Free Republic

WICHITA, Kansas--“Ted Cruz came roaring into the Senate in 2012, a lot like a prairie fire,” Sen. Pat Roberts said, introducing Cruz to an audience here. "Prairie fire" is not how one might describe Roberts' long tenure in the Senate. But as he works to stave off an unexpected challenge from independent candidate Greg Orman, a wealthy businessman who has declined to say which party he would join in the Senate, the monumental importance of the race has prompted Cruz, Sarah Palin, and other top conservatives to chip in to help win the race.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee threatened to leave the GOP and run for the White House in 2016 as an independent if Republicans “capitulate” and support same-sex marriage. “If the Republicans want to lose guys like me, and a whole bunch of still God-fearing, Bible-believing people, go ahead and just abdicate on this issue—and go ahead and say abortion doesn’t matter, either,” Huckabee told Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association, on Wildmon’s “Today’s Issues” radio show. “Because at that point, you lose me; I’m gone.” “I’ll become an independent,” he vowed in an interview on Tuesday. “I’ll start...

Conservative stars appeal to voters in radically different ways. The most attention-grabbing conservatives in the emerging 2016 Republican presidential nomination race are two freshmen U.S. senators who had never held elective office before. Though nearly equal in their fanfare, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas are romancing Republican and independent voters in radically different ways. The outcome of their fierce competition could influence the direction of their party. Win or lose, both men have an opportunity to influence a new generation of conservatives in tactics, policy and coalition-building while readjusting the movement’s planks of fiscal restraint, free...

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie could be forgiven if he had chips on both shoulders as big as those shoulders. This year, the first of his second term, has been overshadowed by often partisan investigations, more protracted than productive, of the involvement of several of his former aides — he fired them — in the closing of some access lanes to the George Washington Bridge.

Despite calls by party leaders for would-be presidential candidates keep the gloves on, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is privately disparaging Chris Christie as the “Rudy Giuliani of this cycle,” to donors, according to a new Politico report that suggests a particularly nasty fight among GOP candidates is brewing even before the start of the 2016 campaign season. The report, quoting multiple sources, noted that Cruz is making the comparison to potential donors as he tries to expand his appeal beyond conservative Tea Partiers and access the easy campaign cash the flows most readily to those candidates with the highest...

Liberal groups are building a grassroots army in Iowa and New Hampshire in hopes of stopping a Hillary Clinton coronation in 2016. While the progressive groups don’t have a candidate, they are hiring organizers and opening offices as if one will emerge. At a minimum, the groups hope their efforts will push Clinton to the left. And if the political winds blow just right, the activists hope Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) will take the plunge — and turn their organizing work into the foundation for her candidacy. Officials form Democracy For America, a liberal group, are getting involved in local-level...

“Putting the paddles on the chest of a divisive issue with absolutely no hope of the outcome he promises is a hallmark of Ted Cruz,” says GOP consultant Rick Wilson acidly, the memory of last year’s doomed “defund” effort firmly in mind. Okay, but the fine print on what Cruz wants to do is interesting. Typically when social conservatives start talking up amendments aimed at gay marriage, they’re thinking of a substantive change — namely, a new law of the land that says marriage involves one man and one woman and no other combination. Once that’s in the Constitution,...

Luis Gutierrez 2016? It could happen. Left-wing Latino activists are reportedly getting ready to launch a "Draft Gutierrez" movement to lure Rep. Gutierrez, the 10-term Democrat from Illinois who has been one of the most vocal proponents of massive amnesty legislation, into the presidential race if President Barack Obama does not go big enough on his executive amnesty. "I'm not running for president," Gutierrez told ChicagoBusiness.com. But the outlet noted that "he repeatedly declined to say whether he might change his mind if the Chicagoan who now holds the job, Barack Obama, fails to deliver on his promise to enact...

President Obama held José Andrés up as an example of the need to pass comprehensive immigration reform during a $10,000-per-plate fundraiser at the celebrity chef's Zaytinya restaurant. The president called Andrés “exhibit A of giving immigrants an opportunity” and credited the Spanish immigrant as “the quintessential American success story.” “Michelle loves him. I love him,” Obama added. The Obamas have long been fans of Andrés, with the first couple spending last Valentine's Day at his Minibar restaurant. Andrés also catered a lunch for the spouses of world leaders during the G8 summit at Camp David in 2012, and the Obamas...

The tax reform plan from Sens. Mike Lee and Ted Cruz could turn out to be a big deal for Republicans. Essentially, the plan sets just two rates for income tax - 15% and 35%. It also raises the child tax credit by $2,500 from $1,000 to $3,500. It also reforms corporate imcome taxes. The Week's Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry says the next Republican to win the White House will have a tax plan very similar to this one, which focuses on building the middle class. Here are two Tea Party senators, one of whom is thought to be a strong candidate...

