BROOKS: Yes, Ted Cruz is making headway. You begin to see little signs of liftoff. Trump’s sort of ceilinged out [sic], Carson’s collapsing, and Cruz is somehow beginning to get some momentum in Iowa and elsewhere And so people are either mimicking him, which Rubio is doing a little by adopting some of the dark and satanic tones that Cruz has, and so . . . It is an ugly world in Ted Cruz’s world.

Cruz needs to work on his pants crease.

[guest post by Dana]

There are 98 delegates that will be doled out tonight.

Arizona has 58 delegates up for grabs, winner-take-all. Trump is favored to win.

Utah has 40 delegates up for grabs. A candidate needs to get more than 50% of the vote for the winner-take-all rule to kick in. Cruz is favored to win. If Cruz doesn’t break 50%, the 40 delegates will be split proportionally among the candidates.

Decision Desk here.

–Dana

Unbelievable:

Republican presidential candidates Rand Paul and Carly Fiorina have been cut from the next mainstage debate on Thursday.

According to a newly-announced lineup by debate host Fox Business Network, only seven candidates will appear in the main debate: Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and John Kasich.

This is an outrage. Not that Paul and Fiorina have been cut; I don’t care much about that. The outrage is that John Kasich is still in.

I honestly don’t think I can stomach watching this twitchy self-righteous squish-head interrupt his way through another debate. I really don’t. I’m serious.

It becomes more curious when you look at ABC’s characterization of the state of polling. Look at Kasich’s standing as it relates to the folks who got tossed out:

Full averages, according to an ABC News analysis, are below:

National: Trump: 35.0 Cruz: 19.6 Rubio: 11.0 Carson: 9.4 Christie: 4.0 Bush: 3.6 Paul: 2.8 Fiorina: 2.2 Kasich: 1.8 Huckabee: 1.2 Santorum: 0.5 Gilmore: 0.3

Iowa: Cruz: 27.8 percent Trump: 26.4 Rubio: 14.0 Carson: 9.4 Bush: 4.8 Paul: 4.2 Christie: 3.2 Fiorina: 2.0 Huckabee: 1.8 Kasich: 1.4 Santorum: 0.6 Gilmore: 0.1

New Hampshire: Trump: 29.6 percent Rubio: 12.8 Cruz: 11.6 Christie: 9.6 Kasich: 9.0 Bush: 8.0 Carson: 4.4 Fiorina: 4.0 Paul: 3.8 Huckabee: 0.6 Santorum: 0.2 Gilmore: 0.2

Kasich ranks under Paul and Fiorina nationally and in Iowa. So he outranks them in the insane state of New Hampshire . . . who cares?

Get that guy off the stage!

Well, this is a shock.

David Bowie, the infinitely changeable, fiercely forward-looking songwriter who taught generations of musicians about the power of drama, images and personae, died Sunday, two days after his 69th birthday, according to his publicist.

Mr. Bowie’s death was reported in posts on Facebook and Twitter, and confirmed by the publicist, Steve Martin, on Monday morning.

“David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18-month battle with cancer,” according to a statement on Mr. Bowie’s social media accounts.

More than 10 years ago, I described David Bowie as “one of my all-time favorite performers.” He is a “musicians’ musician” — and I know this because the musicians I like always want to cover his stuff. He had a reputation as this sort of non-serious “glam” artist, but he was a hell of a songwriter and had a hell of a voice.

One of the first times I went out with Christi — at a time when I think we were friends, and not “dating” — I invited her into the bedroom of my one-bedroom apartment (where the stereo was!) and dimmed the lights while I put on “Sweet Thing” from the “Diamond Dogs” album. I told her I wanted her to hear the range in the singer’s voice, beginning with a low gravelly sound to a controlled soprano wail.

She told me later that she thought I was trying to make a move on her. Dimmed lights, sitting together on the bed, playing music . . . yeah, I can see why she thought that. But I just wanted her not to have any visual distractions — so she could concentrate on how great David Bowie’s voice was.

He was 69 years old. It’s a horrible loss for music.

UPDATE: If I’m going to talk up “Sweet Thing” then I should let you listen to it, shouldn’t I?

Give this 90 seconds. You’ll hear Bowie’s full vocal range in a way no other song of his quite displays.