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Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/03/25/ted-cruz-gop-presidential-hopeful-your-say/70461558/

Charles Krauthammer articulated a major hurdle that Ted Cruz will face as he runs for the presidency: First term Senators, we already tried a first-term Senator. … Cruz talks about you have to walk the walk rather than just talk the talk. You have to have done something but that's not his record in the Senate. He's a good rhetorician, but when Walker says I ran the state, I took on the unions, I took on liberals and I won I think it is going to be a strong argument. The same applies to Marco Rubio and Rand Paul. Erick...

After a guest made a disparaging comment about country music, MSNBC host Ari Melber apologized on-air Wednesday afternoon and informed his audience that the network does not condone such remarks. During a Now w/ Alex Wagner conversation about GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz‘s statement that he became a country music fan directly after 9/11, guest Jamilah Lemieux opened up the conversation with this remark: “Nothing says ‘Let’s go kill some Muslims’ like country music, fresh from Lynchburg, Virginia. Someone who obviously does not want to be a polarizing candidate, he wants to bring people together, I mean — really? That’s...

Social media metrics measure success for Cruz, and the decision to charge Sgt. Bergdahl is more complex than you think.Cruzonomics: That sound you hear is dropped jaws all across the political landscape:US News’ Dave Catanese reports that Sen. Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican and Senate bomb-thrower who announced he’s running for president, smashed his own goal of raising $1 million during the first week of his presidential campaign by hitting that mark in 24 hours. He got there, though, with help from a team of data analysts who helped Cruz make it rain through carefully scripted small donors of $250...

Lamar CoulterQUINCY -- A Chicago man who prosecutors said was playing the "knockout game" was sentenced to probation Monday during a hearing in Adams County Circuit Court. Lamar Coulter, 21, could have received up to four years in prison on a felony aggravated battery charge, but was sentenced to 24 months probation and 270 days in jail by Judge William Mays. This is Coulter's first felony offense. Mays ordered Coulter to spend 180 days in the Adams County Jail. With day-for-day good time credit, Coulter could be out in 90 days. Coulter was arrested on June 27 after two separate...

Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who abandoned his post in Afghanistan and was held captive for five years by the Taliban, was charged Wednesday by the U.S. military with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy and could get life in prison if convicted. The misbehavior charge could land Bergdahl in prison for life, though some legal experts said a lengthy sentence was unlikely. He also could be dishonorably discharged and forfeit all his pay if convicted on either charge. Next, an Article 32 hearing — similar to a civilian grand jury proceeding — will be held at Fort Sam Houston in...

On Sunday, in anticipation of Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) announcement that he intends to run for president, California governor Jerry Brown (D), declared to NBC’s Meet the Press Cruz was “absolutely unfit to be running for office.” Why? Because of Cruz’s stance on climate change—some of which Cruz laid out on late night TV last week. But comparing Cruz’s comments on Late Night with Seth Meyers and Brown’s remarks on Meet the Press, it is pretty clear that it is Gov. Brown who needs to spend more time familiarizing himself with the scientific literature on climate change and especially its...

A Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey released on March 24, 2015, shows Hillary Clinton leading all Republican 2016 presidential contenders in the state of Florida. Her lead ranges from 2 percentage points over Florida Senator Marcio Rubio (48-46), to an 8 point margin over both Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (49/41) and Texas Governor Rick Perry (50/42). Notably, neither Marco Rubio, nor former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, have a lead over Hillary Clinton in their home state. Clinton holds a 47-44 lead over Jeb Bush in the Sunshine State. Florida is the most populous competitive state in presidential elections. George W....

“Today, roughly half of born-again Christians aren’t voting. They’re staying home. Imagine, instead, millions of people of faith, all across America, coming out to the polls and voting our values.” Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas announced Monday he would seek the presidential nomination of the Republican Party, aiming to inject much needed clarity and stark political contrast – not between Republicans and Democrats, but between himself and his party’s lickspittle, go-along-to-get-along, intellectual castrati. Speaking before a packed house at the Liberty University campus in Lynchburg, Va. (a Christian institution of learning), Cruz hinted at his vote-getting strategy. “Today, roughly half...

Yes, Ted Cruz can buy insurance through Obamacare while remaining totally committed to repealing it. Just like his competitors for the 2016 presidential nomination. Cruz said Tuesday that he and his family will sign up for health insurance through the exchanges created by Obamacare, prompting plenty of chest-beating from Democrats looking to paint Cruz—a staunch opponent of the health care law—as a hypocrite. But Cruz isn't the only 2016 contender to turn to the exchanges. Sen. Rand Paul signed up when the marketplaces first opened. "It made me an unhappy person," he said at the time. Sen. Marco Rubio also...

