Free Republic

Election 2016: Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush embraces one-size-fits-all national education standards that would turn schools into re-education camps for the left. His decision could cause trouble with GOP primary voters. As is the tradition these days, Jeb Bush, brother of one former president and son of another, has announced via social media that he is preparing to run for president, setting the stage for another Bush-Clinton contest in 2016 should former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton get the Democratic nomination. To be the Republican nominee, Bush must run a gauntlet of primaries where he'll need to persuade Tea Party...

Fox News reports:Graham thinking about presidential bid http://fxn.ws/1BUZ2XFWhich Graham? I mean, it couldn’t be Lindsey Graham, the senior U.S. Senator from South Carolina, in Congress from 1995 to 2003 and in the Senate ever since. There’s no market for a moderate Republican whose main passion is foreign interventionism, right? And yet, that’s exactly what the story says. Here are six other Grahams you’d probably rather see run for the highest office in the land before Lindsey Graham. Heather Graham:? She was great as Rollergirl in Boogie Nights but also as Daisy in the satire Bowfinger. She’s a children’s rights activist...

So far it looks like Mrs. Clinton would have at least as many problems in 2016 as she did in 2008. There have generally been two reactions to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's Dec. 3 statement at Georgetown University that America should try to “empathize” with our nation’s “enemies.” One camp holds that Mrs. Clinton simply chose the wrong word to express a banal thought—that the U.S. must understand its enemies. The other camp says her State Department record demonstrates she herself lacks the empathy to know how to deal with America’s adversaries or allies. Both responses are true,...

In the battle for Internet attention in the 2016 presidential race, two candidates stand head and shoulders above the others when it comes to social media — but that doesn't necessarily mean they are headed for a win. In fact, on the Republican side, the Internet winner is far down the list of potential GOP candidates for 2016. In the last 10 months, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, have been running neck-and-neck in attention on social media sites, Politico reports. However, despite his Internet popularity, Cruz came in at ninth in a CNN November...

Congratulations, Republicans! You won the Senate majority! Now, can you hold on to it for more than two years? Looking at the 2016 Senate map, there’s reason for doubt. Republicans will have to defend 24 seats, compared with 10 for Democrats. And the raw numbers don’t even tell the whole story. Seven seats held by Republicans — Florida, Illinois, Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — were carried by President Obama in 2008 and 2012. And there is chatter about potential Republican retirements in Arizona and Iowa. If either John McCain or Chuck Grassley decided to call it a...

DEMOCRATS Michael Bennet (Colorado) Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut) Barbara Boxer (California) Patrick Leahy (Vermont) Barbara Mikulski (Maryland) Patty Murray (Washington) Harry Reid (Nevada) Charles Schumer (New York) Ron Wyden (Oregon)

Did the editor of Politico's Daily Digest notice that the arrangement of the two top stories this morning played directly into the Dem playbook? We sure did. The first headline is "Democratic donors prepare for disappointment," and the sub-headline reads "The plan is to shift focus to 2016, when Democrats face a much more hospitable Senate map." And sure enough, Politico's very next story obliges Dem desires. The headline: "Why a GOP Senate could be short-lived," and the sub-headline reads "A half-dozen blue-state Republicans could be in trouble during the 2016 elections."

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...

The question posed to Dennis Michael Lynch was simple enough: “What will you do to bring back America as a cohesive unit?” Explaining that she does minority outreach for the GOP, the woman who asked the question continued: “My cousin and his crony, the president of the United States, my cousin is Eric Holder.” Before she could finish her thought, the room erupted in laughter and Lynch jokingly interjected, “Are you lying to me?” Despite the lighthearted twist her question had taken, it was a serious one—every issue these days turns into a race issue, and she wanted to know what...

"My policy on cake," the ebullient Tory mayor of London, Boris Johnson, once remarked, "is pro having it and pro eating it." Rand Paul, the Kentucky senator and potential GOP presidential aspirant, has hopes of embracing a similar policy on running for office. Kentuckians, to their credit, aren't buying it. Paul was elected to the US Senate in 2010, and he has said clearly that he intends to run for reelection in 2016. But almost from the moment he took office, he has also shown every sign of wanting to run for president in 2016. And that poses a problem:...

