Free Republic

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...

".....Clinton has kept her distance from Priorities USA Action, the super PAC slated to serve as the major outside support for her campaign. That has frustrated some Democratic operatives, who say donors have been reluctant to make big pledges to the group until they get a clear signal from the former secretary of state. The money spigot is expected to open once Clinton announces her candidacy next month. There have been initial discussions about having her and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, take part in fundraising events for the super PAC, say Democrats familiar with the plans. Without a...

The support of the Evangelical community is hardly decisive, even in a Republican presidential primary. Otherwise, Pat Robertson and Mike "Diabetes Cure" Huckabee might be president. Nevertheless, it's a solid voting bloc, and if there is no clear Republican frontrunner, they can be influential, especially in places like Iowa, which hosts the first caucuses in the nation. A significant organizer in this election cycle is Evangelical leader David Lane. [snip] Ted Cruz and Bobby Jindal seem to be tight with him. [snip] Rand Paul even credits Mr. Lane with helping him find God. [snip] There was no substantive mention of...

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is on an ambitious mission this spring to scoop up major GOP donors ahead of a likely presidential run and send the early message that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush doesn’t have a monopoly on the country’s deep-pocketed Republicans — and his backers say his plan is working. So far the expedition has been successful enough that Republicans not involved with his political effort have noticed, and several GOP operatives in Bush’s orbit conceded to CNN it’s clear a substantial chunk of GOP financiers have taken a liking to him. Walker’s PAC, Our...

This summer, right when the presidential primary fundraising season is in full bloom, the Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to make running for president harder for some candidates than for others. In fact, that's already the case. Republican Govs. Chris Christie, Bobby Jindal and Scott Walker are off limits to some financial industry donors. "Pay to play" rules restrict the governors' ability to accept contributions from investment advisers who work with state and local governments on pensions and bond deals. An SEC ruling could significantly expand that pool of prohibited contributors by July. The original SEC "pay-to-pay" rule took...

Full title: Judicial Watch: Obama Family’s 2014 Christmas Vacation in Hawaii Cost Taxpayers $3,672,798 in Transportation Expenses Martha’s Vineyard August, 2014 Vacation Cost $400,666.30 in Transportation $2,425,085.50 were Spent in Transportation Expenses for Obama’s July, 2014 West Coast Fundraising TripObama Hawaii Christmas vacations over the past three years have cost taxpayers $15,540,515.10 in travel expenses alone; (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it obtained records from the U.S. Department of the Air Force revealing that the Obama family’s 2014 Christmas vacation to Honolulu, Hawaii, cost taxpayers $3,672,798 in flight expenses alone. Christmas in Hawaii is an annual tradition for...

Not so long ago, President Barack Obama and the rest of the Democratic party were obsessed with the possible taint of foreign money. They saw it everywhere, even where it didn’t exist. They couldn’t stop talking about it. They practically ran their 2010 midterm campaign against foreign dollars, especially the phantom threat of secret, illegal donations funneled through the Chamber of Commerce. They called it, breathlessly, “stealing our democracy.” Well, that was a more innocent time, back before the party was poised to nominate a presidential candidate, namely Hillary Clinton, directly connected to foreign dollars. For the Clintons, raising foreign...

Jeb Bush asks donors not to give too much -- well, $1 million or less. Lawmakers, LDS officials and LGBT leaders unveil anti-discrimination bill. Mitt Romney disses Utah GOP over caucus plans.

EVELETH, Minn. – Workers in a call center on Minnesota’s Iron Range don headsets each day knowing their employer’s core business: Get Democrats elected. For years, prominent Democratic candidates and political groups have used the obscure center tucked among hills and pines to canvass and raise money from small donors. DFL organizations, state and national, have paid the phone bank’s current and former owners about $80 million over the last decade, campaign records show. The call center relocated to Eveleth in 2006 thanks in part to a $625,000 loan from a unique state agency called the Iron Range Resources and...

The battle for the Republican presidential nomination is beginning to really heat up. The latest log on the fire? Texas has decided to move its 2016 primary to March 1, making it the fifth state to cast votes. Traditionally, small states hold their primaries before the larger ones. This allows candidates to focus on persuading target groups of voters and gain momentum before facing the daunting challenge of wooing the masses. Texas is huge. At 270,000 square miles, a campaign will need a treasure trove of cash to finance television ads across 20 media markets. The presidential candidates are now...

