Free Republic

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz was born in Canada but is qualified to become president should he mount a campaign in 2016 or beyond. Cruz was born in Calgary, and his father is from Cuba. But the Republican senator’s mother is from the first state of Delaware, which appears to settle the issue. Government officials didn’t exactly have to scramble for the information amid speculation the firebrand freshman senator was contemplating a presidential run and might be ineligible, considering similar questions about President Obama’s birth prompted the Congressional Research Office to compile a 2009 report to try to resolve the...

<p>Would you support Sarah Palin should she decide to run for the presidency in 2016?</p>

Ted Cruz’s address at the annual South Carolina Republican Party dinner Friday helped feed growing speculation that the freshman senator from Texas is eyeing a run for the White House in 2016 — and raised yet another round of questions about his eligibility to serve in the Oval Office. Mr. Cruz was born in Canada to an American-born mother and Cuban-born father, and was a citizen from birth — but that Canadian factor puts him in the company of other past candidates who have had their eligibility questioned because of the Constitution’s requirement that a president be a “natural born...

Freshman senator Ted Cruz is considering a presidential run, according to his friends and confidants. Cruz won’t talk about it publicly, and even privately he’s cagey about revealing too much of his thought process or intentions. But his interest is undeniable. “If you don’t think this is real, then you’re not paying attention,” says a Republican insider. “Cruz already has grassroots on his side, and in this climate, that’s all he may need.” “There’s not a lot of hesitation there,” adds a Cruz donor who has known the Texan for decades. “He’s fearless.” For the moment, Cruz’s inner circle is...

W. TO JEB: RUN!

Former first lady Barbara Bush said her son George W. Bush should be the last in the family line of presidents, rejecting the idea of a White House run for her other son, Jeb Bush. “There are other people out there that are very qualified and we’ve had enough Bushes,” she told TODAY’s Matt Lauer on Thursday from inside her son's presidential library. When asked whether she expects Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, to make a presidential run, Mrs. Bush said there are many worthy candidates.

Washington - Indian-American Governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal has said it is too early to think about the 2016 presidential run as people of the country are not in a mood to have another four years of campaign. "It's way too early for folks to be thinking about that. We just lost a presidential election. I don't think the people want another four-year presidential campaign," Jindal said at a Republican Party fundraiser in Jackson, Mississippi. Jindal is considered to be a key Republican presidential aspirant, but so far has publicly denied. "I know there's a lot of speculation about who...

Rick Santorum appears to be eyeing the White House again, with the former Pennsylvania senator telling Newsmax TV’s Steve Malzberg that he may run for president in 2016. “I’m certainly leaving the door open for that,” Santorum revealed on “The Steve Malzberg Show” Wednesday afternoon. … “The same advisors who botched these last two campaigns are now saying, ‘Well, you know, since we can’t win with moderate Republicans, we have to now try to be liberal Republicans to win instead of standing up for the values that made our country great,’” he said. …

There is no front-runner now for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, leaving a five- way horse race with no candidate above 19 percent among Republican voters, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today. New Jersey Gov. Christopher Christie, who ran better than other Republicans against top Democrats in a March 7 survey of all American voters by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN- uh-pe-ack) University, gets only 14 percent of Republican voters today. Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio gets 19 percent of Republican voters, with 17 percent for U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, 15 percent for U.S. Sen. Rand...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Jeff Flake says it is "inevitable" that his party will see one of its own run for president while supporting gay marriage.</p> <p>The Arizona lawmaker on Sunday said the shifting political landscape will eventually yield a candidate who backs same-sex marriage and predicts that candidate would find support within the GOP.</p>

42-year-old Cruz was born in Calgary, Alberta, to an American mother and a Cuban father. By dint of his mother’s citizenship, Cruz was an American citizen at birth. Whether he meets the Constitution’s requirement that the president of the United States be a “natural-born citizen,” a term the Framers didn’t define and for which the nation’s courts have yet to offer an interpretation, has become the subject of considerable speculation. Snip~ Legal scholars are firm about Cruz’s eligibility. “Of course he’s eligible,” Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz tells National Review Online. “He’s a natural-born, not a naturalized, citizen.” Eugene Volokh,...

