The Edge: Carson Diagnoses Presidential Campaign

Today in One Paragraph

Ben Carson said he sees no “path forward” for his campaign and will opt out of Thursday’s GOP debate, while Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton emerged victorious from the Super Tuesday nominating contests. The eight-justice Supreme Court heard the first oral arguments over the biggest abortion case in decades. And the UN Security Council has unanimously imposed strict sanctions against North Korea.

Top News

Carson Sees No Path to Presidency. A day after Super Tuesday, the neurosurgeon-turned-presidential-candidate said in a statement that he sees no “path forward” and will be skipping Thursday’s GOP debate in Detroit. Carson said he won’t formally comment on the state of his campaign until Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland. (Robert Costa and Ben Terris, The Washington Post)

The Morning After. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were the victors of the Super Tuesday nominating contests, each winning seven states. Bernie Sanders came away with four, including his home state of Vermont; Ted Cruz captured three states, including his native Texas, and Marco Rubio finished with only one victory in Minnesota. (David Graham, The Atlantic)

Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt. The Supreme Court began hearing arguments for its most significant abortion case since 1992, concerning a Texas law that requires all abortion clinics to be equipped as “ambulatory surgical centers.” It’s quite possible that the Court’s decision will end in a 4-4 tie vote, which would signal the closure of 34 of Texas’s remaining 40 abortion clinics. (Garrett Epps, The Atlantic)

More Sanctions for North Korea. The UN Security Council has unanimously approved the toughest sanctions in 20 years against the country in response to its recent nuclear and missile tests. The sanctions require North Korean ships and aircraft to be inspected before entering and after leaving the country and prohibit the sale of small arms and conventional weapons to the nation. (Oren Dorell, USA Today)

Tomorrow in One Paragraph. Bernie Sanders is campaigning in Kansas, and John Kasich is in Michigan. The Republican candidates—sans Ben Carson—go head-to-head in Detroit in a debate hosted by Fox News. And the former governor of Massachusetts and 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney will address the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah on the 2016 presidential race.

Follow stories throughout the day with our new Politics & Policy page. And keep on top of the campaign with our 2016 Distilled election dashboard.

Top Read:

“The narrowness of Sanders’s appeal, and particularly his failure to move minority voters, is the central flaw in his candidacy. But the romp in Minnesota also suggests the scale of his achievement. Improbably, Sanders has managed to ignite the dream of democratic socialism among the serene parts of the country. He has radicalized the above-average.” The New Yorker’s Benjamin Wallace-Wells on both the limitations and future possibilities of Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign.

Top Lines

The Collapse of Ben Carson. The neurosurgeon hoped to show Americans that he was a team-builder, someone who could tackle complex problems with the right people by his side. But in the end, Politico’s Kyle Cheney writes, it was Carson’s own hand-picked team of advisers that led to his downfall.

#BlackLivesMatter. A new study examined how the 18-month-old social movement built its momentum through Twitter—and which American communities participated in sparking the national conversation. (Gene Demby, NPR)

Top Views

What Do Voters Value? Take a look at this interactive graphic to see which issues mattered most to the supporters backing each of the presidential candidates on Super Tuesday. (K.K. Rebecca Lai and Karen Yourish, The New York Times)

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