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The Republican National Committee (RNC) wants to get ahead of Hillary Clinton’s potential campaign for president. Though the former first lady has yet to announce her candidacy, on Thursday the RNC released an anti-Hillary video. The “infomercial” was posted on poorhillaryclinton.com—a site paid for by the RNC, though “not authorized by any candidate or any candidate’s committee”—and bashes Clinton for her high speaker’s fees and list of demands.

Jeb Bush is wasting no time taking on Hillary Clinton, even though neither party’s potential 2016 standard-bearer has officially committed to a presidential bid. Speaking at a closed-press fundraiser in Connecticut on Wednesday night, Bush suggested to potential donors that the former secretary of state would have to explain President Barack Obama’s foreign policy mistakes, Hearst Connecticut Media reported Thursday. Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/jeb-bush-jabs-hillary-clinton-114073.html#ixzz3OFqzHRQs

RALEIGH — Is North Carolina ready to be an early stop on the road to the White House? Thanks to recent legislation, the Tar Heel State has abandoned its traditionally late presidential primary, held in May. State lawmakers couldn’t let Iowa, New Hampshire, and especially South Carolina have all the fun. So they separated North Carolina’s presidential contest from the state’s other primaries and moved it to the Tuesday after South Carolina’s Saturday primary. Although some of the dates remain tentative, here’s how the nomination battles may unfold according to Josh Putnam, an Appalachian State University political scientist who maintains...

Republican Sen. Rand Paul introduced a bill on Wednesday that would immediately halt U.S. aid to the Palestinians until they halt their effort to join the International Criminal Court to pursue war-crimes charges against Israel.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Looking to connect with the conservative base of his Republican Party, Sen. Marco Rubio says he is sympathetic to Americans who "feel as if we are being taken advantage of" by immigrants in the United States illegally. The rhetoric, which is in Rubio's new book, comes as the Florida lawmaker lays the groundwork for a potential presidential campaign in 2016. Rubio, a first-term lawmaker whose parents came to the United States from Cuba, previously wrote and championed a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's immigration system that passed the Senate...

RandPAC is trolling other potential GOP contenders early and often with the help of Google ads—and Chris Christie and Rick Perry just might be next. When former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush announced in mid-December that he would “actively explore” running for the Republican presidential nomination, curious parties took to Google to learn more about him. While they were there, many of them were greeted by another politician’s name at the bottom of the page—one they hadn’t searched for. “Join a movement working to shrink government. Not grow it,” read one of the ads, placed by RandPAC, the political action committee...

The next two years are a good time to be a local candidate or party organization in Iowa and New Hampshire. The political action committees supporting Rand Paul, Rick Perry, Ted Cruz and Hillary Clinton have already started doling out cash to the campaigns of potential supporters in the states with the earliest presidential contests of 2016. Leadership PACs — like the one Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, will be forming soon — provide a natural vehicle for sending campaign money to state and local candidates and committees in key early presidential states. Several potential presidential candidates, through their...

I enjoy a good “maybe Huckabee’s going to be president” story the way I enjoy a good campfire ghost story. They’re BS, we all know they’re BS, but there’s nothing more satisfying than watching the terror build in your audience as you tell it. They’re even better than “Romney’s 2016!” stories. Well done, Scott Conroy. This one’s the political equivalent of “The Golden Arm.” [T]here is little doubt that a substantial segment of the South Carolina Republican electorate remains culturally and ideologically aligned with Huckabee—giving him a distinct chance of success in a state where he retains a wide swath...

Not so much respect that the state should recognize their commitment as a legal marriage, he stresses, but respect nonetheless. “We live in a democracy, and regardless of our disagreements, we have to respect the rule of law,” Mr. Bush said in a statement. “I hope that we can show respect for the good people on all sides of the gay and lesbian marriage issue – including couples making lifetime commitments to each other who are seeking greater legal protections and those of us who believe marriage is a sacrament and want to safeguard religious liberty.”… Gay rights leaders said...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Rick Santorum says he's in for 2016. Rick Santorum has invited former aides to Washington next week for a "private briefing" on his plans for a possible 2016 presidential bid. The "Personal Invitation from Senator Santorum," provided to CNN by a Republican who received it, was sent by a Santorum aide to more than two dozen "friends and former colleagues" from past campaigns and his time in the U.S. House and Senate. "As you probably know, RJS is seriously considering a run for the White House in 2016," Santorum adviser Matt Beynon wrote in the email, using Santorum's initials. "With...

