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Donald Trump finally said something that shook the Republican establishment out of its self-induced stupor over his presidential candidacy. “He’s a war hero because he was captured,” the loudmouth from New York said about Sen. John McCain, Vietnam War veteran and prisoner of war, at a GOP cattle call in Iowa on Saturday. “I like people that weren’t captured.” That’s rich coming from a billionaire who received five deferments from military service during the Vietnam War. Meanwhile, McCain, who refused early release, was held captive and tortured in a North Vietnam prison for five-and-a-half years. Anyone who aspires to be...

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz is the only major Republican in the field who isn’t jumping all over Donald Trump for his series of provocative comments regarding immigration and John McCain’s war service. In fact, Cruz even recently went to bat for Trump. Cruz and Trump had a private meeting together last week at Trump’s New York City office, the Daily Mail reports, so it’s clear that the two are already talking strategy. Trump has stolen some of Cruz’s thunder, and probably some of his vote share, early in this campaign. The latest Suffolk University poll puts Trump at...

One of the explanations for Donald Trump’s surging poll numbers goes like this: The base doesn’t trust Republican leaders on immigration. The manifestation of this has been support for a man who tells it like it is.The problem with this is that the immigration schism on the right is largely about rhetoric. Almost everybody agrees we must secure the border, and even the most hawkish anti-immigration reform advocates won’t admit they want to deport the 11 million, or so, illegals. There are differences of opinion on whether to allow for a pathway to citizenship or to legalize them, but almost...

He’s number one?! Yes, it’s an early poll and, as such, pretty near useless. Yes, Herman Cain was once number one, too, and we know what happened with that. Yes, the fact that he is number one probably reflects name recognition as much as anything else. And no, he will never be his party’s nominee, much less this country’s president. It won’t happen even if GOP Chairman Reince Priebus has to personally shoot him with tranquilizer darts on the way to the podium to stop it. All that said, don’t let anyone tell you it means nothing that Donald Trump...

Last weekend, Donald Trump added to his long list of bold claims by declaring himself the champion of a new “silent majority” of Americans. While 17 percent of Republican voters isn’t a majority, and the 4,000 raucous supporters cheering him in Arizona were anything but silent, Trump has hurtled to the top of several recent GOP primary polls. Apparently, he speaks for some Americans. So who are they and where did they come from? As it turns out, the Trump coalition looks a lot like the rest of the Republican Party. Other than a spike in support in the Northeast,...

Staff writer Adam Schrader reports:Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders sought Sunday during a Dallas visit to calm complaints about his response, at a progressive activists gathering this weekend, to concerns about police brutality. “We want a nation where a young black man or woman can walk down the street without worrying about being falsely arrested, beaten or killed,” Sanders told more than 8,000 people who packed a Sheraton Hotel ballroom to hear him. (VIDEO-AT-LINK)Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, has been drawing huge crowds in his long-shot bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Though he’s unlikely to wrest the nomination...

Donald Trump’s insult of John McCain’s war record on Saturday has led to nearly universal condemnation from his Republican primary adversaries. More importantly, it might also be the well-anticipated moment when Trump’s popularity in the GOP race comes crashing down. Whatever happens next in the campaign, though, it’s fair to say that the damage to Trump’s national personal standing and miniature media empire has already been done. That happened the instant he entered the race by attacking Mexican immigrants as “criminals” and “rapists,” and it happened thanks largely to an unprecedented grassroots response by Latino-Americans, Latino immigrants, and the broader...

Bernie Sanders is the first real statesman to run for the White House in decades. By focusing on the real issues (as opposed to shallow distractions such as flags, non-existent threats, and celebrity scandals) and refraining from attacking his opponents, he is gaining support across the spectrum at a greater rate than any of us could have imagined three months ago. At the same time, Senator Elizabeth Warren, who shares Sanders’ Progressive ideals and has been supportive of his campaign, could be his most likely running mate. What would a Bernie – Elizabeth Administration look like – and what would...

Donald Trump is the worst thing to happen to the Republican Party since Todd Akin opened his mouth that one time. While Akin was mostly a setback for the Missouri Republican Party—albeit an isolated injury that contributed to the Democrats retaining control of the U.S. Senate—Donald Trump is a train wreck with a national platform. He speaks without prepared remarks, he cares little about messaging, and he cares only about himself. Politico wrote an interesting piece about Trump’s supporters that asked a burning question: “Who exactly is supporting him?” The results were largely inconclusive. He appears to be creating an...

BROOKLYN, Iowa — As many Republican presidential candidates are dodging the political specter of Donald Trump or attacking him, Ted Cruz has incorporated praise for Trump into his campaign stump speech. At a small town hall event here on Friday, Cruz reminded his supporters that he has been the sole Republican to back Trump in light of his myriad controversial remarks, particularly about immigration. “Donald spoke out, and then this parade of Republicans ran out to smack him with a stick, one after the other after the other. The only one that didn’t was me,” Cruz said, to enthusiastic applause...

