Free Republic

TRENTON — A defiant Gov. Chris Christie appeared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" to defend his badly listing New Jersey job approval polls as the effect of incessant media attacks, rather than his true record. Asked why his job approval dropped from 70 plus percentage ratings to the current 36 percent low, Christie answered, "How 'bout nightly specials on this network, for like, five months, calling me Attila the Hun? How 'bout relentless attacks from the New York Times and the media?" However, he also acknowledged the negative effect that his decision to seek the GOP 2016 nomination was taking. "Then,"...

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and his wife, Jeanette, will join New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Christie's wife, Mary Pat, tonight at the Romney estate on New Hampshire's Lake Winnipesaukee, the Washington Post reports. The two couples will be overnight guests of Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at his 11-acre estate in Wolfeboro, N.H., the Post said. The newspaper quoted an unnamed Romney aide as saying the former GOP presidential candidate heard the Rubios and the Christies would be in Wolfeboro for the holiday weekend, so he invited them to spend the evening with him and his wife, Ann....

After the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage, many Republican 2016 candidates tacked to the right, vowing to fight for religious freedom next. Everyone from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee promised social conservatives they'd use their increasingly limited means to prevent religiously conservative government employees from being forced to issue same-sex marriage licenses, or to grant protections for religiously conservative wedding photographers from having to shoot a same-sex wedding. Let them fight over those folks, says Chris Christie. And he might be onto something. At a New Hampshire town hall Wednesday night, the New Jersey Republican...

Real Clear Politics Average as of 6/18/2015 12.7 Bush 11.7 Walker 10.7 Rubio 9.7 Carson 8.7 Huckabee 8.0 Paul 6.5 Cruz 4.5 Christie 3.5 Perry 3.2 Trump

Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, the funding arm of the political network backed by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, wants a lot more hard information from the crowded field of presidential contenders before deciding what to do with its considerable resources. The group is pressing every 2016 candidate to detail on the record their plans for economic growth, deficit reduction, entitlement reform, criminal justice and even foreign policy. The tax-exempt entity, a key node in a constellation of conservative entities that aims to spend $889 million before the next White House election, distributed a detailed survey Thursday to...

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that won’t necessarily generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers: * Hillary Clinton didn’t explicitly endorse a $15 minimum wage, but she nevertheless made a surprise call yesterday to a convention of fast-food workers who are rallying for the cause. The Democrat declared, “I want to be your champion.” * On “Face the Nation” yesterday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) reiterated his support for a federal crackdown on states that legalized marijuana. Asked if he would “go after” state experiments, and prohibit the legal use of...

Former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, a conservative activist who ran unsuccessfully for governor, House and Senate, will be New Jersey chairman of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign. In a news release, Cruz called Lonegan “a tireless advocate for taxpayers” and said he knows New Jersey politics. Lonegan, a former state director for Americans for Prosperity, said his duties include raising money and putting together a slate of delegates who would run in the 2016 primary pledged to Cruz. He praised Cruz’s unsuccessful effort to force a repeal of the health insurance law commonly called Obamacare through a partial shutdown...

GREENVILLE, S.C. — If Chris Christie runs for president, there's little doubt people will see plenty of the town halls the New Jersey governor is known for. That anything-goes format is his comfort zone, and voters tend to like it. Christie spent hours answering questions at two town hall-style events during the past week in South Carolina — one planned, the other an impromptu session in the back room of a bar. He'll be doing the same in Iowa in the days ahead....

Gov. Chris Christie dropped to ninth place in the latest CNN/ORC International poll of potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates. That's important because both Fox News and CNN indicated that they would invite the top 10 Republican candidates in opinion polls to debate, though CNN said it also would have a separate session with those lower in the surveys. Christie is just two percentage points from 12th place in this latest survey. Here's how the candidates placed in the survey of adults who said they were Republicans or who leaned Republican: 1. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, 14 percent 2....

Kristen Martin recalls her time as an intern for Bernie Sanders, in a contribution to the left's discussion of Sanders' campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.TO THOSE who have spent any significant amount of time in Vermont, it is clear that Bernie Sanders is widely beloved by his constituents. The support for "Bernie," as his supporters fondly call him, was clear on May 26 as thousands flocked to Sanders' presidential campaign kickoff rally on the edge of Lake Champlain in Burlington, Vermont. The "People's Assembly," organized by a group including former Occupy Wall Street activists and environmentalists, spoke to a...

