JOHN PODHORETZ ON THE MEANING OF BEN CARSON’S STUNNING RISE:

The fact that together Trump and Carson are scoring 50 percent in the polls is remarkable only if it persists into the voting season. Trump’s lack of momentum may mean his supporters will be taking a second look around the GOP field. And Carson’s newly won supporters may only be weakly attached to him and ready to move elsewhere as they pay closer attention.

Republicans want a candidate they can believe in. But they also desperately want to win in November 2016. Political campaigns are courtships.

Most of those who are telling pollsters they support the outsiders are basically dating Trump and Carson. They’ll likely settle down with someone else.

Especially when as Steve Green writes, “Carson Feels the Burn Rate,” spending a large chunk of money to build his direct mail list, and as Steve warns, Carson’s “email fundraising efforts are strictly amateur hour… It’s no bold prediction that if Carson gets the nomination, Clinton’s high-tech, Google-powered machine will clean the floor with him.”