"No, not at all." That was reality TV star Donald Trump's response to ABC's Martha Raddatz Sunday morning when she asked him whether he owed John McCain an apology for suggesting that the Arizona Senator wasn't a war hero because he had been captured during the Vietnam War. If you were expecting anything else from Trump, you haven't been paying much attention to his presidential campaign. Or his life. Trump's appeal in the 2016 race appears to be built on saying things and acting in ways that other politicians would never dream of doing. Trump, to his credit, appears to...

As the candidates who will qualify for the presidential debate in August begin their preparations, they are going to want to bone up on a range of policy issues and make sure they have coherent answers to hard questions. (Now that Syria is a mess what do we do about it? If a Supreme Court vacancy opens on Day One, who is at the top of your replacement list? Has the president pardoned too few or too many people?) Equally important will be a game plan for neutralizing Donald Trump. Even before Trump self-destructed on Saturday, we saw candidates like...

What’s the only thing that could make the Democratic field more pathetic (and ancient) that it already is? I mean besides Al Sharpton running? How about Al Gore, a relatively youthful 67? The good folks at Salon.com think he should be drafted: It’s time to draft Al Gore: If Democrats want to win, it’s clear neither Hillary nor Sanders is the way By Sean Illing The presidential election is still sixteen months away, but this much is clear: Hillary Clinton is a vulnerable candidate. Since announcing her candidacy in April, Clinton’s stature has steadily slipped. Things got even worse this...

So what are we to make of the Cruz/Trump meeting this past Wednesday? Many have reported on it, but both candidates are fairly mum. Prior to the meeting, Trump said: "I don't know why I'm meeting with him, to be honest, but I do have respect for him." Some would say that the comment is a bit of a swipe at Cruz, but I believe it's just Trump being Trump. I think he likes being the maverick by portraying his candidacy as him against the entire Republican Party. And, for the most part, at least thus far, he's been pretty...

Beating Hillary Clinton requires a Republican nominee who will energize all elements of the Republican Party: fiscal conservatives, national security conservatives, values voters, and constitutional conservatives. Nominating a milquetoast Republican who fails to gain the support of the whole party will cripple Republican enthusiasm and shrink turnout just as it has in previous elections. Since the media is going to chastise Republicans for rejecting the liberal agenda, let’s nominate a solid conservative, energize the Republican Party, and win. At a time when judicial activism and DC’s perverse incentives are concentrating power in Washington, we need a tested candidate who has...

AMES - Moments before she would hear 10 Republican presidential candidates speak, a woman from Ames said she would like to see 16 years of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz in the White House starting in 2017. Judging by the response from the thousands who attended Saturday’s event, which was organized by Iowa’s largest Christian conservative organization, that woman is not alone. Trump — who made some particularly provoking comments — Cruz and Bobby Jindal received some of the most vociferous responses during the fourth annual Family Leader Summit, held Saturday in an auditorium on the Iowa State University campus....

SIOUX CITY - Pointing to his experience as Wisconsin's chief executive, Gov. Scott Walker on Saturday vowed he would establish the toughest foreign policy since Ronald Reagan if he wins the presidency in 2016. Walker, a Republican, told a crowd of 200 in Sioux City that he would steer the nation away from Democratic President Barack Obama's failed, inadequate defense of longtime ally Israel and ensure that sanctions remain on Iran, a nation that is suspected of wanting to develop nuclear weapons. A 60-day period for Congress to review Obama's deal to lift sanctions on Iran is underway. "Iran is...

Ames, Iowa - Donald Trump confirmed two things during a stop in this central Iowa town Saturday: He has no class and he may well run as an independent when he does not win the Republican nomination. There had been considerable public evidence of both long before his appearance here today at the Family Leader Summit but Trump, who is leading several national polls of the Republican primary, erased any doubt with comments he made about Senator John McCain and a prospective independent bid. Trump was answering questions from Republican pollster Frank Luntz on stage when he declared that John...

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Bernie Sanders told veterans in Iowa Friday that unlike some other politicians, he doesn't pay lip service to their concerns. "It is very easy to raise the flag at a troop deployment, it is very easy for a politician to give a moving speech on Veterans Day," Sanders said. "But it is very hard to go down that long road with the men and women who served and make sure that they continue to get all the benefits, all the healthcare, that they are entitled to for the rest of their lives." The Vermont senator told...

One other thing I missed as I was heading out to the mountains last week was the official announcement of Scott Walker as our roughly 238th presidential candidate on the Republican side. Unlike some of the other, shall we say… “overly ambitious” folks tossing their hats in the ring, Walker was obviously a serious contender and had been all but officially running for some time now. Some, like National Review’s Deroy Murdock, are painting Walker as the GOP’s Obi-Wan Kenobi… our last, best hope. His current position in the national polls indicates that this is a theory shared by a...