Bernie Sanders shot down criticism of his ambitious, liberal proposals on Tuesday night by saying skeptical economists  "were organized by the Clinton campaign."

So on Wednesday afternoon, the Vermont senator arranged for his own posse of economists to back up his plan, which includes free tuition at public colleges and healthcare for all provided by the federal government.

“There is nothing unrealistic about it," said Robert Reich, a public policy professor at UC Berkeley and a former U.S. labor secretary.

A new poll offers a fairly clear message to Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York who has flirted with an independent run for president: Maybe burn the money instead.

The Associated Press-GfK survey finds 7% of registered voters are inclined to support Bloomberg, and an additional 29% are open to thinking about it. More than 6 in 10 said they wouldn't consider him.

Bloomberg aides have floated the idea that he could run as a centrist candidate, particularly if the Democrats were to pick Sen. Bernie Sanders as their candidate. People close to him have told reporters he might be willing to spend up to $1 billion of his fortune on a presidential race — the sort of prospect that has political consultants salivating.

Republican leaders who view Donald Trump as a pox on their party have finally settled on a strategy: Resist him as long as they can. Then figure out how to retreat gracefully.

Most mainstream Republicans still worry that Trump would make a bad president. And they hold deep concerns that his incendiary rhetoric and ideological smorgasbord of ideas could damage the party, both politically and philosophically, so profoundly that it might never recover.

But even as many party elites have fallen in line behind Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in recent days — believing him the best hope to defeat Trump — they no longer dismiss the billionaire celebrity or insist that it will all work out, as it usually does for the establishment in GOP primaries.

That is the stupidest editorial that I have ever seen. That I'm called out for not beating up the front-runner of the GOP — it's ridiculous.

Melania Trump's support of her husband's proposal to build a wall to keep out immigrants is informed by her own emigration from Slovenia, she said in a rare interview, explaining that she doesn't want anyone violating the privilege of coming to the United States.

“He opened conversation that nobody did,” Trump, the wife of Republican front-runner Donald Trump, told MSNBC, echoing her husband's own defense of his controversial proposals to take on illegal immigration. “He wants to protect America, to protect people of America so that we have a country and keep the country safe.”

Trump, 45, started her career as a model and studied design and architecture. When she met Trump, she said, she fell in love with his mind and his energy.

Donald Trump romped to a third straight election victory Tuesday night, winning the Nevada caucuses and solidifying his position atop the Republican field as the presidential race now expands into a nationwide test.

Sen. Marco Rubio narrowly edged out Sen. Ted Cruz for second place. With all precincts reporting, Rubio led Cruz by just under 2,000 votes.

With a sudden outpouring of money and endorsements flowing to Marco Rubio, Republican leaders have launched a full-scale scramble to unify the party around the charismatic young senator as the GOP's only hope for stopping Donald Trump's march to become their presidential nominee.

The only problem with the plan: Rubio has yet to win a single state.

And no one seems certain when, or where, he will.

Donald Trump might tone down his abrasive approach if he wins the Republican nomination, he said hours after winning the Nevada caucuses, but for now he believes it works well for him. 

Trump, the GOP front-runner, explained on NBC's "Today" that he believes that his caustic campaigning style helped eliminate several competitors, so he’s not going to stop just yet.

"We had a total of 17 people and now we're down to six," Trump said on “Today.” "I may very well change it, but right now it seems to be working pretty well." (Five candidates remain in the race for the GOP nomination.)