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Washington (CNN) - Rand Paul has done something his father never did - top the list of potential Republican presidential candidates in a national poll. According to a new CNN/ORC International survey, 16% of Republicans and independents who lean toward the GOP say they would be likely to support the senator from Kentucky for the 2016 nomination. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee, garnered 15%, with longtime Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who's considering another bid for the White House, at 11%. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a 2008 GOP presidential candidate, is the only other...

Sen. Rand Paul and Gov. Chris Christie placed first and second in a straw poll held during this weekend's Northeast Republican Leadership Conference, but Dr. Ben Carson may have stolen the show without being a candidate for anything. He emerged in third place with 11 per cent support, tied with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Sen. Rick Santorum. Paul led them by less than four points, with 14.7 per cent support. Christie polled 13 per cent. A 'draft committee' intent on sparking Carson to run for the White House in 2016 raised more than $2.8 million in its first...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) wowed the beltway elite and even Democrats during Saturday's annual Gridiron event, showing why the Ivy Leaguer has confounded and been vilified by many with whom he shares the same intellectual pedigree. The annual D.C. roast is hosted by the exclusive Gridiron Club, which is composed of D.C.'s mainstream and "elite" journalists. Cruz has degrees from Princeton and Harvard, which those in the permanent political class covet, and he can do their social rituals better than they can. Yet Cruz refuses to be co-opted by them politically, instead choosing to be a staunch conservative who represents...

So what do u think. Would you like to see Dr Carson run for president? #RunBenRun— Kira Davis (@KiraAynDavis) March 08, 2014 The CPAC audience loved Dr. Ben Carson’s fired-up speech on Saturday. As always, Twitter buzz shifted to talk about 2016. “@KiraAynDavis: So what do u think. Would you like to see Dr Carson run for president? #RunBenRun”He can actually say things that need sayin— Clarisse Ediss (@ClarisseEdiss) March 08, 2014 Carson-Rubio 2016……that's a ticket I would love to see— Rj Diego (@RJ_Diego11) March 08, 2014 Ben Carson is an awesome advocate for conservatism. There doesn’t need to...

Sen. Rand Paul demolished his competition in the 2014 Washington Times/CPAC presidential preference straw poll on Saturday, winning 31 percent of the vote -- nearly three times the total of second-place Sen. Ted Cruz. Mr. Cruz's 11 percent was still a big improvement for the freshman senator, who won just 4 percent in last year's straw poll. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson was third with 9 percent and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was fourth with 8 percent in results that signal growing discontent with the GOP establishment in Washington. Indeed, CPAC voters now have an unfavorable view of Republicans in Congress,...

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN: Do you have a favorite candidate for 2016? SARAH PALIN: No, not yet. VAN SUSTEREN: Nothing? Who is sort of your -- who is at the top of your list? Are you considering running? PALIN: Who is at the top of my list. VAN SUSTEREN: Let me back up to my other question. PALIN: No, question at a time. I appreciate those who have fought for America, like Ted Cruz, like Rand Paul. You know though, it doesn't have to be someone who has a title today, someone in office today. In fact, some would say we...

Just a link to a poll currently running on the front page, center, of the Drudgereport.

I caught a bit of Rick Perry's CPAC speech today and, boy, does he have a fire in the belly. Had we seen this fire in 2012, then perhaps he would have won the GOP nomination. Of course, Perry underwent back surgery which significantly contributed to his lackluster campaign.

e are already at the point in this prematurely unfolding 2016 presidential campaign when a glance down the list of prospective candidates can cause most observers to wince. As that seductive and sultry crooner Peggy Lee once sang, “Is that all there is?” At the U.Va. Crystal Ball, we currently have 11 Republicans and nine Democrats as probable or possible presidential contenders. The Democrats have fewer and more tentative contenders because of the paralyzing gravitational pull of “Planet Hillary,” as the New York Times Magazine described the Clinton operation. The former secretary of state is a kind of massive Jupiter...

The 2016 presidential election is Jeb Bush’s now-or-never-moment. As other potential GOP standard-bearers have been hit by scandal or seen their luster fade, many Republicans desperately want the former Florida governor to get in the race. His allies say he is considering it more seriously than ever before. They believe he could be their Goldilocks candidate: Not too conservative, not too centrist; not too dull, not too unpredictable; not too inexperienced, and not too marred by scandal. In fact, just right. But many of his greatest potential advantages could also be liabilities. The Bush name gives him a deep and...