Before Newt Gingrich and the GOP try to peddle this insanely ridiculous "Reince Revolution" baloney (seriously- with a straight face he said that????) I would like to get out front with what I think would be an UN-BEATABLE ticket in 2016 Palin/Bachman They would get ALL the GOP vote and at least half the Women's vote from Democrats. Plus they would SPEAK THE TRUTH instead of GOP-approved pablum, and -like when Ronald Reagan spoke the truth- the PEOPLE WOULD LOVE IT

He hasn't declared but you be the judge... (video)

I'm watching Huckabee TV show and he gives me the feeling that he feels the country needs him (sic) What say you? No 0bama in 2016, so Huckster being tanned ready and rested sees an opening. He likes to present a happening image by playing bass with the music groups he has on. His toupee and hair look nice and black...all signs he is getting revved up for the big show 2016

Republican strategist Karl Rove told George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s This Week that he thinks Republican presidential candidates in 2016 could be supporters of marriage equality. Rove my the comments during a discussion on the Supreme Court’s hearing on a challenge to California’s Proposition 8 schedule for later this week. “Karl Rove, can you imagine the next presidential campaign a Republican candidate saying flat out ‘I am for gay marriage,’” asked Stephanopoulos. “I could,” said Rove, before turning the discussion back to the Supreme Court’s hearing on the issue. Rove said that he thinks some Supreme Court Justices have expressed sentiments...

Perhaps no Republican has had a better 2013 than Rand Paul, the Kentucky senator who drew attention and praise for his talking filibuster against the C.I.A. director nominee John Brennan, then last week won the straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. Then, on Tuesday, as my colleague Ashley Parker reports, Mr. Paul gave a speech to the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, outlining his plan for immigration reform. Mr. Paul has been fairly explicit about his potential interest in running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, so it is safe to assume that at...

And there was Santorum during his CPAC appearance, still not bashful about defending the Judeo-Christian moralview that is still shared by an overwhelming majority of Republican primary voters across the country. more here...

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has revealed to Newsmax that he is looking at a possible bid for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016. Asked in a Newsmax TV interview if he is considering another White House run, Huckabee declares: “Yeah, I’m not ruling it out at this point. “I’m not sitting around having meetings with the strategic team, but it’s something I will certainly look at and I’m talking to some people just to determine whether it’s a kamikaze raid or whether it has potential and possibility.” Huckabee, who was governor of Arkansas for more than a decade up...

I have my problems with Jeb Bush, but this passage of his speech at CPAC is not one of them. "It is not a validation of our conservative principles if we can only point to the increasingly rare individual who overcomes adversity and succeeds in America," Bush said. "Here’s reality: if you’re fortunate enough to count yourself among the privileged, much of the rest of the nation is drowning. "In our country today, if you’re born poor, if your parents didn’t go to college, if you don’t know your father, if English isn’t spoken at home, then the odds are...

Famed surgeon and Obama critic Ben Carson fires up the Republican base gathered at CPAC.While Sarah Palin and her Big Gulp stunt generated the most laughs at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, the event made clear that she is no longer the GOP's rising star. Only five short years after she burst onto the national scene, Palin was overshadowed by those perceived as representing the GOP's best hope at reclaiming the White House. Among them was Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. But there was another rising star who emerged at this year's gathering. Only he's not a politician -- yet:...

On Mar. 8, reporter Carl Cameron on Special Report on Fox News Channel was surveying potential GOP 2016 presidential candidates. Then he raised Ted Cruz--one of the most brilliant constitutional lawyers ever to serve in the Senate--the new 41-year old Hispanic senator from Texas. Cameron added, “But Cruz was born in Canada and is constitutionally ineligible” to run for president. While many people assume that, it’s probably not true. Cameron was referring to the Constitution’s Article II requirement that only a “natural born citizen” can run for the White House. No one is certain what that means. Citizenship was primarily...

After polling 190,000 conservatives, Contract From America found that Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is the favored GOP presidential pick for 2016, as The Daily Caller reports. While Paul leads the pack, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio are two other popular choices for 2016. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush are running last in a pool of 32 candidates.

