Free Republic

In the wake of Scott Walker's exit from the 2016 race last week, Chart Westcott — a major donor and fundraiser for the Wisconsin governor — heard personally from four GOP presidential candidates. He spoke to the finance chairs for nearly every campaign and super PAC. And he got lobbied by local supporters of the various candidates. "It was intense," said Westcott, a Dallas-based biotech investor who bundled money for Walker and gave $200,000 to a super PAC supporting him. In the end, he decided to go with Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. "I wanted somebody who would completely shake...

With the Summer of Trump behind us, the GOP presidential primary race is beginning to take shape. The sharp decline and hasty exit of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker leaves only four truly competitive candidates for the Iowa Caucuses on Feb. 1: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Donald Trump, Ben Carson and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. Cruz has the strongest ground game of that group and is the best-funded. Carson is better organized than most realize, but has an unproven team and is an unproven candidate. I agree with many experts who believe we now have seen Trump's peak in polling,...

Update at 6:33 p.m.: Former Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis touted Hillary Clinton’s experience and grit, while castigating Texas Sen. Ted Cruz as “not fit to lead” during a coffee klatsch for Clinton in Austin Wednesday evening. Speaking to about 40 people, Davis endorsed the former secretary of state’s presidential bid. “Hillary has demonstrated for many years her exemplary ability to lead in the face of real challenges,” she said. “We need someone like that.” Davis said that as the nation’s first female president, Clinton would “hopefully knit this Congress back together” and promote an agenda of “things that...

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul could be on the chopping block and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham may not even make the undercard debate under criteria released Wednesday by CNBC ahead of its Oct. 28 GOP presidential debate. The rules would limit the prime-time debate to any candidates polling above 3 percent. That's of an average of national polls released between Sept. 17 and Oct. 21. Surveys from NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox News, CNN and Bloomberg will be used to make the determination. To quality for the undercard debate, candidates must pull in at least 1 percent support in any of...

Donald Trump boasted several times that the amazing ratings both Fox News and CNN enjoyed while hosting the first two Republican presidential debates is primarily due to his presence in them, and after seeing the viewership numbers from The Donald’s appearance on 60 Minutes the other night, he might be right. Kipp Jones of Breitbart reports. “Trump’s Sunday evening interview with 60 Minutes, in which Russian President Vladimir Putin was also interviewed by Charlie Rose, brought in big ratings for CBS, which finished Rand Paul only behind NBC’s Sunday Night Football.” “…Scott Pelley’s sit-down with GOP frontrunner Donald Trump brought...

Presidential candidate U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today announced the endorsement of former Scott Walker supporter, Iowa State Senator Randy Feenstra (R-Hull). The endorsement follows Cruz’s earlier announcement that all three of Walker’s former grassroots co-chairs in Georgia are also now organizing for the Cruz campaign. “It is an honor to earn Randy’s support and I look forward to working with him as we compete to win Iowa and the entire GOP primary,” Sen. Cruz said. “I am very proud of the network of courageous conservatives we’ve built across Iowa. Their hard work will be crucial to restore jobs, growth...

Mitt Romney long ago ruled out a presidential run in 2016, but he is hardly retired from politics. As he answered questions from college students for an hour on Wednesday, it became clear that Romney is a keen if not obsessive observer of the campaign’s twists and turns and has strong ideas on what the Republican Party and its eventual nominee must do to win back the White House. “The Democrats have done a great job characterizing my party as the party of the rich,” Romney said. “Nothing could be further from the truth.” He added: “Rich people have gotten...

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Home-state presidential hopeful and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz says he's secured endorsements from 36 Republican Texas state representatives and five state senators. Cruz announced Wednesday that those backers joined fellow Republicans and U.S. Reps. Randy Weber, Louie Gohmert, Michael Burgess, John Culberson, John Ratcliffe and Brian Babin in formally endorsing his 2016 White House bid. Tea party-backed Cruz has angered members of the Republican establishment in Washington, but remains popular with grassroots activists and top conservatives back home...

‘Jerry, how much do you think Lorne Michaels would pay me if I were to run in 2016?” Sarah Palin asked Jerry Seinfeld in a skit that aired as part of Saturday Night Live’s 40th anniversary special in February. “Run for president? Sarah, I don’t think there’s a number too big,” Seinfeld responded. “Run for president? Sarah, I don’t think there’s a number too big,” Seinfeld responded. “Hypothetically, then, what if I were to choose Donald Trump as my running mate?” Palin continued. “Sarah, you’re teasing us, that’s not nice!” Seinfeld responded in mock indignation. Eight months ago, the idea...

The Libertarian Party conducted a poll a few months back in order to better understand the religious demographic of party members. A result which surely shocked many was the stereotype-shattering data the Libertarian Party got back. Of the 19,428 votes caste, around 50% of those who participated came back as Christian. ArenÂ’t libertarians just a bunch of atheist? Well, only 42% of Libertarian voters identified as Atheists. This is incredibly exciting! This is an opportunity to not only expand the message of limited government, free markets, and individual liberty, but on a personal level, to expand the Gospel of Christ...

