Free Republic

It is important, VERY IMPORTANT, to remember the Club for Growth (CfG) is the Ron DeSantis career financial vehicle. Ever since his first steps into Congress, CfG has been the primary financial sponsor for the now Florida Governor. There is no moment in the political career of DeSantis where CfG does not exist.While the DeSantis SuperPAC Never Back Down is the mechanics of the DeSantis election strategy, CfG is the well invested advising side, and David McIntosh has been the source of DeSantis’ career guidance for a decade. That’s how intrinsically connected Club for Growth is to Ron and Casey...

That unity ticket would preferably include Sen. Ted Cruz, who is second behind Trump in the delegate count, and a presidential contender who dropped out already. But the group did not discount including someone not in the race like Paul Ryan or Mitt Romney. . . Still, the Club for Growth, has decided to continue on with its efforts to stop Trump. After an internal meeting Wednesday, the group decided to launch a $200,000 ad buy in Utah, which holds its primary Tuesday. . . "Going forward, looking at the numbers, we think it's still very possible to keep Trump...

The release — titled "Donald J. Trump Sends Club for Growth Scathing Cease and Desist Letter Regarding Recent 'Attack Ads'" — repeatedly bashed the Club for Growth, with whom Trump has constantly feuded during his campaign. "I am not surprised the dishonest, irrelevant and totally failing Club for Growth has resorted to attacking the definitive front-runner, especially after I refused to contribute to their pathetic group," Trump said in a statement. In the cease-and-desist letter to Club for Growth President David McIntosh, Trump lawyer Alan Garten similarly tore into the "pitiful little group" while promising a devastating lawsuit should the...

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) doesn’t yet have an official primary opponent, but he might as well be running against the Club for Growth. A nasty war of words has erupted between the two sides, setting the stage for what appears to be a likely effort by the Club to unseat Hatch next year. (snip) The Club earlier this week released ads in Utah and Indiana (where it is also considering targeting GOP Sen. Richard Lugar), urging the two men to resist raising the debt limit, while also taking some shots are their records on government spending. But as we’ve written...

Club for Growth President Chris Chocola gave six-term Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) some unsolicited advice Tuesday: Retire. Chocola, a former Congressman from Indiana who served in the House from 2003 to 2007, told ABC’s “Top Line” that his fiscally conservative organization is considering getting involved in Lugar’s 2012 re-election campaign in the Hoosier State. The club has already met with Lugar’s primary opponent, state Treasurer Richard Mourdock (R). “We are looking at that race very closely,” Chocola said. “We do have some concerns about Sen. Lugar and his service. We think it would probably be best if he would retire...

The Club for Growth today hailed President Obama’s announcement in Copenhagen of a “meaningful accord” with China, India, and South Africa about climate change and green house emissions. Club President Chris Chocola made the following statement after the accord’s announcement: "Like most Americans, I feared President Obama went to Copenhagen to sign a binding, job-killing, economic suicide pact. “I am greatly relieved that the last-minute agreement President Obama negotiated is being widely described as ‘meaningful.’ When politicians call something ‘meaningful,’ that means it isn’t. “Without even reading the accord, pro-growth, limited government conservatives today can celebrate the word, ‘meaningful.’ Today...

It was a moment of unintentional comedy earlier this year when newly appointed U.S. Sen. George LeMieux called himself a " Charlie Crist Republican." No doubt LeMieux spoke in earnest about the man who appointed him to the Senate, and who is now running to succeed him in it. But the joke was that nobody knew what he meant. What is a "Charlie Crist Republican" anyway? Honestly, do you know how Charlie Crist would vote on a federal takeover of health care, on a cap-and-trade energy tax, on massive new spending bills, or on another stimulus boondoggle?

After pumping more than $1 million into an upstate New York House race to elect the Conservative Party’s Doug Hoffman, the Club for Growth is on the hunt again. Chris Chocola, president of the conservative political action committee, made it clear the PAC is looking for more GOP targets who don’t embrace the Club’s limited-government approach. Priority No. 1 is likely to be the Senate contest in Florida, where Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, who embraced President Barack Obama’s stimulus package, is being challenged by former State House Speaker Marco Rubio. . . . . . Beyond Florida, other establishment Republicans...

WASHINGTON (CNN) –The conservative Club for Growth is spending another $300,000 on a new ad attacking the Democratic and Republican candidates in the race to fill the congressional seat vacated by New York Rep. John Hughes. The group, which is backing third-party candidate Doug Hoffman, calls Republican Dede Scozzafava and Democrat Bill Owens "two liberals" in a new television spot set to hit airwaves in parts of New York's 23rd district on Tuesday. "Tired of choosing between two liberals for Congress?" a narrator asks in the ad, before calling Hoffman a "conservative Republican" and the "common sense choice."

TAMPA - The Club for Growth, a conservative political committee known for spending big bucks in Republican primaries, is still interested in Marco Rubio's challenge to Charlie Crist but wary of his lack of fundraising success so far, its director said. "It's less than what we'd been hearing would be announced," executive director David Keating said. He said the group will still be watching the Republican primary race for the U.S. Senate and considering whether to intervene to support Rubio.