A contortionist is described as a performer who peculiarly twists his body for the entertainment of others. Minus the amusement factor, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery is beginning to resemble such a nimble acrobat as he attempts to maneuver an end to the case of animal abuse resulting in the gruesome heat related deaths of nearly two dozen dogs. They died while supposedly in the care of Austin and Logan Flake at a Gilbert kennel on June 20. Such a move would not serve him well. Twenty-one pet owners have joined together in filing a civil suit against four defendants....

South Carolina GOP Senator Lindsey Graham is thinking about running for president. Graham told The Weekly Standard in a lengthy interview that he isn’t crazy about other potential Republican candidates’ positions, and that he’s been encouraged by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to consider entering the race for the GOP presidential nomination. “I’ve strongly encouraged him to give it a look,” McCain told the Standard. “I think Lindsey has vast and deep experience on these issues that very few others have. I happen to like a lot of these guys—I like Jeb Bush, Chris Christie. Ted Cruz has gone out of...

McClatchy-Marist Poll. Sept. 24-29, 2014. N=376 registered voters nationwide who are Republicans or lean Republican. Question: "If the 2016 Republican presidential primary or caucus in your state were held today, whom would you support if the candidates are [see below]?" Jeb Bush-15% Rand Paul-13% Paul Ryan-13% Chris Christie-12% Rick Perry-7% Marco Rubio-6% Ted Cruz-4% Bobby Jindal-4% Rick Santorum-3% Scott Walker-3% Unsure-21%

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is widely considered to be running for president in 2016. But he was really put out that someone apparently connected to him said so, anonymously, in a National Journal story and Cruz took to social media to make his point. “Heidi and I have not made any decisions about political plans past the mid-term elections,” Cruz posted on Facebook, referring to his wife. “Clearly we have an overzealous supporter out there making freelance comments, but to be clear, no decision has been made. “Whoever this ‘anonymous advisor’ was, he or she had no authority to...

NEW YORK (AP) — As same-sex marriage cases cascade through the federal courts, Republican politicians find themselves awkwardly split into three camps. There's a small but growing number who favor legalizing gay marriage, a hard-core faction that continues to denounce it, and a sizable group in between that seems to wish the issue would disappear. At one end of the spectrum, at least eight GOP members of Congress have endorsed same-sex marriage, and two openly gay GOP candidates for the House hope to join them. In Massachusetts, Richard Tisei has run ads featuring his husband. In California, Carl DeMaio ran...

One of the most dispiriting storylines of the Obama era has been that Republicans have largely stood on the sidelines while a major cultural transformation has taken place: The country’s shift on gay rights. Republicans have either put up nominal resistance, or had nothing at all to say, as one change after another has come in rapid succession and majorities have come around on gay marriage. And yet you’d think the GOP cannot forever put off a real intra-party debate over whether the party will evolve culturally along with the rest of the country. That’s why it’s potentially significant that...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said his experience passing an immigration bill with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) left him convinced his younger colleague isn't up to the presidency, in part because he's “so afraid of the right.” Graham made the comments to the Weekly Standard's Steven Hayes, and in the interview declared that he may run for president himself, saying he would want to inject his hawkish national security views into the debate. But his remarks about Rubio were perhaps more notable. Graham, for instance, compared Rubio's level of experience to President Obama's before taking offfice – albeit just before saying...

A few months ago, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal traveled to Washington to introduce a new national health care proposal. While there, he arranged to meet privately with a small group of conservative journalists and policy experts at the offices of the Ethics and Public Policy Center think tank. Some of the experts engaged Jindal in debate about one of the plan's more arcane provisions. The back-and-forth between Jindal and his questioners went deep into the proposal's details, and it was soon clear that Jindal could dive as far into the health care policy weeds as any of the wonkiest wonks....

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) says he could be a presidential candidate in 2016. The outspoken two-term Senator, known as a foreign policy hawk, told the Weekly Standard that if the hawks aren't well-represented when the 2016 fields begin to solidify, he might throw his hat into the ring. ... When the Weekly Standard's Stephen F. Hayes asked Graham if he'd back a run by Sen. Marco Rubio, he took a shot at the Florida Republican whom he worked with on the Senate immigration bill. "He's a good guy, but after doing immigration with him - we don't need...

Michele Bachmann, the retiring Minnesota congresswoman and former presidential candidate, is again hinting that she may be interested in another run for the Oval Office. “I don’t know how you’ll see me, but I would like to be in a situation where I can offer an opposing viewpoint to Hillary Clinton,” Bachmann told Politico in describing her post-congressional plans.