During an appearance on Newsmax TV's Steven Malzberg Show, Dr. Ben Carson indicated that he is giving serious consideration to a 2016 Presidential bid, hinting that it is "a step closer." In his interview with Malzberg, he touched on a number of hot button topics including the border crisis, the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians as well as the current political debate in the nation. "I have to consider what's going on, and I have to consider the enormous crowds that I encounter every place I go, and the level of enthusiasm, and what I'm hearing,'' Carson told...

I'm probably in some minuscule minority, but I am just not too worried about Hillary Clinton's prospects to become our next president. I sense that people will detect her lack of authenticity and also properly associate her with Obama's failed policies. So far, many have given Hillary a pass on her enabling her husband's serial mistreatment of women in his personal life. She was complicit every step of the way, yet many view her as the victim rather than a co-conspirator. She also seems to have avoided the Obamacare taint, even though her Hillarycare was its bastard forerunner, but it's...

Chelsea Clinton is pregnant. Which means the odds of Hillary Clinton running for president have dropped down to 99%. Why bother with baby showers when you can be chilling with a hip grandfather like John McCain? Bill Clinton told ABC News last September that his wife is more interested in being a “grandmother” than President of the United States. Apparently, Slick Willie was wrong. Instead of fretting over colors for the baby’s room, Hillary is flitting around the country to promote her brand and getting chummy with McNasty (McCain’s actual high school nickname). You would think that Hillary would keep...

After a disastrous presidential campaign in 2012, can Texas Governor Rick Perry mount a credible bid for the White House in 2016? Texas Governor Rick Perry is currently on a media tour touting the theme that America is a great place for second chances, specifically second chances for Texas governors with national ambitions.

Editor's note: Julian Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. He is the author of "Jimmy Carter" and "Governing America." (CNN) -- ...The weaknesses of both men—Cruz in terms of his style and Paul in terms of his rhetoric—point out how desperate the GOP is to find someone who can build a broad coalition, something that is essential for a presidential victory, particularly when Republicans will likely be facing a formidable candidate. The problems of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have been a huge blow to the party, and there are not many alternatives at...

US Senator Tim Kaine, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee, said he expects the coming presidential elections in Egypt to be impartial. During a meeting with a number of journalists at a Cairo hotel Thursday, Kaine denied that the US let down Egypt in its war against terrorism, highlighting that the relations between the two countries are strong and that Washington will support Egypt in the coming period. Responding to a question on the US stance regarding the candidature of Defense Minister Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi in the presidential polls, Kaine said that there is no problem at all...

In order to flip the six seats they need to win back control, Republicans now believe they have widened the map to nearly a dozen competitive contests — a marked jump from earlier this year. But while Republicans are feeling increasingly optimistic, they are stopping short of bold public predictions, remembering the dashed expectations of recent election cycles in which Tea Party candidates torpedoed their chances. ...McConnell faces a challenger backed by the Senate Conservatives Fund and the Madison Project.

The presidential election of 2016 will be a defining moment for the nation and for the Republican Party. Not so for the Democratic Party. There’s no controversy among Democrats about what America should be and what their party is about. Big government, welfare state socialism, and secular humanism. The only question about who the Democratic presidential candidate will be is which welfare state socialist, secular humanist they will nominate. The picture for Republicans is more complex and this makes Democrats happy. They see Republican Party intraparty dissension as division and weakness which, in their view, can only help Democrats....

I close my eyes and imagine the coming days. The American public growing skeptical and then outright dismissive of Obamacare. A growing revulsion over the administration's Benghazi deception. A national awakening to the crises we face in spending, especially on entitlements. But then I open my eyes, and I have to look at the real world. Sure, "Saturday Night Live" and late-night comics are poking fun at the disastrous healthcare.gov rollout. But does anyone doubt that these pop-culture jokesters would still vote for Obama by 90 percent margins in the next five elections if they could? Do not fool yourselves....

Should Democrats have at least one presidential primary debate on Fox News? Will Republicans once agin have primary debates on Fox News, MSNBC and CNN, with Democrats only debating on CNN and MSNBC, but not Fox News? And why not have both parties have one presidential debate (once each party has their nominee) on: Fox News, MSNBC, CNN and finally Link TV (for a total of 4 presidential debates), where Link TV can rip into both political parties on the NSA program, interventionism, NAFTA, the federal reserve, etc? Surely the Dem-e and GOP-e would love this...