Free Republic

Todd Akin is considering a primary challenge to Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) in 2016. “I have not ruled anything out,” the former congressman and 2012 GOP Senate nominee told The Hill in a phone interview on Wednesday. “I think there is a high level of dissatisfaction among conservatives, that they have to some degree been pushed out of the Republican Party,” he continued. “The sentiment is there. The Tea Party is skeptical and wants some fresh blood, not just the same establishment guys.” Akin’s reemergence is sure to be an unwelcome development for national Republicans. During his 2012 race against...

As potential Republican candidates gather this week in Washington, D.C. for the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), HRC released a new microsite, 2016: Republican Facts, that will serve as an online resource for documenting the record and rhetoric of potential 2016 GOP presidential candidates, and where they stand on key LGBT issues. Some three years after the RNC “autopsy” concluded that candidates need to “demonstrate they care” about LGBT Americans, candidates instead appear to prefer avoiding LGBT issues entirely. The New York Times reported recently that despite a looming Supreme Court Ruling on marriage equality, “notably, from those who are...

Immigration reform is touchy for Republicans specifically, and Americans in general. A Quinnipiac poll from November found that 48 percent of all voters think undocumented immigrants should be allowed to stay in the United States with a path to citizenship—down from 57 percent in 2013—while 35 percent of voters say the immigrants should be required to leave. That statistic, combined with a perceived electoral need to reach out to more Latino voters, has put many Republicans vying for the presidency in a sticky spot. The only thing all Republicans seem to be able to agree on is the need to...

The last time Hillary Rodham Clinton ran for president, she seemed torn over whether to emphasize her chance to make history, or to play down her gender and reassure voters that she was tough enough for the job. This time there is no question: Mrs. Clinton’s potential to break what she has called “the highest and hardest glass ceiling” is already central to her fledgling 2016 presidential campaign. But rather than the assertive feminism associated with her years as first lady, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign message will be subtler. It will involve frequent references to being a mother and grandmother and...

In New Hampshire, where tear duct-draining temperatures and a maze of towering snow banks continue to test even the heartiest winter trouper’s mettle, much of the talk these days centers around wistful plans for tropical getaways. But as growing numbers of Republican politicians from more temperate locales defy all climatic logic to travel to the Granite State this winter, talk of 2016 presidential politics has been picking up, too.

First the book, now speech lines? During her speaking event in Silicon Valley, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seemingly snagged a campaign line from potential GOP 2016 candidate Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard. Clinton, the presumptive 2016 candidate for the Democratic Party, called on attendees at the conference to “unlock their full potential,” a line Fiorina uses. Ironically enough, Fiorina’s current Super PAC is entitled the “Unlocking Potential Project.” In fact, the mission statement for the Super PAC says the following: “Today, America suffers from self-inflicted wounds. Our nation has everything we need to lead, grow and...

An early look at likely Iowa Republican Caucus participants shows a strong conservative tilt as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker leads the pack with 25 percent, twice as high as his nearest rival, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Voters who identify as "very conservative" make up 45 percent of the caucus participants surveyed by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University. Tea Party supporters make up 32 percent of likely caucus-goers and Walker gets 33 percent of that Tea Party vote. There is a horse race for second place, with 13 percent for U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, 11...

While the members of the press are busily congratulating themselves for having “gotcha-ed” Scott Walker on a variety of matters utterly unrelated to his ability to serve as commander-in-chief, the governor of Wisconsin is quietly consolidating the support of Republican voters ahead of 2016. According to a new Quinnipiac University survey of the Hawkeye State, Walker leads a pack of 12 prospective Republican candidates ahead of the 2016 caucuses with a full 25 percent. This is the second poll to show nearly a quarter of Iowa’s Republican caucus-goers backing Walker. Last week, the GOP firm Gravis Marketing found Walker netting...

Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO who is flirting with a Republican presidential bid in 2016, took some tough shots Tuesday at the likely Democratic front-runner – effectively accusing Hillary Clinton of running for office on a record of air travel. "Like Hillary Clinton, I too have traveled hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe,” Fiorina said. “But unlike Hillary Clinton, I know that flying is an activity, not an accomplishment.” Fiorina spoke in Atlanta at a luncheon hosted by Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp. It marked at least the second time in as many months she has...

