New Polls Disagree On Who's Leading GOP Presidential Race
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Two new polls on Wednesday night painted very different pictures of the Republican side of the presidential race.
The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is now beating New York real estate mogul Donald Trump 28 to 26 percent nationally. It marks the first time Trump has been knocked from first place in any national poll.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) came in third in the poll with 17 percent, Ohio Gov. John Kasich with 11 percent, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson with 10 percent, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush with 4 percent.
But a Quinnipiac Poll showed Trump with a 20 point lead and Cruz in third place behind Rubio.
In that poll, Trump had 39 percent, Rubio 19 percent, Cruz 18 percent, Kasich 6 percent, and Bush and Carson each 4 percent.
As CBS2's Tony Aiello reported, Rubio, Trump and Cruz each spoke at town halls on cable TV Wednesday night.
Trump was asked for specifics about an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, but offered generalities.
"But I will give it one hell of a shot -- that I can tell you," he said. "But of all agreements, I would say if you can do that deal, you can do any deal. But that's probably the toughest deal in the world right now to make."
Earlier, Trump threatened to sue Cruz over an ad pointing out Trump's flip-flops on abortion.
Trump was filing legal papers against Cruz and threatened to file suit if Cruz doesn't pull an abortion ad in South Carolina that paints the billionaire in a pro-choice light.
The ad shows Trump saying in a 1999 interview with the late Tim Russert on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he is "very pro-choice" and that he would not ban partial-birth abortions.
Trump wants Cruz to pull the ad, and if he doesn't, he will sue the Texas senator.
"So Donald, I would encourage you, if you want to file a lawsuit challenging this ad, claiming it is defamation, file a lawsuit," Cruz said. "It is remarkable that an ad that plays video of Donald Trump speaking on national television is somehow defamation."
Trump, who says he is now against abortion, called the senator a liar.
"He is a liar and these ads and statements made by Cruz are clearly desperate moves by a guy … who is tanking in the polls," Trump said in a statement. "If I want to bring a lawsuit, it would be legitimate. Likewise, if I want to bring the lawsuit regarding Senator Cruz being a natural-born Canadian, I will do so. Time will tell, Teddy."
U.S. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) told CBS2's Dick Brennan that Trump has a "goon-squad mentality."
"This is just part of, to me, like a goon-squad mentality that Donald Trump has. When he sees something he doesn't like he's going to bring a lawsuit. You can't show it," King said. "People say a lot of things about you, some true, some untrue. Hey, this is true."
This was one of many times in recent years that Trump has threatened to sue over one thing or another.
Meanwhile late Wednesday, Cruz was talking about the poll showing him in the lead.
"Look, it feels fantastic," he said. "I mean, what we're really seeing, we're seeing that old Reagan coalition coming together. And that's the coalition it's going to take, I think to win the nomination, but also to win the general election."
For his part, Rubio scored a major endorsement from South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. He talked Wednesday night about unifying the party after the contentious primary.
"There's a reason why virtually every candidate in this field has attacked me -- because I run a campaign that I believe appeals to the broad sector of the Republican electorate," Rubio said.
On the Democratic side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont) continued their appeal to black voters.
Sanders took a day off after a raucous rally at Morehouse College in Atlanta. Meanwhile, Clinton was in Chicago Wednesday night, attending three fundraisers to fire up black voters.
Clinton emphasized her closeness to President Barack Obama.
"You know, my opponent has been quite critical of the president," she said. "He called him weak, called him disappointing."
At an event in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood, an introduction by the mother of Sandra Bland, who died at a Texas jail, set the stage for Clinton's promise to focus on issues important to African-Americans – including police reforms, reported Jim Williams of WBBM-TV, CBS2 Chicago.
Clinton said she would seek "to make sure no other young woman like Sandra Bland is ever pulled out of a car for no good reason and thrown into a jail where she is found dead."
But black critics, including Ohio State law professor Michelle Alexander, argued that Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, supported policies that led to the mass-incarceration of African-Americans.
President Clinton, Alexander wrote, "capitulated entirely to the right-wing backlash against the civil-rights movement and embraced former president Ronald Reagan's agenda on race, crime, welfare, and taxes ultimately doing more harm to black communities than Reagan ever did."
Alexander quoted Hillary Clinton describing young criminals: "They are not just gangs of kids anymore…. They are 'super-predators.'"
U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) countered that Clinton and many others, white and black, have evolved in 20 years, CBS Chicago reported.
"I'm comfortable that she has grown just like many others have grown, and that she's going to make a great president," Davis said.
The next delegates will be allotted on Saturday. For Democrats, they will be allotted in the Nevada caucuses, where Clinton's big lead is evaporated, while for Republicans, they will be allotted in South Carolina, where Trump has a big lead, but there are many undecided voters.