trump, who said "he's a very nice person and has a great future," reports the Hill. The rival campaigns didn't wait until Walker announced his exit to start trying to poach his aides and his donors, the AP reports. The competition heated up after the announcement: A source close to the billionaire Ricketts family, which had supported Walker, tells the AP that within minutes of the governor's press conference, the family received calls from six campaigns, some of them from the candidates themselves. (Rick Perry has also dropped out of the race, and one donor wants his $5 million back.)


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Former President George W. Bush laughs while answering questions about his presidency at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, November 18, 2010.

 GENEVA Former President George W. Bush has canceled a visit to Switzerland, where he was to address a Jewish charity gala, due to the risk of legal action against him for alleged torture, rights groups said on Saturday.

 Bush was to be the keynote speaker at Keren Hayesod's annual dinner on February 12 in Geneva. But pressure has been building on the Swiss government to arrest him and open a criminal investigation if he enters the Alpine country.

 Criminal complaints against Bush alleging torture have been lodged in Geneva, court officials say.

 Human rights groups said they had intended to submit a 2,500-page case against Bush in the Swiss city on Monday for alleged mistreatment of suspected militants at Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. naval base in Cuba where captives from Afghanistan, Iraq and other fronts in the so-called War on Terror were interned.

 Leftist groups had also called for a protest on the day of his visit next Saturday, leading Keren Hayesod's organizers to announce that they were cancelling Bush's participation on security grounds -- not because of the criminal complaints.

 But groups including the New York-based Human Rights Watch and International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) said the cancellation was linked to growing moves to hold Bush accountable for torture, including waterboarding. He has admitted in his memoirs and television interviews to ordering use of the interrogation technique that simulates drowning.

 "He's avoiding the handcuffs," Reed Brody, counsel for Human Rights Watch, told Reuters.

 The action in Switzerland showed Bush had reason to fear legal complaints against him if he travelled to countries that have ratified an international treaty banning torture, he said.

 Brody is an American-trained lawyer specialized in pursuing war crimes worldwide, especially those allegedly ordered by former leaders, including Chile's late dictator Augusto Pinochet and Chad's ousted president Hissene Habre. Habre has been charged by Belgium with crimes against humanity and torture, and is currently exiled in Senegal.

 PROSECUTE OR EXTRADITE

 "President Bush has admitted he ordered waterboarding which everyone considers to be a form of torture under international law. Under the Convention against Torture, authorities would have been obliged to open an investigation and either prosecute or extradite George Bush," Brody said.

 Swiss judicial officials have said that Bush would still enjoy a certain diplomatic immunity as a former head of state.

 Dominique Baettig, a member of the Swiss parliament from the right-wing People's Party, wrote to the Swiss federal government last week calling for the arrest of Bush for alleged war crimes if he came to the neutral country.

 Bush, in his "Decision Points" memoirs on his 2001-2009 presidency, strongly defends the use of waterboarding as key to preventing a repeat of the September 11 attacks on the United States.

 Most human rights experts consider the practice a form of torture, banned by the Convention on Torture, an international pact prohibiting torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment. Switzerland and the United States are among 147 countries to have ratified the 1987 treaty.

 "Whatever Bush or his hosts say, we have no doubt he canceled his trip to avoid our case. The message from civil society is clear - If you're a torturer, be careful in your travel plans. It's a slow process for accountability, but we keep going," the Paris-based FIDH and New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights said in a joint statement on Saturday.

 Sami El Hadjj, a former Al Jazeera journalist and former detainee at Guantanamo, had been due to speak at their news conference in Geneva on Monday, where they will release the 2,500-page complaint.

 "I'm surprised he (Bush) would even consider visiting a country that has ratified the torture convention and which takes its responsibilities seriously," said Brody.

 "I think George Bush's world is a very small place at the moment," he said. "He may enjoy some kind of impunity in the United States, but other countries will not treat him so indulgently."

 (Editing by Mark Heinrich) ||||| President George W. Bush has canceled an event in the famously neutral country Switzerland because of expected protests to his presence there.

 Bush was supposed to give the keynote address at a Jewish group's charity gala on Feb. 12 in Geneva.

 Leftist groups had planned to protest the visit, according to news agencies. But several human rights groups had also filed criminal complaints against Bush, demanding that he be taken into custody if he stepped on Swiss soil and investigated for allegations of ordering torture.

 A right-wing member of the Swiss parliament also demanded last week Bush's arrest on war crimes allegations if he came to the country, according to Reuters.

 Swiss officials countered that, as a former head of state, Bush would be protected with a level of diplomatic immunity, and Keren Hayesod, the group that had invited Bush, said the court actions against the former president did not play into the decision to go forward with the dinner without him.

 "We didn't want to put people and property in Geneva at risk. The gala is maintained but George Bush will not take part," the group's lawyer, Robert Equey told the Tribune de Geneve. "The (criminal) complaints did not weigh in the decision."

 He noted protests against the G8 summit just across the border in France in 2003 that ended up rampaging through Geneva.

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– A visit by George W. Bush to Switzerland later this month has been called off because the host charity says it feared leftist protests would get out of hand. Human rights groups, meanwhile, say the real reason is because they planned to lodge a criminal complaint against Bush accusing him of sanctioning torture, reports Reuters. Bush had been scheduled to speak to a Jewish group Feb. 12 in Geneva, and an attorney for the group says the potential legal action played no role in the decision to cancel, notes the Hill. "We didn't want to put people and property in Geneva at risk," he said, citing plans by protesters to arrive en masse. A spokesman for Human Rights Watch had a different take: "He's avoiding the handcuffs." Noting that Bush acknowledged in his memoir that he approved waterboarding, "authorities would have been obliged to open an investigation and either prosecute or extradite" him, said the spokesman.