Former U.S. senator and presidential candidate Bob Dole believes a governor, not a senator, will win the 2016 Republican nomination for president. “I think it’s going to be a governor,” Dole said Thursday after a commemorative event at Forbes Field. “I don’t know which one.” Two former governors have announced they will seek the Republican nomination: Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, and George Pataki, former governor of New York. Several other current and former governors are considering a presidential run, including Jeb Bush, of Florida; Rick Perry, of Texas; Scott Walker, of Wisconsin; Chris Christie, of New Jersey;...

Sometime between now and the Republican nomination, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will enjoy a rally in the polls — nationally, and maybe in New Hampshire. Maybe the first debates will provide the Christie boom. Maybe he'll master the town halls in the Granite State. There's also a decent chance the boom will be fleeting. But if you write off Christie after his fall from front-runner status in 2013, you're making a mistake. By no definition is Chris Christie the current Republican front-runner. He hasn't led in a poll since last July. His RealClearPolitics polling average puts him in 7th...

Why Chris Christie Will Be The Next POTUS A Super Tuesday Away From Double Digits The View From The U.S. Virgin IslandsThe eighteen Republicans running for president in 2016 are wise to try to make foreign policy the lead issue in the next POTUS election. Not because Hillary Clinton is especially vulnerable on Benghazi, but because what most people would consider to be her strong suit – foreign policy due to her four years as Secretary of State – is actually her biggest weakness. If you had to put one person from the United States in a locked room with...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)The road to the White House goes through downtown Oklahoma City this week as hopefuls in the crowded Republican field audition on a stage ideally suited for their messages about military power, religious liberty and energy independence. Eleven Republicans with presidential aspirations — including some who have not officially declared their candidacy — will speak at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, which begins at the Cox Convention Center on Thursday and ends Saturday with the release of a straw poll. “This is a huge event for Oklahoma City,” said Gov. Mary Fallin, who will address the conference and introduce some...

The field for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination is as flat as any in modern memory—pretty remarkable for a party that usually has a fight but almost invariably ends up nominating whoever's turn it is. While nomination trial-heat polling tells us very little this early, there are some poll questions that are better measurements of at least where these candidates are starting out, before the campaigning, debates, and advertising begin in earnest.An April 26 to April 30 NBC News / Wall Street Journal poll asked Republican primary voters whether they could or could not see themselves voting for each of 10 different...

The former governor of Florida, John (or as he prefers to be called, Juan) Ellis Bush, doesn't appear to have a lot of support among Republicans, as opposed to Republicans in Name Only (RINOs), who absolutely adore him. But Juan isn't sweating it. He's rolling in dough, and more importantly, he's rolling in opponents. Have you ever heard of a "straw" candidate? When you have a weak front-runner that can't reach 50 percent, often a third, or a fourth, or even a fifth candidate suddenly jumps into the race. If he has a name similar to that of the strongest...

One of the Senate’s leading liberals is borrowing a page from the playbook of Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is pushing to strike out language from the “cromnibus” spending bill unveiled Tuesday that would roll back restrictions on “swaps” transactions included in the 2010 financial regulatory overhaul known as Dodd-Frank. Repealing the “push-out” provision would mean that certain derivatives could again be held in bank units with federal deposit insurance. Using a strategy sometimes employed by Cruz for entirely different policy reasons, Warren said that with the $1.013 trillion spending package first being considered by the...

Hillary launches her campaign on Sunday – and, some Dems say, it’s about damn time.At long last, the campaign has a candidate. After playing one of the more tedious games of cat and mouse in recent American political history, Hillary Clinton stands now ready to admit that she is what she has been for the last two years: an actual contender for the Democratic nomination for president. The announcement comes as Democrats in DC have fretted that without an organized infrastructure Clinton has been a glutton for Republican attacks, and ill-equipped to respond to the news of the moment, whether...

Nearly a week since Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), igniting a nationwide debate about whether the controversial law invites discrimination based on sexual orientation, most potential Republican presidential candidates have taken the opportunity to bolster their conservative credentials. "Governor Pence has done the right thing," said former Florida Governor Jeb Bush on Monday. “I want to commend Governor Mike Pence for his support of religious freedom, especially in the face of fierce opposition,” Texas Senator Ted Cruz said in a written statement. “Governor Pence is holding the line to protect religious liberty in the...

U.S. Senator Rand Paul is running for president … in fact, he announces his candidacy next week in Louisville, Kentucky. From there he travels to early voting Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina – including a big fundraiser in the Palmetto State the day after he announces. As we write this, money is being collected. Speeches are being vetted. He’s 100 percent in … and not only that, Paul is one of the few candidates in the race with (we believe) a path to victory. And one of the few candidates (we believe) to be worthy of real consideration. Is...