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Republican Eric Cantor on Saturday addressed the inaugural gathering of a group formed after grass-roots activists helped Dave Brat topple the former majority leader in last summer’s GOP primary. The day-long meeting of the Virginia Conservative Network featured a who’s who of establishment Republicans in the mold of Cantor, many of whom are frustrated with the party’s loss of all five statewide offices in recent years. According to organizers, Cantor gave an invitation-only crowd of more than 100 people tips on how to frame their message to voters as Republicans prepare to defend their slim majority in the state Senate...

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, asked for his reaction to the resignation of John Boehner, had good things to say about the House Speaker: "We'll have to see how it plays out," Bush told "Fox News Sunday" with Chris Wallace. "I admire John Boehner greatly. He's a great public servant. He left at the apex of his--of his time in service to this--to the country, with the Pope speaking in Congress. "I think people are going to miss him in the long run, because he's a -- he's a person that is focused on solving problems." Asked if Boehner's departure...

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump slammed Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) as a “clown” during his address at today’s Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C. At Trump’s mention of Rubio, the audience immediately started booing and then fell into a hushed silence as Trump recounted Rubio’s involvement in the amnesty effort. “You have this clown Marco Rubio,” Trump said, “He was in favor of immigration… It was the Gang of Eight. You remember the Gang of Eight. It was terrible,” Trump said. Trump said Rubio continues to support all of the same immigration expansionist policies laid out in amnesty bill he...

“What I hear everywhere when you say Jeb’s name is, ‘If you want to lose the general election, nominate Jeb,’ ” the fundraiser added.

Ben Carson has surged into a statistical dead heat with Donald Trump in the race for the 2016 GOP nomination, a new poll shows. According to an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released Sunday, Trump still leads the race, with the support of 21% of Republican primary voters across the U.S., but Carson follows with 20% — well within the poll’s 6-percentage-point margin of error. Just weeks ago, Trump was still the clear front-runner but Carson has been steadily gaining on him since Trump’s average performance in the second Republican debate earlier this month. And just one month ago, in the...

Morning Joe 9/4/15 Trump: You have to speak English Donald Trump discusses his recent criticisms of Jeb Bush speaking Spanish while on the campaign trail. Duration: 3:15

A new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released Sunday shows Carson with 20% support among Republican primary voters nationally, just 1 point below Trump. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) tied for third in the poll, both grabbing 11%, while former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's (R) support sunk to 7%.

<p>A new poll conducted by Zogby Analytics after last week’s Republican presidential debate on CNN shows Donald Trump leading Dr. Ben Carson by 20 points.</p> <p>According to the survey, conducted September 18-19, made up of 405 likely Republican primary/caucus voters nationwide, Trump garnered the support of 33 percent, which is an increase of 2 percentage points since Zogby’s previous poll. Dr. Ben Carson remains in second place, but dropped 3 points to 13 percent.</p>

Son of Cuban immigrants embraces one of Clinton's top early prioritiesPlan would offer businesses 25 percent tax credits in return for replacing unpaid leave with paid leave insteadPlan requires no new taxes or regulations, he says By J. Taylor Rushing, , U.s. Political Reporter In Washington Published: 09:01 EST, 25 September 2015 | Updated: 10:15 EST, 25 September 2015 View comments Sen. Marco Rubio on Friday called for expanding the 1993 Family & Medical Leave Act - a central part of President Bill Clinton's initial agenda upon taking office - to allow more American parents to spend more time...

Donald Trump remains the frontrunner among Republican presidential candidates in Florida, with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush maintaining strong support, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina surging, neurosurgeon Ben Carson losing some ground and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio on the rise, according to a Jacksonville University Public Policy Institute poll of registered Republican likely voters released today. Donald Trump remains the frontrunner among Republican presidential candidates in Florida, with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush maintaining strong support, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina surging, neurosurgeon Ben Carson losing some ground and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio on the rise, according to a Jacksonville...

Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio offered a measure of support for President Obama’s first executive amnesty program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, during a recent interview he conducted in Spanish this week with Univision’s Jorge Ramos. Rubio’s comments mark a reversal of sorts from criticism he offered of DACA last year, and they also put him at odds with the conservative Republican base, which he will need in his corner if he hopes to win the 2016 GOP presidential nomination.

