Free Republic

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush drew 240 people in his first Sioux City campaign stop, where he vowed to deliver "competency and conservative principles" to lead the U.S. to a new era of growth. "I want to win... I will run with heart, I will run with conviction," Bush said.

Pundits have focused recently on Hillary Clinton’s narrowing lead in polls among a group of less well known Republicans, along with voters' growing skepticism about her integrity. But there's a more immediate threat to her electability: In the last few weeks, Clinton has lost significant ground in New Hampshire and Iowa to socialist Bernie Sanders. The latest Suffolk University poll has Sanders within 10 percentage points of Clinton, at 41-31, among Democrats in New Hampshire. Clinton is only eight points ahead of Sanders, 43-35, in a WMUR/CNN poll. In Iowa she has slipped 26 points since May. Considering this enthusiasm...

The biggest question hanging over Walker's presidential campaign is whether the political strategy that got him this far can work at the next level. "I'm pro-life," Scott Walker said, looking directly into the camera. "But there's no doubt in my mind the decision of whether or not to end a pregnancy is an agonizing one. That's why I support legislation to increase safety and to provide more information for a woman considering her options. The bill leaves the final decision to a woman and her doctor." That was last October, less than a month before Election Day, when the Wisconsin...

“Due to the overwhelming response for Saturday’s Rally in Phoenix, Arizona the venue has been changed to accommodate the thousands of people expected to attend and the event will now take place at the Phoenix Convention Center,” Trump’s press secretary Hope Hicks wrote in a press release. Also due to Trump’s growing support, he’s formed a South Carolina Steering Committee. In a press release Thursday, Trump’s campaign announced, “The rapidly growing list includes over 100 members from across the state and represents a cross-section of well-known fiscal and social conservatives.” Also on Thursday, the Trump campaign announced three Iowa Co-Chairs:...

It is now legal for physicians in Iowa to administer abortion-inducing pills by webcam. Last month, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled a ban on using webcam communication to administer abortion-inducing pills was unconstitutional. This telemedicine abortion procedure, used only at Planned Parenthood clinics in Iowa and Minnesota, is banned in 18 other states for safety reasons. Since Planned Parenthood of the Heartland in Iowa became the first to use the webcam procedure in 2008, more than 7,200 babies have been aborted this way. The organization operates seven telemedicine sites in Iowa that use a secure video conferencing system, compliant with...

WEST DES MOINES — Ted Cruz says he’s ready to take on federal lawmakers and lobbyists, a group he likes to call “the Washington cartel.”The U.S. senator from Texas and conservative firebrand running for president appeared Monday at a Barnes and Noble here to sign copies of his book, “A Time for Truth.”Before signing books for more than 60 people, Cruz chatted with reporters, saying that as president, he would attempt to break the bond between “career politicians” and special-interest lobbyists.Cruz said examples of that fight would include ending subsidies such as financial benefits for sugar growers and eliminating the...

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz says his new book will show grassroots Republicans how their current national leaders are corrupted by the “cartel” of lobbyists and special interests in Washington.“I think what Republican primary voters want to know is when have you stood up to Republican leadership, standing with the people, standing with the constitution, standing with freedom and when have you endured the beatings from Democrats, from the media and from the Republican leadership, from the Washington cartel,” Cruz told reporters this afternoon before going into a Barnes & Noble to sign copies of the book for two hours.Cruz accused...

DES MOINES, Iowa — Several presidential hopefuls will be making campaign stops in Iowa early this week. The first to make the rounds in Des Moines was Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on Monday. Watch videoKCCI’s chief political reporter Cynthia Fodor spent some one-on-one time with Cruz.Cruz stood in line at Smokey Row coffee shop in Des Moines, chatting with voters.Cruz will get the vote of Betty Odgaard, who owns the Gortz House in Grimes, because of Cruz’s view of religious liberty. Odgaard was sued for refusing to host a same-sex wedding because of her Mennonite beliefs.“We have enjoyed getting to...

Among likely Iowa Republican caucus-goers, 46 percent said that illegal immigrants should be required to leave the U.S., 34 percent said they should be able to stay and have a path to citizenship, and 17 percent said that they should be able to stay but without a path to citizenship. In other words, a total of 63 percent of Iowa Republicans oppose a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

Senator Lindsey Graham has made his position clear in the past that he would lead America to a more direct form of engagement with ISIS should he become president in 2016. During an election event in Des Moines, Iowa on Friday, he promised his attendees that he would say “exactly what I believe” on the issues, which was soon followed by an opportunity to prove it. While Graham said at the event that he’s not shy when it comes to voicing his disagreement, he has not yet suggested that the way to deal with Islamic terror extremists is by prohibiting...