Who’s likely to do well in New Hampshire’s 2016 first-in-the-nation presidential primary? It’s a preposterous question, here in 2014, but what the heck? We asked six experts to weigh in on some of the biggest political players. Our analysts are Wayne Lesperance, political science professor at New England College; Phil Boynton, president of the University of New Hampshire College Republicans; Peter Burling, Democratic national committeeman; Dante Scala, professor of political science at UNH; Jess Steever, vice president of the Plymouth State University Democrats; and Brandon Lemay, public relations officer for the PSU Democrats. Today, our panelists consider the Republicans. Tomorrow,...

West, who spent 22 years in the U.S. Army and one term in Congress before losing his bid for reelection in 2012, says he will always be ready to serve his country. “You have to have yourself in a position to be available for your country and to be obedient to God’s will,” he says.

Jeb Bush understands that as the son and brother of former presidents, his family name may hurt him as much as help him if he decides to run for the White House in 2016. And the former two-term Florida governor reiterated that he'll make his decision on whether to launch a campaign for the Republican presidential nomination by the end of this year. Bush, the featured guest Monday at the Long Island Association's biannual luncheon, a popular stop for former presidents and White House hopefuls, was asked about the recent comments from his mother. Former first lady Barbara Bush told...

Sen. Rand Paul acknowledged Friday he is strongly considering a run for the White House, predicting that libertarian philosophies would revitalize the Republican Party and boost his potential bid. “What the party needs is somebody who will invigorate the party and bring new people,” the Kentucky Republican said in an interview for Lone Star Politics, airing Sunday on KXAS-TV (NBC5). “African-Americans and Hispanics, Asian-Americans are going to look to the Republican Party, if we express ideas of freedom and liberty.” Paul noted that he has a trip scheduled in April to New Hampshire, site of the first presidential primary, and...

Conservative Sens. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul top the biggest Tea Party presidential poll yet, while moderates New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush are dumped at the bottom, undermining their hopes of being 2016 crossover candidates. The online poll of 62,000 grassroots activists provided exclusively to Secrets finds that conservatives and Tea Party organizers stand fully behind the heroes of their movement, including outspoken surgeon Ben Carson, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

And why is that? Because it's beginning to dawn on me that Jeb Bush is probably going to be the Republican Party's nominee for president in 2016. Consider: With the ongoing implosion of Chris Christie's political career, the GOP establishment has lost its best hope for a candidate who could stop a libertarian-populist insurgency during the primaries. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Scott Walker — the list of viable fire-breathers is longer (and less dominated by incompetents, crazies, and one-note sideshow acts) than establishment types would like.

One poll showing him ahead is a fluke. Two polls showing him ahead? We call that “momentum.”I’m not in the habit of making pledges, but I promise you this: I will never, ever tire of trolling you guys with numbers showing Huck as some sort of contender for the nomination. Ever. Fourteen percent of Republicans and independents who lean toward the GOP say they would likely support Huckabee for their party’s nomination if he runs.Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky is next at 13% followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Christie tied at 10%…That’s a change from November, when...

Mitt Romney leads the Republican field among New Hampshire primary voters for 2016. Yes, you read that right. Why not make it a third run for president? That's something that the former Republican nominee is definitely not thinking about right now. To put it in his own recent words: "Oh, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no." But that didn't stop the Virginia-based bipartisan policy firm Purple Strategies from adding his name to a recent survey for Granite State voters, which shows Romney in the lead with 25 percent support. Libertarian firebrand Rand Paul (who has...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Jeb Bush is considering a run for the White House — no matter what his mother thinks. With two recent national polls showing Jeb among the top potential 2016 Republican presidential contenders, a local Florida reporter asked the former Sunshine State governor Wednesday about a potential run. “I’m considering — I’m going to think about it later,” he said. “So I don’t wake up each day saying, ‘oh, what am I going to do today to make this decision. I’m deferring the decision to the right time, which is later this year.” The son and brother of former presidents continued...

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) said he would defer his decision to run for president in 2016 until later this year. Bush on Wednesday said a major factor would be whether he can do the job “joyfully,” given the pessimistic nature of the country at the moment. “I’m deferring the decision to the right time, which is later this year. And the decision will be based on, can I do it joyfully, because I think we need to have candidates lift our spirits,” he told a local TV station Wednesday. “It’s a pretty pessimistic country right now. And, is...