Donald Trump is coming to Washington with a message for Congress and the American people: Stop the nuclear deal with Iran. And he will be joined by a star-studded galaxy of conservative leaders. Appearing with the leading Republican presidential contender will be fellow candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, former Gov. Sarah Palin, R-Alaska, political commentator Glenn Beck, radio talk-show host Mark Levin and many others in what promises to be a huge rally to try stop the Iran deal at the Capitol on Wednesday.

Former Florida Governor and Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush responded to fellow candidate Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s criticism of his position on the Iran deal by saying “tearing up an agreement’s not a strategy” on Tuesday’s “America’s Newsroom” on the Fox News Channel. Jeb stated, [relevant remarks begin around 3:30], “Martha, what I said was that we need a strategy, tearing up an agreement’s not a strategy. The strategy needs to contain Iran’s ambitions in the region. We’re going to [give] $100 billion, if this agreement goes through, at least, to be able to continue to be the largest sponsor...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) may be “closest to Obama in his view on foreign policy,” as Dr. Charles Krauthammer put it on Tuesday, but he is facing stiff competition from Jeb Bush in that category. The former Florida governor praised Obama’s initial negotiating efforts with Iran on Tuesday, telling an audience in Denver that “we need to give him credit” for “bringing other people along and making it tougher.” The puzzling statement suggests the influence of James A. Baker III on the Bush campaign. Baker, a former Secretary of State, was the co-chair of the Iraq Study Group in 2006,...

Jeb Bush on Friday gave sharp criticism of the nuclear deal with Iran, but said he wouldn't immediately kill the agreement on his first day in office if he becomes the next president. The former Florida governor told an audience at a campaign event in Carson City, Nevada, that he'd take a more pragmatic approach by consulting with his Cabinet and allies before scratching the nuclear agreement altogether. "One thing I won't do is just say as a candidate: 'I'm just going to tear up the agreement on the first day.' That sounds great, but maybe you ought to check...

Jeb Bush talks frequently about a big tent. But it wasn't until yesterday that I realized that his reference to a "big tent" was actually about a man wearing a dress. Bush reportedly said he was “fine” with transgender persons openly wearing the uniform as long as the Pentagon determines that doing so would not undermine U.S. troop morale. “If you can accommodate people who are transgendered and deal with making sure the military’s comfortable with this and making sure that the overriding principle ought to be how do we create the highest morale for the greatest fighting force the...

Jeb Bush took a tough but nuanced foreign policy stance during an appearance here Friday morning, calling for reversing the ban on concealed weapons at military installations and calling out his Republican rivals for hollow promises to repeal the Iran nuclear agreement on their first day in office. Bush, looking to position himself as an electable conservative in a sprawling primary field thrown into turmoil by the unexpected rise of Donald Trump, reiterated his opposition to the Iran agreement, which will ease economic sanctions on the country in exchange for a decade of limitations to its nuclear program. But he...

Grassroots voters in 2014 apparently foiled a secret plan by House Speaker Rep. John Boehner to give his top job to the party’s House Majority Leader, Rep. Eric Cantor, who is a close ally of the GOP’s establishment wing. The plan suddenly collapsed last June after Cantor’s constituents in Virginia’s 7th district rejected him in favor of his primary challenger, economics professor Rep. Dave Brat. Brat won by blasting Cantor for mimicking Senator Sen. Marco Rubio’s effort to pass the mass-amnesty bill that would further raise high immigration levels. “The Speaker’s plan was to serve only through the end of...

For the GOP field, the poll shows that new frontrunners have emerged: Donald Trump still leads with 26 percent of likely Republican primary voters casting their choice with the billionaire, but he's now followed by Carly Fiorina at 16 percent, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at 9 percent, and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson with 8 percent. Jeb Bush has fallen to fifth in the pack with 7 percent, which ties him with John Kasich. The favorability ratings for the GOP field also spell a very dismal outlook for Bush. Fiorina tops Republican contenders when it comes to favorable public opinion: Sixty-two...

Ooouuuch. My sides are still aching after last week's comical announcement by GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush that he had snagged the coveted endorsement of notorious electoral reject Eric Cantor, the former House majority leader kicked to the curb by disgusted voters in Virginia's 2014 primary election. Newsflash to GOP elites: Getting Cantor's support is not like landing a prized marlin. It's like hooking one of those hideous bottom-feeding blobfish named the world's ugliest creature. Inside the Beltway, The Washington Post reported, "Cantor remains well-liked and respected in the Virginia business community and among the Republican donor class in the...