Free Republic

"....Like his fellow GOP presidential hopeful, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Cruz cannot count on a certain rapport with Latino voters simply because he is Latino himself. Trust doesn't work that way, not in life and not in politics. Hispanic voters are weary of being targeted as a desirable voter demographic to be flattered but not much more. They can spot the phony. To many critics, Cruz has tried to court two mistresses: tea party conservatives, on the one hand, and Hispanic voters whom he views as ready for takeover by the GOP. Cruz believes, with some justification, that Latinos...

[SNIP] ".........While the joke goes that every senator looks in the mirror each morning and sees a potential occupant of the Oval Office, senators do have automatic fund-raising bases and little difficulty attracting the spotlight. Still, since 1960, only two — John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Barack Obama of Illinois — have risen directly to the White House.... [SNIP] ....For now, Republican Senate colleagues are optimistic about the presidential aspirants’ ability to make it back to Washington for crucial votes, and about the party leadership’s willingness to try to work around their campaign schedules, when possible. “Remember when Obama...

Prominent voices in conservative media have already begun deciding on favorites in the Republican presidential primary. Most of the candidates and potential candidates have received at least some praise from influential voices in the right-leaning news media, but since the start of 2015, there have been clear signs of who is warming up to who. After Sen. Marco Rubio announced his candidacy in mid-April, the Wall Street Journal editorial board, representing the corporate pro-immigration wing of the GOP, sang the Florida freshman's praises in ways unfelt by others in the field. "The senator … has the rhetorical gifts to make...

Republican insiders in early-voting states say a crucial battle is emerging in the 2016 presidential race between Marco Rubio and Scott Walker, competing to establish themselves as the party’s “bridge” candidate who can appeal to both the establishment and grass-roots activists.As it has become increasingly apparent that they are key rivals, the men have started taking regular,subtle but unmistakable,shots at one another. Walker talks about the need to nominate someone who is not from Washington and implicitly compares Rubio to Barack Obama. Rubio suggests that there is “no way” a governor like Walker is prepared to deal with global crises...

(RNS) When Republican presidential hopeful Scott Walker spoke last Saturday (April 25) to an influential gathering of Christian conservatives in an Iowa church, he brought along a little reading material. Standing before more than 1,000 people at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition, the Wisconsin governor used part of his time to read from “Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence,” a Christian devotional written in the first-person voice of Jesus by missionary-turned-author Sarah Young. “‘The way to walk through demanding times is to grip my hand tightly,’” Walker read to the crowd. “‘Regardless of the day’s problems, I can...

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has poached Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s "most prominent pro-Israel backer," The Washington Free Beacon reports. Rich Roberts, a major Republican donor who Politico described as "a kingmaker among ultra-Orthodox Jews" in his home state of New Jersey, had been a benefactor to Paul, even paying for the senator’s 2013 trip to Israel. But Roberts is now throwing his support to Walker, who has not yet declared his candidacy, though it’s expected, because he believes the Wisconsin governor is more electable. "I like Rand Paul a lot, our relationship goes back now about three or four years,"...

The heartache and bewilderment is still prevalent in Wisconsin following three election victories for Gov.Scott Walker (the presumptive presidential candidate) in the span of about four years. This is also coupled with majorities in both state legislative houses for Republicans, which allows them to impose their agenda with little to no protest. All of these facts underscore a pretty dire situation for Democrats in this state. So what is being done to try to reverse this tide? Within the last few years, a trend has emerged of people mischaracterizing the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. They make statements...

Powerline audio LINK [runs 9:00] Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wisconsin) addressed the Freedom Club’s annual dinner in Minnesota. Walker made time between photos and the dinner for a Power Line interview. icon From Power Line’s John Hinderacker: How was his speech? It was terrific. I have wondered whether Walker would be dynamic enough to succeed on the national stage. His low-key style has served him well in Wisconsin, but would he be able to inspire national Republicans? I needn’t have worried. Walker spoke extemporaneously, without notes (or, needless to say, teleprompter), and from the heart. He got a thunderous reception from...

Scott Walker enters the Republican presidential race with far stronger ties to the party’s biggest fund-raisers than any other candidate besides Jeb Bush.Roughly half of the nation’s top 250 Republican donors have given money to Mr. Walker in his campaigns for Wisconsin governor, according to an Upshot analysis of Federal Election Commission records and state records. By comparison, 30 percent have given to Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, 20 percent to Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and 10 percent to Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey.A presidential campaign is a chance for candidates to introduce themselves to top fund-raisers, and...

".....Even as he shifts to the right, however, Walker, a preternaturally careful candidate, is avoiding any explicit suggestion that he is the champion of disaffected white voters. Still, key policy positions — particularly his changing stance on immigration and his attacks on public sector unions — reveal a carefully directed appeal. In 2011, Walker successfully sponsored legislation repealing most collective bargaining rights for government employees. Walker’s anti-union initiative has made him a folk hero to conservatives concerned about what they see as the expanding power of government. In a recent paper, “The Whiteness of Wisconsin’s Wages,” Dylan Bennett, a professor...