As a regular presence on the Fox News Channel for six years, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, 59, hasn’t exactly been hiding in the political shadows. Though he didn’t vie for the presidency in 2012, he’s been regularly airing his conservative and evangelical views on his top-rated weekend show, Huckabee. An outspoken opponent of abortion and gay marriage, this “man of deep faith,” as he calls himself, has also been a presence on weekday radio. Now the ordained Southern Baptist minister is leaving the media lights to consider a possible run for the GOP nomination for the White House in...

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's (R) announcement Saturday that he is leaving Fox News as he considers running for president again has regnited an old feud between himself and the conservative Club for Growth -- a spat that dates back nearly a decade. “In a year in which GOP voters appear likely to have several good pro-economic growth candidates to choose from, Mike Huckabee’s big government record would stand out from the crowd, and not in a good way," said Club for Growth president David McIntosh in a statement Monday. Huckabee, a strong retail campaigner with a loyal evangelical Christian...

The first contest of the 2016 presidential race is only (!) a year away, and like most Americans, I’ve been following the start of what promises to be a verrrry long political season with a mixture of anticipation and dread.. Our process is just so exhausting. In addition to actually doing our civic duty--informing ourselves about the issues and the candidates--we have to expend a ridiculous amount of time evaluating each and every gaffe and controversy, deciding whether a) it's real or ginned up; b) whether we have the energy to take our outrage to the next level; and c)...

From the first day of 2011, Mitt Romney was the favorite to win the 2012 Republican presidential primary campaign. No one else was even close. The 2016 outlook could not be more different. Offered the choice to bet on one single candidate to win the nomination versus the rest of the field, the choice would have to be "the field." For the first time in years, there is no one next in line. And without a former vice president or powerhouse former candidate looking likely to run, Republicans are shaping up to spend the next year and a half fighting...

There was a time when I thought that Mike Huckabee had a chance to win over enough “somewhat conservative” voters that, when added to his pre-existing base among conservative white evangelicals, would give him a good chance to win the 2016 Republican nomination. I don’t think that chance exists anymore (if it ever did). He hasn’t done any of the maneuvering he would need to do in order to expand his base of support. Thirteen months is not a long time and he has shown no inclination to make the moves he would need to make in order to expand...

There’s no doubt the Huck will need bucks if he’s going to make a successful run for the GOP nomination, but that’s not the only challenge he faces.Last night, Mike Huckabee bid adieu to his show on Fox, and made his interest in the 2016 Republican presidential nomination a matter of public record. Unlike former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Huckabee is not immediately forming an exploratory committee. Still, the prospect of a Huckabee candidacy should be taken seriously. He finished second in 2008 behind John McCain, and maintains a reservoir of good will among...

The Hill reports: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) will headline the South Carolina Tea Party Coalition Convention this month, joining a pair of other potential presidential candidate[s] also weighing bids to enter the 2016 field. . . . The roster of speakers also includes former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), who ran for president in 2012, and Ben Carson, the Tea Party favorite and former neurosurgeon who’s debating entering the fray. It’s not uncommon for Cruz to play to this sort of crowd. He is a favorite among the most conservative members of the GOP, where he doles out one-liners (Abolish the...

LANSING, MI - While Michigan Republicans are still debating when to hold their 2016 presidential primary, some of the party’s top political strategists are making the case for potential candidates. Welcome to Michigan Political Points, my weekly roundup of news, views and YouTubes from the state Capitol and beyond. CRUZ NEWS: Former Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis, now working as a political consultant, penned a column this week making the case for a Ted Cruz presidential nomination in 2016. “He’s the candidate many in the mainstream media and Washington chattering class love to hate,” Anuzis wrote. “He is demonized...

Happy new year! Welcome to the start of the presidential campaign marathon. For your consideration are five likely candidates, each representing a distinct segment of the U.S. political spectrum. Republicans have three probable candidates. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush would represent the business conservative wing of the GOP -- Pew Research estimates this is 12 percent of likely voters. Bush would be the favorite of the big GOP spenders, the one percent that favors capitalism over democracy. Jeb's strengths are national name recognition, personable manner, Hispanic spouse, and reputation for moderation on social issues. His weaknesses: high unfavorability ratings and...

In a Wednesday post, Hot Air reported on something a friend of Mitt Romney said about the 2012 presidential candidate’s desire to enter the 2016 race. It seems that if it looks like Jeb Bush is the frontrunner, Romney will sit the next race out. However, if Ted Cruz is on his way to the nomination, Romney will enter the race to save the Republican Party and the country from the conservative firebrand. One of the many raps against Cruz is that, while he is the favorite of the conservative, tea party base, he lacks the ability to reach out...