The Republican Party is at an impetus. Reflecting upon the 2012 primaries, it is easy for us to see how split the party has become. There was Rick Santorum, running almost entirely on social issues like abortion and family values, who drew a great deal of controversy by talking about bans on pornography and contraception. There was Ron Paul, an unwavering constitutional libertarian who championed Austrian economics and an end to wars abroad. He stood alongside Governor Rick Perry of Texas, who offered up a plan to go to war with Turkey and Venezuela. Eventually the party was left with...

GREENVILLE, S.C. - You have a right to vote but not in a primary. Next year, hundreds of thousands of South Carolina Republicans may have no voice in picking their party's nominees. Instead of having a Republican Party primary next year, it is possible that the state party convention, fewer than 1,000 people, most of whom you've never heard of, would pick the entire slate of GOP candidates for November. Because of the way the party is structured, it all begins this month, and it's happening very close to your front door. The presidential primary in 2012 was a national...

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush told Chris Wallace on FOX News Sunday that there is no Bush fatigue in America. Chris Wallace: Do you think there would be any Bush baggage? Do you think that would be a problem? Jeb Bush: No. I don’t think there is any Bush baggage at all. I love my brother. I’m proud of his accomplishments. I love my dad. I am proud to be a Bush. And, if I run for president, it’s not because there is something in my DNA that compels me to do it...

Now we are finally getting somewhere. Just like Obama is ineligible technically because his fathers British Nationality 'governed' his birth status in 1961, Ted Cruz is ineligible too. Fox News has confirmed it and rightly so. Sean Hannity made a huge blunder the other day and declared Ted Cruz a natural born citizen because he was born to a American mother in Canada. He was so wrong. Cruz is a 14th Amendment U.S. 'statutory' (not natural born) citizen which is something completely different than a Article 2 Section 1 Constitutional natural born Citizen which is explicitly designed only for the...

Rand Paul is the hottest commodity in Republican Party politics right now. But how high can he rise? We put that question to a wide cross section of veteran Republican hands in the wake of the Kentucky Republican’s filibuster of John Brennan’s confirmation as CIA director last week and got a nearly unanimous response: Paul is already a national leader within the party and will be a major factor if (but really when) he runs for president in 2016. “The filibuster is the single largest leap I can recall from one act,” said Dave Carney, a New Hampshire-based GOP strategist...

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who has remained on the sidelines since his older brother left the White House with dismal ratings four years ago, has jumped back into the political fray this week with a new book, wall-to-wall television interviews and a round of public speaking engagements. His appearances mark a change in approach for Bush, 60, who has operated as more of a Republican elder statesman since leaving Tallahassee in 2007 but is now clearly considering a run for the White House.

"Whether this weekend finds you blowing two feet of snow off the driveway or counting the hours until "Downton Abbey," make time to watch the video of Dr. Ben Carson speaking to the White House prayer breakfast this week. Seated in view to his right are Senator Jeff Sessions and President Obama. One doesn't look happy. You know something's coming when Dr. Carson says, "It's not my intention to offend anyone. But it's hard not to. The PC police are out in force everywhere."

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush said he would strive to be like Lyndon Johnson, the Democrat famous for expanding the U.S. welfare state through the "Great Society," if he were elected president. According to the Miami Herald, Bush made those comments Wednesday night in San Antonio, Florida at Saint Leo University, while speaking about education, immigration, and energy policy. Bush did not address Johnson's Great Society and War on Poverty programs, about which Ronald Reagan once famously quipped, "We had a war on poverty, and poverty won." Instead, he was referencing Johnson's mastery of the so-called sausage-making process in Congress....

"I'm going to get in trouble for saying this," said a prescient Joe Scarborough. Less than an hour after delivering a devastating take-down of the Obama economic record that surely pleased many conservatives, Scarborough made remarks about Marco Rubio that are bound to outrage many of the same folks. Commenting on Marco Rubio's response to the State of the Union, Scarborough declared that Rubio "is not ready to be President of the United States" and that "Republicans pushing him out there are making a big mistake." View the video here.