And when the questions are this far afield, this cartoonish, this ridiculous, Republicans and Democrats alike should commend a politician whose response is, like most of ours would be, “Huh?”As a member of the political press, I have to say, the media’s recent attempts at exposing Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker as an unsuitable presidential candidate have been nothing short of embarrassing. If you were dropped into America from Mars — nay, Canada! — you’d have the distinct impression that we only elected amateur psychologists, who were required to peer into the soul of some guy named Barack Obama, who is...

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is leading a host of potential 2016 GOP presidential contenders with 25 percent of the vote in a national poll on the nomination contest released Tuesday. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson is second at 18 percent, followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 17 percent and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 10 percent, according to the poll from the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling........

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PPP's newest national Republican poll finds a clear leader in the race for the first time: Scott Walker is at 25% to 18% for Ben Carson, 17% for Jeb Bush, and 10% for Mike Huckabee. Rounding out the field of contenders are Chris Christie and Ted Cruz at 5%, Rand Paul at 4%, and Rick Perry and Marco Rubio at 3%. Walker has more than doubled his support since his 11% standing on our January national poll, and Carson has moved up 3 points. Bush, Huckabee, Paul, and Perry have largely stayed in place while Cruz has dropped 4 points...

The budding Cruz 2016 campaign is adding some fund-raising muscle, with the Texas GOP finance chairman joining the effort. Hal Lambert, a Fort Worth money manager who has served three years as the state party’s top fund-raiser, said Tuesday that he is stepping down to help Sen. Ted Cruz if he runs for president. Lambert supported the 2012 presidential campaign of then-Gov. Rick Perry, who – like Cruz – has been spending lots of time with Republican activists in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, where early contests are critical stops on the way to the White House. “It’s not...

Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, stood in front of reporters before a book signing here, pondering the question that has dogged him ever since Jeb Bush announced his plans to pursue a presidential bid: How does a Bush candidacy complicate Mr. Rubio’s own Oval Office aspirations, especially among donors? “I’ve never had that question before,” Mr. Rubio said, with a laugh.

Like it or not, the 2016 presidential race is now well under way. Republican candidates are flocking to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, while Hillary Clinton, in-between $200,000 speeches at universities, is reported to be in seclusion developing her economic policies. It's easy to get overwhelmed by minutiae, but sometimes a twist of events turns out to be important, even 12 months away from the first caucuses and primaries. And of course, always keep in mind that most minutiae turn out to be trivial. Amid all this, it's important to keep in mind changes in the broader political environment...

2016 campaign hinges on legalizationGOP conservatives believed they had won the illegal immigration fight last year when congressional leaders embraced a deportation crackdown, but big-money donors are mounting a counterattack, saying the Republican Party must nominate a pro-legalization candidate if it is to win the White House in 2016.

Tough questions about President Obama’s religion and background are proving to be an early litmus test for likely GOP White House hopefuls. The dilemma many Republicans are stumbling over: Do they play to the base by questioning the president’s motives, or do they dismiss the questions as ludicrous while taking a shot instead at his policies and politics? ADVERTISEMENT Gov. Scott Walker (R) chose the former this weekend, refusing to say whether he believes the president is a Christian after fumbling earlier questions about Obama’s patriotism. Now, he’s learning the hard way that the glare of the national press isn’t kind, causing...

Behold the beast the Democrats never intended to create: a thrice-elected Republican governor in a swing state with a cult following, appreciated by both the establishment of his party and the conservative base. He’s a governor with an enviable base approval rating who received an even larger share of his own party’s vote in 2014 than 2010. This despite another year of John Doe drama, an unemployment picture that improved but fell short of his promises, a presidential appearance for his opposing Democrat (which had been missing in 2012), and the apparent flare-up between him and the Republican Governors Association...

Scott Walker was not planning to outsource the job of defining his presidential campaign to Rudy Giuliani, a last-minute add-on to his New York speaking appearance. But that is exactly what transpired. While unplanned, Giuliani expressed a question of fundamental importance within the Republican Party, which allowed Walker to define himself unmistakably. Giuliani defends his original claim in a Wall Street Journal op-ed today. In it, Giuliani argues that Obama is “criticizing his country more than other presidents have done, regardless of their political affiliation,” and likewise fails to express “a fundamental belief in the country’s greatness and the example...