Constant solicitations for cash in the absence of an actual candidate aren’t sitting well. In early November, with her party on the eve of an electoral walloping, Democrat Mary Tetreau had had enough. The Londonderry, New Hampshire activist was sick of the constant emails begging for money for a candidate who wasn’t even running for office yet. When another plea landed in her inbox the day before the election, she unsubscribed. “I’m not going to be ready for Hillary until she announces she’s running for president,” said Tetreau, a three-decade veteran of New Hampshire primary politics, who called Ready for...

WASHINGTON — The New Organizing Institute, a progressive grassroots outfit responsible for training many of the Democratic party’s digital organizers, has to be rebuilt from the ground up after a mass exodus of senior staff and employees Tuesday.

The unofficial death of the moderate American Democrat went largely unnoticed last week. Tim Ryan — a once-strident champion of the Rust Belt city of Youngstown, filled with moderate Catholic Democrats whose issues are still firmly pocketbook-based — penned an op-ed saying he now supports abortion. The Ohio congressman, who once sat on the board of the Democrats for Life in America advocacy group, made that surprising reversal as he contemplates a run for U.S. Senate. You see, plenty of Jacksonian Democrats remain in his district — and all across the country, for that matter — but no tolerance for...

The Post reports: Former Texas governor Rick Perry on Thursday will announce that he has recruited more than 80 major donors, including some of the biggest bundlers in Republican politics, to aid his efforts as he prepares for a likely 2016 presidential campaign. Perry’s list of supporters is heavy with wealthy Texans, including many energy executives, investors or other business leaders who have backed his previous campaigns, such as his unsuccessful 2012 presidential run. The Rick PAC Advisory Board also features bigwigs in California, New York, Florida, Illinois and other donor-rich states, as well as more than a dozen donors...

Even a cut-rate price of $10,000 can’t get people interested in having dinner with President Obama. That’s a deep discount, compared to a $32,400 ticket prior to the 2014 election. SFist reports an email promoting an event in San Francisco with the president states the fundraiser currently has “many” seats available.

Add Chris Christie to the list of prospective candidates for president now taking donations, a group of Republicans that might ultimately top two dozen.But for all the flurry of activity in the GOP race, set off last month by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and amplified by 2012 nominee Mitt Romney, some of the party’s most sought-after donors appear content to let things shake out a bit before making a commitment to any one candidate. For many of the party’s biggest fundraisers, signing on with a contender is a two-year commitment that usually includes asking friends, family and colleagues for...

Charles Koch on Saturday signaled to hundreds of donors, operatives and conservative leaders gathered in the California desert that the political operation he and his brother David created was just getting started. “Americans have taken an important step in slowing down the march toward collectivism,” Charles Koch said in his speech, seemingly in reference to the Republican takeover of the Senate during the 2014 midterm elections. “But as many of you know, we don’t rest on our laurels. We are already back at work and hard at it! In fact, the work never really ends. Because the struggle for freedom...

Jeb Bush Sets 60 Fundraisers in Push to Freeze Out Foes 3 Jan 2015 By Jennifer G. Hickey The 2012 presidential campaign broke nearly ever campaign finance record and the 2016 campaign likely will eclipse those figures, which is one reason why former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is preparing to set off on a 60-event fundraising tour in hopes of reaching a first-quarter fundraising goal of $100 million, reports Bloomberg News. During a series of meetings held in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday and Wednesday, those interested in supporting Bush were asked to raise various amounts of money — $50,000, $100,000,...

President Obama raised $1.072 billion for his 2012 successful presidential campaign. This is after he raised $750 million for his 2008 campaign. How well is Hillary Clinton expected to do in the fundraising department? According to aides, her efforts will "astound and intimidate." The Hill: Major donors are ready to announce huge financial commitments to Hillary Clinton as soon as she announces a second run for the White House, according to Clinton allies and Democratic fundraisers.  The Clinton team wants to build excitement about her campaign launch, which is expected in March or April. The money blitz would be...

Obama: Many of you have told me that this isn’t what you signed up for—arguing past each other on cable shows, the constant fundraising, always looking over your shoulder at how the base will react to every decision. Imagine if we broke out of these tired old patterns. Imagine if we did something different.Well, that “different” he mentioned didn’t last long. Less than an hour after the speech, a fundraising e-mail from the Democratic Party went out, signed by the president. One frustrated tweeter wrote—quote—“You can’t be serious. After taking a dig at constant fundraising, Obama sends out a fundraising...