Pro-life regulations in Texas, North Carolina, Kansas and Iowa have been stymied in court challenges. Affected are a Texas law requiring abortion clinics to qualify as ambulatory surgical centers and for abortion doctors to have hospital admitting privileges; a North Carolina law requiring doctors to show pregnant women ultrasound images before performing an abortion; a Kansas law banning dismemberment abortions; and an Iowa Board of Medicine ban on “webcam” abortions. Texas The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday issued a stay of House Bill 2, which was slated to go into effect July 1, until the justices can consider whether to...

Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin spent months persuading influential Republicans that he alone had the impressive conservative achievements and mainstream American appeal needed to not only win the party’s nomination but also recapture the White House. Breakout performances on the stump in Iowa early this year vaulted Mr. Walker, who is expected to officially enter the presidential race this month, into the lead in polls in the state with the nation’s first nominating contest, and cemented him among the top three Republican contenders in most national surveys. But the expectations created by that early prominence, as well as a growing...

The vocal pivot from such traditional social issues marks the first time U.S. Catholic bishops have publicly asked those seeking the White House to heed the admonitions of Francis' June encyclical, said Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines. In Francis' major teaching document, the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics called for a "sweeping revolution" to correct a "structurally perverse" economic system that allows the rich to exploit the poor and has turned the Earth into an "immense pile of filth."

Populist Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is on a roll, more than doubling his support in Iowa where the Democratic race is coming down to the independent against Hillary Rodham Clinton, with others like Vice President Joe Biden and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley becoming irrelevant. In a new Quinnipiac University poll of likely Iowa caucus-goers released Thursday, Clinton continues to lead, 52 percent to 33 percent for Sanders. That is a huge jump for the outspoken Sanders. In a May poll, it was Clinton by a margin of 60 percent to 15 percent.

Rep. Steve King, who himself came under fire for making controversial comments concerning immigrants, says he appreciates Donald Trump's "scrappiness" and that there is truth behind his comments on Mexicans. (SNIP) "I have been down to the border and the number I come back with is 75 percent are sexually abused on the way to the United States," said King. "I say in Donald Trump's defense, somebody is doing that to the kids being raped and abused. It's reasonable to conclude they are Mexicans." (SNIP) The 13th and 14th Amendments were ratified to "end slavery and make sure there were...

Washington (CNN)Whatever New Hampshire saw in Donald Trump, it looks like Iowa is seeing it too. After taking second place in the latest New Hampshire polls, Trump is also claiming the silver in Iowa -- where he traveled hot off his announcement -- claiming 10% of support among likely caucus-goers, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker continues to lead the Republican field in the Hawkeye state with 18%, while Ben Carson tied with Trump for second. Walker has yet to announce he is running for president, but is expected to launch his campaign this...

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker leads the pack in the Iowa Republican Caucus, but his support is shrinking among likely Republican Caucus participants, as six other contenders battle for second place, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. New Jersey Gov. Christopher Christie is in 15th place, with 1 percent. Walker has 18 percent of likely GOP caucus participants, compared to 25 percent in a February 25 poll by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University and 21 percent in a May 6 survey. Jostling for second place are Donald Trump and Ben Carson, at 10 percent each, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul...

CNN - Whatever New Hampshire saw in Donald Trump, it looks like Iowa is seeing it too. After taking second place in the latest New Hampshire polls, Trump is also claiming the silver in Iowa -- where he traveled hot off his announcement -- claiming 10% of support among likely caucus-goers, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker continues to lead the Republican field in the Hawkeye state with 18%, while Ben Carson tied with Trump for second. Walker has yet to announce he is running for president, but is expected to launch his campaign...

Lawmaker Announces Support at Annual PicnicPIERSON, Iowa – Speaking from a flatbed trailer flanked by bales of hay and political yard signs, State Senator Bill Anderson surprised the crowd at his annual picnic this weekend by “doing something I’ve never done before,” and announcing his endorsement of Sen. Ted Cruz for President.Anderson, who is serving his second term in the Iowa Senate, invited Cruz to be the keynote speaker at the annual event held in the ball park outfield at Pierson City Park. When making his introduction, Sen. Anderson highlighted several areas that caused him to give his support to...

To keep conservative rebels in check, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his allies have been doling out punishments at an aggressive clip in the 114th Congress. From kicking unruly members off the Rules Committee and GOP whip team to stripping a lawmaker of his subcommittee gavel, leadership has been growing more comfortable with taking retaliatory measures to try to enforce party discipline. But several Tea Party targets haven’t gone quietly. They’ve been fighting back with help from Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan’s conservative House Freedom Caucus, which successfully pressured leaders this week to return a subcommittee gavel to one of their...