Free Republic

Having watched more than a few of these campaigns unfold, I would venture to say that when you see a presidential primary team abandoning ship it’s usually because the campaign is beginning to look like a lost cause and the staff is still hoping to catch on with somebody who has a better chance. But that’s not the case with Ben Carson’s bid. The poll of polls still has the popular neurosurgeon within two points of Bush, Walker and Rubio and the freshest Fox News survey has him in a statistical tie for the lead. That’s what makes the latest...

After weeks of cooling rains, the sun returned to Texas this week, baking the inside of the Addison airport hangar north of Dallas Thursday as Rick Perry teed up another presidential run. The Republican field is already filled with some new faces, some former candidates, and some seasoned politicians who have never run before. It was challenging to see where a revamped Perry effort could make much impact. Thursday afternoon, it got a little easier. Of course it’s an uphill climb. In a year where Republican tastes seem to lean toward people with little (or no) elected office experience,...

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is expected to announce his presidential intentions on June 24, according to a top adviser. Jindal, a Republican, is slated to announce his decision in New Orleans, said Timmy Teepell, who has served as chief of staff and is a possible campaign manager for Jindal’s likely bid.

Jeb Bush will enter 2016 with plenty of advantages, but the first-in-the-West nominating contest likely won’t be one of them. Nevada lawmakers this week opted against changing the state’s presidential caucus to a primary, a decision that runs counter to the wishes of Bush, Marco Rubio, and other GOP establishment-types who had hoped a switch would give them a better chance at posting a momentum-building victory there. Caucuses require a good deal more effort and patience from voters than primaries, and as a result the contests tend to favor candidates that have built a network of highly motivated activists. That...

Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin wants to make sure everyone knows he loves Florida. He began his remarks at the Economic Growth Summit on Tuesday by ticking off city after city that he has visited, saying that he has an aunt who lives in Bonita Springs, a lot of friends in the Villages, and that he first visited Disney World in 1971. “We’ll be back many more times,” Mr. Walker promised as he concluded his remarks. “We love the connection to Florida.” His outpouring of adoration for the Sunshine State may have been in response to the media’s portrayal of...

Dear Friend, Just moments ago I officially announced that I am running for the Republican nomination for President of the United States. Will you stand with me today as a DAY ONE Founding Member of my campaign? Please follow this link to make an instant online contribution. I did not make this decision lightly. After months of consideration and years of working to protect and secure our country, I knew I could still do more. Our country very much needs a proven leader... Who is ready to be Commander in Chief on Day One and has the conviction to defeat...

Former U.S. senator and presidential candidate Bob Dole believes a governor, not a senator, will win the 2016 Republican nomination for president. “I think it’s going to be a governor,” Dole said Thursday after a commemorative event at Forbes Field. “I don’t know which one.” Two former governors have announced they will seek the Republican nomination: Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, and George Pataki, former governor of New York. Several other current and former governors are considering a presidential run, including Jeb Bush, of Florida; Rick Perry, of Texas; Scott Walker, of Wisconsin; Chris Christie, of New Jersey;...

When Trump declared to the Republican Party of Iowa’s Lincoln Dinner that he is going to make an announcement in June that’s “going to surprise a lot of people,” he wasn’t preparing to launch his long-awaited candidacy. He was simply doing what he always does: Promote the Donald. Generate headlines. Get people talking. His June announcement is guaranteed to raise all of the excitement of such previous bids for publicity as “Donald Trump Announces Men’s Fragrance” (March 24), “Donald Trump Announces Phil Mickelson Villa at Trump National Doral” (March 5), “Donald Trump Announces Florida International University as new Home for...

Rick Santorum, the former Republican senator from Pennsylvania, will announce today that he will seek the GOP nomination for president in 2016, ABC News has learned. ABC News' Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos will sit down for an exclusive interview with Santorum this afternoon. Santorum, 57, is set to reveal his presidential intentions at an event today in Cabot, Pa., near his childhood home. It will be his second run for the White House, almost four years after he won primaries and caucuses in 11 states and finished second to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the race for the Republican...

Rand Paul took a left turn on his journey to the Republican nomination, and now his hopes now seem to be headed south. The libertarian senator from Kentucky’s new book, “Taking a Stand,” came out Tuesday, and it is chock full of lines that would position Paul well — if he were running against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. On the environment: “You’ll find I’m a tree hugger, literally…I’m a Republican who wants clean air, clean water, and the life-extending miracle of electricity. I compost.”

