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Ted Cruz on Wednesday ratcheted up his criticism of GOP presidential rival Donald Trump, belittling the celebrity real estate mogul as a "fragile soul" for refusing to participate in Thursday's debate and likening him to an "imperial dictator." Cruz, a first-term senator from Texas, and Trump are locked in a dead heat before the Iowa caucuses begin the presidential nominating contest on Monday. (Seidman, 1/27)

Gov. John Kasich of Ohio has steadily gained ground in the New Hampshire polls, drawing few attacks from his opponents as they have fought among themselves. Now, that will begin to change. A national conservative group, the American Future Fund, ... will run a commercial that goes after Mr. Kasich for supporting Common Core educational standards and expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. It shows an image of Mr. Kasich smiling, face to face with Barack Obama, and calls him “one of the few Republican governors to cheerlead Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion.” (Burns, 1/27)

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) dismissed portions of Bernie Sanders’s agenda Wednesday, welcoming the Vermont senator’s energetic support for his presidential bid but declaring that some of his deeply liberal ideas were unrealistic. Kicking off a three-day retreat of House Democrats in her childhood home town, Pelosi said that the party’s agenda would not include a call to raise taxes and would continue to embrace the Affordable Care Act that Democrats bitterly fought for in 2010. (Kane, 1/27)