Free Republic

Senator Bernie Sanders routed Hillary Clinton in all three Democratic presidential contests on Saturday, infusing his underdog campaign with critical momentum and bolstering his argument that the race for the nomination is not a foregone conclusion. Mr. Sanders found a welcome tableau in the largely white and liberal electorates of the Pacific Northwest, where just days after resoundingly beating Mrs. Clinton in Idaho he repeated the feat in the Washington caucuses, winning 73 percent of the vote. He did even better in Alaska, winning 82 percent of the vote, and in Hawaii, he had 71 percent with a few precincts...

Republicans attending the Utah Election Caucuses on Tuesday were _each_ given hand-fulls of Ballots, "Vote as many times as you want" as shown in the photo above, allowing them to cast as many votes as they pleased! When the time came to place the ballots in a tin can for counting, people walked in the door with "absentee" ballots stuffing several at a time into the ballot box. ....

Thirteen states hold primaries or caucuses over the next two weeks. Of them, Trump is leading polls in nine, according to the RealClearPolitics average, including some of the most important, winner-take-all states. The other states — Hawaii, Maine, Idaho, and Missouri — don't have any recent polls listed on the site. They're also the three states with the fewest delegates to award. And in Maine, Trump has the endorsement of Gov. Paul LePage.

... That’s why [Steve] House and his predecessor, Ryan Call, are calling for going to a presidential primary.

Last night, the Nevada caucuses got off to a raucous start. Ballots ran out. Allegations of multiple voting arose. Partisans ran ballot collection and counting operations. Officials sported shirts proclaiming their candidate allegiance (and not just for Donald Trump). In one case, the caucus didn’t actually materialize where advertised: New: People registered for precinct 1303 in Sierra Vista showed up to caucus. There was literally no site set up.— Elaina Plott (@elainaplott) February 24, 2016 Marc Caputo professed amazement: Not enough ballots for someNo checking voter IDsA poll worker wearing pro-Trump swagThese allegations about #Nevadacaucus are just wow— Marc Caputo...

RENO, Nev. -- Nevada is still the new kid on the block when it comes to early-state status in the presidential race. But this year, the state could play a pivotal role on both sides. With the Democratic caucuses approaching on Feb. 20, followed by the Republican caucuses on Feb. 23, both contests have become increasingly intense, especially the pitched battle here between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. The Republicans are sending surrogates as South Carolina intervenes Saturday, three days before Nevada Republicans vote on their presidential preference. But both Democratic candidates spent the weekend in Nevada, and Clinton canceled...

Will the GOP establishment steal the 2016 nomination from Donald Trump even if the magnate arrives in Cleveland with the most pledged delegates but short of the 50 percent he'd need to be nominated? Is a back-room deal in the works to have a "brokered convention" to deny Trump the GOP nod? I think there is such a plan and it must be exposed. Donald Trump is our last hope to make Washington work for us - not the lobbyists, special interests and billionaire donors who control the corroded two-party system. As Trump says: "America is going to hell!" I...

The Iowa Democratic party chair who is refusing to release raw vote totals from Monday’s state caucuses is a long-time Hillary Clinton supporter who donated to the politician’s various campaigns and who reportedly drives a Buick with the license plate “HRC 2016.” Dr. Andrea “Andy” McGuire has shot down calls to review vote tallies from Monday’s contest despite Clinton’s razor-thin win over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. The former secretary of state squeaked by the democratic socialist, hauling in 49.9 percent of state delegate equivalents versus Sanders’ 49.6 percent. The Clinton campaign claimed complete victory in the caucuses on Tuesday despite...

So, looks like I got another prediction wrong. I wrote back in December that if and when Trump lost, he would claim that the vote was rigged. Incorrect. As it turns out, he ended up claiming that Cruz cheated. This is the single dumbest thing he’s done since he got into the race, including his decision to skip the Fox debate — which even he thinks might have hurt him. Ted Cruz didn't win Iowa, he stole it. That is why all of the polls were so wrong and why he got far more votes than anticipated. Bad!— Donald J....

Wednesday on his radio show, conservative talker Rush Limbaugh offered his take on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s latest contention that his opponent Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) used fraud to win the Iowa caucuses. According to Limbaugh, the unconventional nature of the charge suggests Trump would not be the “typical Republican establishment candidate.”