Twitter feuds, hero bashing, insulting not one but two ethnic groups, ad hominem personal attacks on opponents, nose-to-nose confrontations, just one scandal after another—these aren’t from episodes of Keeping Up With the Kardashians—they’re from the “Trump Saga.” At the outset of the campaign, Trump insulted anyone and everyone: from calling undocumented immigrants “killers” and “rapists” to insulting venerated war hero John McCain. He then moved on to TV host Megyn Kelly, radio host Erick Erickson, Univision reporter Jorge Ramos, the pope, Carly Fiorina and the Fox News Channel. Democrats and Republicans alike didn’t take Trump too seriously when he entered...

By October 28th, we’ll be four full months into Trumpmania and will have shed, at a minimum, two of the most successful Republican governors in America from the field. Let’s either do one big debate with all the candidates left or face the hard reality that we’re never going to have a President Pataki or President Graham by culling the asterisk candidates. Another undercard debate isn’t going to help anyone who didn’t make it out of the first two. In fact, didn’t Chuck Todd say just a few days ago that NBC felt no pressure to feature 10 or 11...

Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump, speaks at an event sponsored by the Greater Charleston Business Alliance and the South Carolina African American Chamber of Commerce. Real-estate tycoon Donald Trump retains a significant lead over his Republican rivals, according to a new poll from Suffolk University and USA Today. About 23.5% of likely Republican voters in the poll said they prefer Trump as the Republican Party's nominee. Trump leads retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, who each received about 13% support. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida), at 9%, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), at 8%,...

WASHINGTON – Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, aiming for a big moment in the Texas presidential primary next March, will announce a broad slate of Lone Star State supporters on Wednesday. Cruz's Houston-based presidential campaign plans to roll out an endorsement list of 35 state representatives and five state senators, likely the largest declared contingent of Texas lawmakers so far in the contest for the GOP nomination. They join Texas U.S. Reps. Randy Weber, Louie Gohmert, Michael Burgess, John Culberson, John Ratcliffe, and Brian Babin in endorsing Cruz. A Cruz campaign aide noted that they now have won over a...

A lot of Republicans are hoping Donald Trump will go away, and here’s why he won’t: The Thirders aren’t going away, either. Understand, the Thirders aren’t a lot of us — just a third — but being the life force of the Republican Party, they are enough to run it. That’s a takeaway from the announced retirement of Speaker John Boehner. He is conceding the House to the forces of GOP wackery. We used to know the Thirders as Birthers, but we’ve come to see that they have, um, diversified. The term “Thirders” is my own. It came from polls...

Just weeks after the leader of a Super PAC supporting Rand Paul was indicted, it was revealed that another Super PAC supporting the Kentucky senator and presidential hopeful has been dormant since June. Politico first reported today that Purple PAC, a Super PAC founded by Ed Crane, has not been actively fundraising for Paul. “We haven’t really been actively soliciting money until we feel the Purple PAC and Rand are on the same page,” Purple PAC leader Ed Crane told ABC News. Crane said that the Super PAC hasn’t shut down, but other than a $10,000 contest, the PAC hasn’t...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)In the Senate, Ted Cruz stood with Rand Paul. On the campaign trail, he's stomping all over him. Cruz on Tuesday unveiled a coalition of libertarian supporters that is chock full of activists who backed Paul's father, Ron Paul, in the two previous Republican presidential primaries. Cruz very unsubtly moved to stamp out the competition for this voting bloc with a campaign video that features this group recalling their fondness for Ron Paul and discussing how Cruz embodies his libertarian ethos. Libertarian Republicans were supposed to form the bulwark of Rand Paul's 2016 campaign. "There are a lot of things...

The funniest part of this story isnÂ’t that theyÂ’re obsessing over an online predictions website. The funniest part is that JebÂ’s standing in that market really might be the best argument they have left to donors to stay aboard while this ship drifts aimlessly towards Iowa and New Hampshire. If PredictIt is for Jeb, who can be against him? Except PredictIt isnÂ’t for Jeb anymore. For the past week, Jeb BushÂ’s campaign advisers have been using a new data point to convince nervous donors that heÂ’s still the candidate to beat: BushÂ’s lead in the political prediction markets. Just one...

After two debates, five Republican candidates jump directly to mind when I think of who would make an effective president in 2016 by temperament and abilities. None of them will be on the stage in the next debate. They are my New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte, who has also been suggested by former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney; South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, whose singular leadership has effectively brought the Palmetto State through the greatest positive changes in business and culture since integration; Governor Brian Sandoval of Nevada, a sterling, contemporary representative of Western conservatism’s infectious business spirit; General David Petraeus;...

Sen. Ted Cruz has snatched away endorsements for his GOP presidential bid that would appear to be a natural fit for rival Sen. Rand Paul – landing the nod from libertarians who've been supporters of Paul's father, Ron Paul. The backing comes from the Liberty Leaders for Cruz coalition, headed by former Georgia Republican Rep. Bob Barr, who ran for president in 2008 and now heads the nonprofit Liberty Guard, Bloomberg reports. "More than any other candidate for President in 2016, Cruz understands that the oath the president takes is a solemn commitment to always act in accordance with the...