Reid & “Our Republican Party”: First up is a bit of walk back from Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. Reid said yesterday he was “kind of pulling” for Donald Trump. Fine. His choice and not completely unexpected.  Soon after though he said he was “only joking.”  To make sure everyone knew he was trying to make a joke, Roll Call reports he went on the Senate Floor and clarified :

“The danger of a Donald Trump candidacy to our country is not a joke,” Reid said. “Since he launched his bid for the Republican nomination, he has proven over and over again that he is a hateful demagogue who will do immeasurable damage to our country, if elected.”

O.k. Harry, we get it. A joke. Then he spoke on the Republican primary. Our GOP primary. No wait, his GOP primary.

“I am watching with pleasure the Republicans fumbling around. It is a cadre of people who are really a mismatch for president of the United States,” Reid said. “I just think it has made a mockery of our Republican Party.”

Does that mean we can say Hillary is making a mockery of our Democratic Primary?

Great Google-y Moogely: Google is going all out for tonight’s debate.  The company claims,  “political search interest spikes 440 percent on average” during debates.  According to Digital Trends  Google partnering with FOX so viewers can get more info on candidate positions as soon as debate mics go on.

“… search “Fox News debate” and you’ll be able to see the candidates’ positions on issues in real-time in Google’s popular card-style format. The firm says that campaigns can publish “long-form text, photos, and videos throughout the debate,” answering questions the candidates couldn’t on stage.”

Check out the article from Digital Trends and find out what Bing has planned. If you do try any of these real-time search engine responses during the debate, come back here to the Water Cooler and share your results with everyone else.

Oh yeah, polls: Not a lot of change but here’s the latest as of this afternoon. I’ll stick with double digit candidates, but go to RCP for a full rundown. Starting with a Franklin & Marshal poll for Pennsylvania: Trump 24; Cruz 14; Rubio 11. The next batch is from NBC/WSJ/Marist.  New Hampshire: Trump 31; Cruz 12; Rubio & Kasich tie at 11.  South Carolina has Trump at 36; Cruz 20; and Rubio 14.  And that brings us to Iowa.  Trump 32; Cruz 25; Rubio 18.

Learning cheese is hard:  In the world of academia The University of Kentucky seeks to enrich the student body with….forget it. There is no way I can make this sound like a legitimate exercise in upper education. Look it’s an elective.  And you need them to graduate. WBKR reports students taking   “Taco Literacy: Public Advocacy and Mexican Food in the US South get to eat tacos and write reports.  Remember, students go in debt for this stuff.

The world can’t change..because NASCAR: Here’s an opinion piece Bill Nye did for AEON… it centers on global warming and marketing. “To address climate change in the medium and long term, we have to stop, completely stop, burning fossil fuels.”  I understood that part. It wasn’t too science-y.

“In the short term, NASCAR could help get us there. We could convert all of our racecars to electricity – right now – and show the public exactly what electrons can do.”

“ Just think what an electric race would be like. It would be faster, and quiet. You could talk to the person next to you. The drivers could probably hear the roar of the crowd rather than having to imagine it as they do now. And most significant from my point of view, everyone in the crowd, every race fan, would want an electric car! The market for electric cars would go crazy.”

Does he own stock in a company? Part of the excitement if you’re close to the pits is wearing hearing protectors and smelling the gas fumes. He’s taking all the fun out of it.

Quickhits:

• Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) has a plan on dealing with drug dealers in his state. “I tell ya, everybody in Maine, we have constitutional carry,” he said. “Load up and get rid of the drug dealers. Because, folks, they’re killing our kids.”
• After one shooting death and several arrests earlier in the week, 3 more arrests took place last night at an Oregon wildlife refuge. Several protesters remained at the refuge as of this (Thur) afternoon.
• I need this so bad. A new Vin Diesel Riddick movie and a TV series.  It can’t come fast enough.
• You’ve heard by now 2 candidates have said they may show up to Trump’s Veteran event. Now there’s been confirmation from Mike Huckabee that he’ll join Trump after the debate.

The day is your choice:  Your choice, National Blueberry Pancake Day or Data Privacy Day  .

The Watercooler’s a great place to drop by. Make sure you do so often. Comment on anything here, or something you saw out there. Nice for breaking news you want to share or anytime you don’t want to write up a full diary. ‘Coolers are always Open Thread.

* All emphasis is mine.