Voting polls do not always tell the whole story. As of Monday morning business mogul Donald trump was expected to win the Republican Iowa caucus primaries by a margin of more than 5 percent of the vote. However, following the voting late Monday night, victory went to his closest competitor US Senator Ted Cruz. .....

Conventional wisdom is congealing around two key factors in Trump’s loss this morning, so let me offer them to you as I think there’s merit to both. The main factor: Evangelicals came through for Cruz in the crunch. Political sites have been filled with news over the past few weeks about Trump’s surprising strength with born-again Christians, particularly given how intensely Cruz was courting those same voters. A guy who doesn’t know if he’s ever asked God’s forgiveness and who’s regularly demonstrated his unfamiliarity with Christian practices during this campaign shouldn’t be competitive with an evangelical candidate with dozens of...

The seemingly endless presidential campaign finally gets real Monday, with Iowa voters heading to the polls for the state's caucuses. The candidates blitzed the Hawkeye State in a final push Sunday, making public demonstrations of their faith and getting in their last jabs. Both the Republican and Democratic races are considered up for grabs, with the winners certain to get a burst of momentum. In a show of solidarity with the evangelical Christians who dominate the GOP caucuses, Donald Trump began the day at a nondenominational church in Council Bluffs with his wife, Melania. Melania Trump took Communion from a...

Calhoun (County, Iowa) Severe Watches & Warnings Watches & Warnings Blizzard Watch Statement as of 3:48 AM CST on January 31, 2016 ... Blizzard watch in effect from late Monday night through late Tuesday night... The National Weather Service in Des Moines has issued a blizzard watch... which is in effect from late Monday night through late Tuesday night. * Timing... snow will lift into the area late Monday night into Tuesday morning. A brief break in the snow may occur before resuming Tuesday afternoon and night. A period of very heavy snow may occur with snowfall rates of 1...

Campaign has 1,573 caucus captainsHOUSTON, Texas - Today, the Cruz for President campaign announced it has 1,573 caucus captains across the state. The announcement marks the final milestone in Cruz's impressive Iowa organization. The campaign is putting its massive Iowa organization to the test this week by mobilizing the grassroots and turning them out to caucus for Cruz.Leading up to the Iowa Caucus on February 1, the Cruz for President campaign has put together an unmatched ground game throughout the Hawkeye state. It has named a county chair for each of Iowa's 99 counties. The campaign has recruited 247 notable...

Amid a vicious winter storm on Monday that forced some presidential campaigns to cancel their scheduled stops in Iowa, only Martin O'Malley decided to press on. And one man at his last event, the only person to show up, in fact, "was glad to see me," the former Maryland governor said. But he still would not commit to caucus for O'Malley. "The very last event of the night, we actually had a whopping total of one person show up, but by God, he was glad to see me. So we spent the time with him," the Democratic presidential candidate told...

It’s time to acknowledge a milestone in the 2016 GOP primary. No, it’s not that Jeb Bush has broken his paleo diet. Rather, it’s that the leader in the Iowa polls is no longer the weakest frontrunner in caucus history! Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is now polling ahead of where Mitt Romney was at this point in the 2012 cycle. Walker is up to 18.4 percent in an average of Iowa polls conducted in 2015; Romney was at 18 percent in surveys conducted through the first half of 2011. Looking at just the last five surveys, Walker is now up...

Jeb Bush is exploring a 2016 presidential bid. The former Florida governor said in a post on Facebook Tuesday that over the Thanksgiving holiday there was a lot of discussion about the future of the nation. “As a result of these conversations and thoughtful consideration of the kind of strong leadership I think America needs, I have decided to actively explore the possibility of running for President of the United States,” Mr. Bush said. Mr. Bush said he plans to establish a Leader PAC next month to “help me facilitate conversations with citizens across America to discuss the most critical...

Right blasts RNC 'autopsy' as power grab By: Jonathan Martin and Maggie Haberman March 18, 2013 12:21 PM EDT The GOP’s prescription to cure the ills that helped bring on yet another disastrous presidential cycle would revamp its presidential nominating rules in ways to benefit well-funded candidates and hamper insurgents - a move that quickly heated up the already smoldering feud between the Republican establishment and the tea party-inspired base. Tucked in near the end of the 97-page report, formally known as The Growth and Opportunity Project, are less than four pages that amount to a political bombshell: the five-member...