then there were still too many republicans

Iowa's unrepresentative Republican caucus had Paul, and former winners Huckabee and Santorum throw in the towel. All three had more votes in New Hampshire than Gilmore. It is easy to get on the New Hampshire ballot, thirty Republicans were on it. Gilmore finished 13th [click]. At this point, whether he quits or not, it does not matter. Fiorina did very badly, she refuses to go away. Carson is sleepwalking.

Rubio, the establishment's last hope, is dropping fast. Christie knocked him out by focusing attention to Rubio's repetitive sentences (something everyone does). "This notion that Barack Obama doesn’t know what he’s doing is just not true. He knows exactly what he’s doing." Rubio said this four times that evening, and many times before. He wants it to sound ominous, it sounds like nonsense. Christie did not criticise him for that, but Rubio looked like a programmed idiot anyways. Christie is pondering dropping out.

But the slimiest was Cruz. He gave a combative 'victory' speech for his third place finish in New Hampshire where he was barely ahead of fifth place. He came in first in Iowa in a close three way finish, where the Republican electorate is heavily socially conservative Protestant, as recent 'winners' Huckabee and Santorum proved. Trump had more than twice the votes of runner up Kasich in New Hampshire. Cruz's third place was nothing to boast upon, and Cruz had rubbed it to Trump when Trump finished second in Iowa.

☐ John (Jeb) Bush
☐ Ben Carson
☒ Chris Christie February 10, 2016
☐ Rafael (Ted) Cruz
☒ Carly Fiorina (née Cara Carleton Sneed) February 10, 2016

☐ Jim Gilmore
☒ Lindsey Graham December 21, 2015
☒ Mike Huckabee February 1, 2016
☒ Piyush (Bobby) Jindal November 17, 2015
☐ John Kasich

☒ George Pataki December 29, 2015
☒ Rand(al) Paul February 3, 2016 
☒ Rick Perry  September 11, 2015 oops
☐ Marco Rubio
☒ Rick Santorum February 3, 2016

☐ Donald Trump
☒Scott Walker  September 21, 2015
========================

☒ Lincoln Chafee  October 23, 2015
☐ Hillary Clinton
☒ Lawrence Lessig  November 2, 2015
☒ Martin O'Malley February 1, 2016
☐ Bernie Sanders
☒ Jim Webb  October 20, 2015
-------------------------------------------------
postscriptum edit 3.23 p.m. 10 February: Fiorina left the race a few minutes ago
postscriptum 12 February: Gilmore is out, Carson should be next in irrelevancy. Perhaps Bush, Kasich, and Rubio will have a little battle royale.
Trump remains the kahuna. Cruz is impervious, as are his supporters; he will not overtake the Donald, but his voters are impervious to reason, and ultimately   decency.