Ignoring the polls and pundits, former New York Gov. George Pataki plans to announce Thursday that he’s joining the crowded Republican field for president. The three-term governor will unveil his candidacy in Exeter, N.H., – which claims the birthplace of the Republican Party – and join a group of contenders who are inching toward the 20 mark. Skeptics abound about Pataki’s chances.

Not the endorsement someone heading into the Republican primaries would normally want, but it's the one Rand Paul got. On today's This Week [hosted by Jonathan Karl in the absence of Stephanopoulos], far-left Rep. Keith Ellison declared that on a variety of issues, including opposition to the Patriot Act, he is "proud to stand" with Rand Paul. Roll the video and watch Bill Kristol look on benignly as Ellison praises Paul. You can imagine he was thinking that every Ellison accolade was another chunk of GOP primary voters lost for Kristol's least-favorite Republican candidate. In the unkindest cut, Kristol claimed...

Dem strategist Steve McMahon prefaced his remarks with the standard tongue-in-cheek disclaimer about not intending to hurt, by praising him, the prospects of someone from the other party. On this evening's With All Due Respect, McMahon then proceeded to gush over Marco Rubio, saying that listening to him recount his life story as the son of immigrants "melts my heart." McMahon predicted that Rubio would be the Republican nominee. So . . . does McMahon's praise mean anything? Is Rubio really the Republican the Dems fear, or is it a don't-throw-us-in-the-briar-patch pitch on McMahon's part? View the video here.

N o one will blame you if you can’t keep track of the Republican presidential field. It’s huge. If you count declared candidates, prospectives, and announced aspirants, you have 18 people from across the Republican ideological spectrum: Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Rand Paul, Sen. Marco Rubio, Sen. Lindsey Graham, Rick Santorum, Gov. Chris Christie, Gov. Bobby Jindal, Gov. John Kasich, Gov. Rick Snyder, Gov. Scott Walker, Jeb Bush, Jim Gilmore, Mike Huckabee, George Pataki, Rick Perry, Ben Carson, Donald Trump, and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. The field is so large that news networks have put limits on who can...

You can be forgiven if you sometimes feel the Republican presidential contest is a bit like a clown car, they just keep coming and coming. That there are a few clowns among them only strengthens the illusion. Democrats had the same problem a few years ago. That was in the era when the absence of male genitalia was not a prerequisite for the Democratic nomination. Think I’m kidding? Okay, name one Democratic male candidate with even a miniscule chance of success this time or one who might be thought of as a future star in the party. No, Elizabeth Warren...

A few steps from the Capitol building on Tuesday afternoon, behind closed doors in Republicans’ upscale Capitol Hill Club, Scott Walker had a high-stakes sit-down. The Wisconsin governor—who’s indicated that he will launch a presidential bid after he signs the Badger State’s biennial budget—was there to woo top social conservative and evangelical leaders, a task that might seem easy at first glance. Walker’s dad is a pastor, he quotes a Christian devotional on the stump, and he signed legislation defunding Planned Parenthood in the state he governs. Christian conservatives should be worshipping the ground he walks on, right? Not so...

I’m a Ted Cruz fan. At the same time, I find myself increasingly intrigued by Carly Fiorina. She speaks like no one else in the field. Perhaps, in part, because she’s not a politician. At the outset of many of her speeches, she tells a personal story about being a little girl in Sunday school when her mother said: “What you are, is God’s gift to you. What you make of yourself, is your gift to God.” After that, she often shares the following: I started my career as a secretary in a little nine person real estate firm....

Fox News, which is hosting the first Republican debate of the 2016 campaign, will require participants to place in the top 10 in an average of the five most recent national polls in the run-up to the event, according to details obtained by The Washington Post Thursday. The standard will winnow what is expected to be a field of 16 or more GOP presidential candidates by the Aug. 6 event in Cleveland. Determining which contenders will get to participate in the official forums sanctioned by the Republican National Committee has been a thorny challenge for the cable news network and...

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said Wednesday the odds are "50-50" that he will enter the 2016 presidential race. "I'm certainly not ruling it out," King said during an appearance on CNN's "Wolf." "Right now I'm sort of 50-50." King said he intended to make his decision by the end of June.

Wednesday on CSPAN’s “Washington Journal,” Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) discussed the Trade Promotion Authority legislation, but also took a shot at the field of Republicans 2016 presidential candidates by saying they “look like a "Saturday Night Live review.”