The Club for Growth, a conservative anti-tax group, is considering running ads in the Republican Party's Senate primary race against Florida Gov. Charlie Crist for supporting higher state taxes and President Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus spending package. Mr. Crist's opponent for the Republican Party's nomination next year is former state Speaker of the House Marco Rubio, a young conservative running on cutting government spending and taxes who recently met here with the Club for Growth, which has a strong reputation for defeating liberal and moderate Republicans in party primaries with its aggressive ad campaigns. "We recently interviewed Marco Rubio...

When Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter switched parties two months ago, he said he would issue contribution refunds "upon request." Now the Club for Growth, the conservative political group that is a longtime Specter foe, wants to help any disgruntled Republican donors take now-Democrat Specter up on his offer. The Club is asking the Federal Election Commission (FEC) if it can send a letter or make a telephone call to Specter's donors informing them that they can ask his campaign for a contribution refund. The Club would use the donor lists that Specter's campaign has filed with the FEC. Those documents...

WASHINGTON — Although Chris Chocola isn't in Congress anymore, he's here in the fight for a Republican Congress — his brand of Republican. Chocola, the Elkhart County Republican who represented Indiana's 2nd Congressional District for two terms before losing to Democrat Joe Donnelly in 2006, now is president of the Club for Growth, a conservative group that targets Republicans it regards as too wishy-washy moderate on taxation and government expansion. He is in the fight for the soul of the GOP. "I never thought I'd be doing the weekly commute again, raising funds again," Chocola says during an interview in...

On Sunday talk shows, he says the 'big tent' party of Reagan and the late Jack Kemp has been replaced by rigid conservatism. BY MARK TRUMBULL Sen. Arlen Specter (D) of Pennsylvania and leaders of the party he bolted last week surprisingly struck a chord of near agreement in discussing the future of the Republican Party Sunday. The question of whether the party can stage a revival without welcoming Northeastern moderates came to the fore on television talk shows Sunday morning. On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Senator Specter blamed the inner workings of the conservative movement for his own departure,...

Jim DeMint was the only United States Senator to earn a perfect 100% score on a pro-growth economic scorecard, according to data released yesterday by the Club for Growth, a leading fiscal conservative advocacy group. DeMint led the U.S. Senate with his perfect voting record, while South Carolina’s “other” Senator, Lindsey Graham, was among the most liberal, anti-growth Republicans - scoring a paltry 52%. Meanwhile, in the U.S. House, Rep. Gresham Barrett’s recent bailout vote may have cost him his perfect record. Barrett typically resides at or near the top of the Club’s rankings, but this year he scored a...

Sen. John Cornyn says Republican Sen. Arlen Specter is the GOP’s “best bet” to keep his Pennsylvania Senate seat from falling into Democrats’ hands. “As I survey the political landscape of the upcoming 2010 elections,” Cornyn wrote in a letter released by his office Tuesday, “it's clear we need more candidates that fit their states. While I doubt Arlen could win an election in my home state of Texas, I am certain that I could not get elected in Pennsylvania. I believe that Senator Specter is our best bet to keep this Senate seat in the GOP column. A vote...

Without a doubt, the Republican primary for California's Fourth Congressional District was the highest profile legislative race taking place in yesterday's statewide elections in California. Whether you look at how the race shaped up locally, or how it was covered Inside The Beltway, the battle between conservative State Senator Tom McClintock and moderate former U.S. Representative Doug Ose was truly looked to as an election-day indicator of where the heart and soul of the GOP was, and whether Republicans want to see change in direction that their party has taken in the United States Capitol. Despite the massive financial advantage...

Huckabee & The Club friends at last? TRIBUNE-REVIEW By: Salena Zito When former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was running for the Republcian nomination for president, no one attacked him more often and with more conservative muscle than the uber-economic conservatives from The Club for Growth. Pat Tommey, chairman of The Club, wrote last October in The National Review that a flirtation with Huckabee even as a vice presidential candidate did a "great disservice to the conservative movement if it overlooks Huckabee’s stunning record of big-government liberalism.” So, it came as a bit of surprise to receive a blast e-mail from...

Guess Who Really Pays the Taxes By Stephen Moore From the November/December 2007 Issue Yes, income in America is skewed toward the rich. But taxes are skewed far, far more. The top 5 percent pay well over half the income taxes. STEPHEN MOORE has the numbers. 1. Are income taxes fair?That depends on who is offering the opinion. Democratic candidates for president certainly don’t think so. John Edwards has said, “It’s time to restore fairness to a tax code that has been driven badly out of whack.” Hillary Clinton laments that “middle-class and working families are paying a much higher percentage...

In order to ensure that the presidential white papers continue to be thorough and relevant, the Club for Growth decided to issue an updated account of Mike Huckabee's economic record. "Over the pas ten months, Governor Huckabee's embrace of his liberal economic record as governor and his populist, protectionist rhetoric on the campaign trail has only confirmed the Club for Growth's original assessment," said Club for Growth President Pat Toomey. "Huckabee himself admits that he is a 'different kind of Republican,' a code word for more government involvement, less personal freedom, and greater dependence on government bureaucrats." "Huckabee is proud...