Although he fills an obvious gap for his party, the odds are stacked against him With Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) giving the Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union address, many are asking if he's the answer to his party's electoral woes. Time magazine even put him on the cover and asked if he's the Republican savior. But there are three big reasons why it's unlikely the Florida senator is on a fast track to the presidency in 2016. 1. Republicans almost always pick the next guy in line. Ever since the untested Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.) lost...

I think the answer is clear: no. I also think the question deserved to be asked. My own history with obesity is here, in all its gory glory. Fat stigma is an anathema to me, and I wish that we could ignore the issue entirely. We can't. And that means that the fat of Christie's will inevitably bleed over into the zone that perpetuates stigma and stereotypes. We have to find a way to judge Christie's weight in the context of what the job of being presidential entails, and then, at the same time rigorously segregate it from any other...

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will speak for the first time at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, a clear sign that he is mulling a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. The American Conservative Union, which sponsors the conference, announced Tuesday that Bush will address the group, set for March 14-16 in National Harbor, Md., just outside Washington. Bush has been invited by the group to speak at CPAC several times, but this will be his first appearance. “We are pleased to announce that my friend Gov. Jeb Bush will be a featured speaker at CPAC 2013,”...

He's already being treated like the 2016 GOP presidential front-runner, and now there is another reason Republicans are excitedly buzzing about Florida Sen. Marco Rubio: He alone would reverse the party's slide among Hispanic voters. A new nationwide poll from JZ Analytics found that Rubio would get 48 percent of the Hispanic vote, about twice what Mitt Romney won in 2012. Republican strategist told Secrets that a win among Latino voters that big would assure Rubio the presidency, since he would also likely keep the regular GOP base. "If he does that good, then he's the next president," said a...

Chris Christie says he’ll be “more ready’’ if he decides to run for president in 2016. In the most dramatic statement yet about his political future, Christie was emphatic when asked by the Newark Star-Ledger if he will be more prepared to run in 2016 than he was this year. “Yeah, you’re damn right I’d be more ready,’’ the outspoken New Jersey governor said. Christie — running for his second term for governor this November — told the newspaper he hopes to beat his opponent by the biggest margin of any Republican. "I'll consider that a raging success and a...

(CNN) - Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum hinted Monday he may see another presidential run in his future. "I'm open to that possibility," the Republican said when asked on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight" about a 2016 White House bid. – Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker "But we're a long way..." he added, pausing, then continuing, "I'm focused right now on trying to stay involved in the fray and make sure that we do the right thing up on Capitol Hill right now." Santorum proved a tough opponent to Mitt Romney during the Republican presidential primary, ultimately forcing the contest...

Allahpundit at Hot Air is relating what he thinks may be a nightmare scenario for 2016, the presidential candidacy of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the brother of one former president and the son of another. It just smacks too much of dynastic politics. This is especially true if Bush wound up running against Hillary Clinton, the wife of a former president, former senator and soon to be former secretary of state. There is an alternative, however

<p>After a year in which Republicans had precious little for which to be thankful, perhaps it's not surprising that party leaders and the faithful spent a good chunk of the long Thanksgiving weekend obsessing instead over 2016 – specifically the possibility of a presidential run by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.</p>

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is not hiding his interest in running for president four years from now. “I want to be part of the national debate,” Paul told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl. ”I’m not going to deny that I’m interested.” Paul’s father, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) is retiring after 23 years in Congress (over a 36-year period) and three presidential bids.

In the wake of Mitt Romney's loss, many Republicans say the GOP must make far-reaching changes to be competitive in future elections. White voters are a smaller and smaller part of the electorate, they point out, while Latinos and other minorities are growing as a percentage of the voting public. Unless the Republican Party reinvents itself to appeal to those voters, the argument goes, the GOP can get used to being out of power. There's something to that. The electorate is changing, and the Republican Party needs to keep up with the times. But the more fundamental answer to the...

It is a truism of political dynasties that there is a chosen heir - the one who should or would or could have been next. It is certainly apt of the Bush family. Jeb Bush is the son who was groomed for the presidency. He was the one most Republicans expected to succeed his father into the Oval Office. And today, looking at their, let's be frank, lacklustre field, many Republicans still wish he would do just that. "It's very flattering to be asked that regularly," Jeb tells me in his office at the Coral Gables Biltmore Hotel. "I don't...