(VIDEO-ABOVE-THE HEADLINE-AT-LINK)Appearing on “Morning Joe” Wednesday morning, Bloomberg Politics’ Mark Halperin talked up the chances of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz winning the upcoming 2016 GOP primary. Halperin told host Mika Brzezinski and panelist Mike Barnicle that Cruz “can be the Republican nominee,” breaking with many who have dismissed the first announced GOP candidate’s chances to represent the party in the general election. “[T]his time it’s going to be different. The rules are going to have the window,” Halperin said. “So if Ted Cruz does well in Iowa and South Carolina, he can be the Republican nominee. He’s not a frontrunner,...

Donations to Ted Cruz's campaign, during his presidential announcement.Ted Cruz's entire decision of whether to jump-start his presidential candidacy at the end of a fundraising quarter hinged on the ability to raise $1 million in the first week. The Texas senator ended up hitting that milestone in just over a day. Fueled by a team of 10 data scientists who are tasked with conducting real-time analysis of prospective supporters, the reach of and return on Cruz's rollout has already exceeded the initial expectations of even the campaign's top advisers. While initial media reports detailed Cruz raising $500,000 on the first...

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas has announced on Monday he is going to run for president in 2016. One of the prominent leaders of the ultra-conservative wing of the Republicans, Cruz is the first politician to officially announce his candidacy. But the Tea Party controversial figure is still a question mark for the American public opinion. Ted Cruz claimed on Tuesday that his fund-raising campaign had a promising start, as the first 36 hours passed since he became a runner already brought $1 million in support of his bid. But most analysts regard the Texas senator as a marginal contender,...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: There continues to be some... well, not just curiosity, some confusion as well about Ted Cruz and his decision to sign up for Obamacare. There's another option. There's some options that he has here, and I want to run through these. Now, all of this would have been academic had his wife not quit. Well, she didn't quit. She took an unpaid leave of absence from Goldman Sachs. If she had stayed there while he ran the campaign, this would not even be an issue. But they made a determination that a campaign is a family endeavor,...

Dirty…slimy…dangerous…As you can probably imagine, Ted Cruz’s announcement about his plans to run for president in 2016 brought out a whole new level of crazy from liberals in media and most of it was very ugly. The fine folks at Newsbusters have done a tremendous job chronicling the MSM reaction in words and video. Here are a few choice examples. From Jeffrey Meyer: Donny Deutsch Attacks ‘Scary…Dangerous…Slimy’ Ted Cruz Appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Monday, Donny Deutsch viciously attacked Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) following his announcement that he will be running for president, calling the Tea Party favorite “scary”...

In the last two days, big-money Republican donors have received information about the benefits they could receive for raising tens of thousands of dollars for the presidential campaign of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Cruz has already raised $500,000 after announcing Monday he is running for president. NBC News reports that 60 percent of his donations have come from large donors, while 40 percent have come from online donations. According to a three-page pamphlet sent out by Cruz for President and obtained by The Daily Caller, voters who raise at least $500,000 for the Texas Republican will be considered a co-chair...

In the first day that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is an official presidential candidate, his campaign raised $500,000 - a solid haul for a candidate who is in the bottom tier of polls and has been overshadowed by prolific fundraisers former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. The totals include a fundraising event he held in New York City Monday night, just hours after delivering his announcement speech to the Christian conservative student body at Liberty University. His campaign said 60 percent of funds came from large donors and 40 percent from online donations. One advantage of...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) had a simple response to Fox News Channel's Megyn Kelly when she asked him whether he could win the presidency: Look at 2012. That was the year in which Cruz, then Texas's solicitor general, was elected to the Senate. “We brought together conservatives and libertarians and evangelicals and women and young people and Hispanics and Reagan Democrats,” Cruz said of that race. To which I say: Who knows? The reason for the uncertainty is that there was no exit poll in 2012 in Texas. It was one of 19 states where the broadcast networks and the...

A Senate committee gave unanimous approval Tuesday to a bill that would limit local control over oil and gas activities across Texas — a measure being referred to as the "Denton fracking bill." The proposal is among nearly a dozen filed in the aftermath of the North Texas town's vote in November to ban hydraulic fracturing within city limits, and it's among those most likely to pass. The legislation, Senate Bill 1165, now heads to the full Senate, where advocates for municipalities will push for changes to address their biggest concern – that the proposal would jeopardize long-held city police...

Scott McCay had a short, but good post about the sneering from the anti-Cuban bigots liberal elitists at the New Yorker calling Ted Cruz “uppity.” It’s just the latest in a series of attacks on Cruz by his “betters” in the liberal elite and the RINO establishment (okay, I’m being redundant). The elitists are also attacking Ted Cruz’s music choices. He said that he became a country music fan after 9/11 because he didn’t like how rock musicians responded to it and he feels more emotionally connected to it. Instead of just leaving those remarks for what they are, his...