Editor’s Note: This is a weekly feature where we single out which 2016 presidential candidate did the best job crafting a winning message, based on the 10 Commandments of Political Warfare from Steve Deace’s book “Rules for Patriots: How Conservatives Can Win Again.” Previous Winners: Week of March 17th: Rand Paul Week of March 24th: Ted Cruz Week of March 31st: Ted Cruz Week of April 7th: Bobby Jindal Week of April 14th: Rand Paul Week of April 21st: Rick Santorum To say I wasn’t impressed with Scott Walker’s initial presidential roll-out would be an understatement. After speaking of the...

Published April 28, 2015: 10:29 YouTube interviewQuestions and answers covered: Announce when? Common Core Immigration Marriage Laws First think you'll do if elected president? Obamacare Life What sets you apart?

Via the Washington Times, this is worth blogging if only because, despite the field being ridiculously crowded, there are realistically only two or three guys who could win both Iowa and New Hampshire. Rand Paul could do it if the Ron Paul rEVOLution in both states turns out in droves, but he has yet to make a splash in early polls and he’ll face bruising attacks from the right before those states go to vote. Marco Rubio could do it but he’ll have to cobble together a plurality by clawing votes from other top-flight contenders across the spectrum — Bush,...

Scott Walker remains something of an enigma. Beyond the story of the Eagle Scout son of a Baptist preacher whose faith guides him, we’ve never gotten much of a glimmer of what drives him. It requires huge amounts of energy and long, exhausting days to attempt what Walker is doing — to run for president and campaign across the nation and make international political trips while still serving as governor — and that isn’t possible unless something very powerful is pushing you. But Walker always projects an icily calm persona, never revealing the least glimpse of any inner demons. A...

A new poll shows Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker sitting atop a handful of 2016 GOP contenders in the early presidential state of Iowa, notching a 10-point lead over his nearest rival. Mr. Walker, who has not yet officially declared his candidacy, was the choice of 23 percent of Republicans, followed by Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida at 13 percent and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 12 percent, according to the survey released Tuesday by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling......................"

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker appears to have an early edge in Iowa. Craig Robinson, founder and editor of TheIowaRepublican.com, calls Walker the “clear frontrunner” following the weekend Faith and Freedom Coalition event in that state, which hosts the country’s first caucuses. A number of the potential GOP presidential candidates attended the summit and addressed an audience of Iowa voters. Sen. Marco Rubio delivered “one of the best-delivered speeches of the night,” Robinson writes. The political observer added that Sen. Rand Paul and Carly Fiorina got people talking. Fiorina “is going to be a surprise on caucus night if she keeps...

".....In contrast to a Republican summit in New Hampshire last week, Saturday’s event was largely devoid of attacks on the national Common Core education standards and overhauling entitlement programs. There were far fewer references to tax policy, trade or regulation. Instead, speakers gave full-throated endorsements of their religious beliefs and the role Christianity has played in shaping American values. Speaking at an evangelical church with a large wooden cross near the stage, would-be candidates detailed the role of faith in their life, quoted Biblical passages and gave personal anecdotes about the power of prayer. Mr. Jindal opened his speech by...

As he’s become the 2016 GOP presidential campaign’s clear frontrunner—before even announcing a candidacy—Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s 2016 team just made a huge pickup, Breitbart News has learned exclusively. Shirley & Banister Public Affairs will be handling strategic communications for Walker’s Super PAC, the Unintimidated PAC, and providing historical context that will prove crucial for the campaign. Since the firm’s two partners—Craig Shirley and Diana Banister—are extraordinarily connected among major players in the conservative movement, they’ll be filling a key gap in Walker’s growing team of influential staffers. “One of the hallmarks of SBPA is we only work with people...

......Each candidate [Walker, Perry, Bush, Christie], sometimes in nearly identical language, told the audience of activists gathered in Nashua this weekend that they should be considered for the presidency because they didn’t just talk about conservative ideas, they had put them into practice as governors. Perry made the case most powerfully: >>>The next president of the United States really needs to be someone who has deep experience as an executive. And I’m talking about things you just can't learn with a book, things you can’t just learn sitting down. Because I’ll give you some examples. They didn’t hand me a...

In results that were stunning for several reasons, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was the runaway winner in a "straw poll" of Republican presidential favorites at Pennsylvania’s largest-ever gathering of conservatives, the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference, on Friday and Saturday.With the "straw ballots" counted and released on Saturday, Walker was an easy winner with 91 votes, followed by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz with 58 votes. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum was third with 56 votes.Since the first PLC back in 1989, the group has become the most-attended and most-watched conclave of conservatives in the Keystone State. Fueled by the recent campaigns of...