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TRENTON — Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is a "natural-born citizen" under the U.S. Constitution and therefore can run in the June 7 New Jersey primary, a state administrative law judge said Tuesday. "The more persuasive legal analysis is that such a child, born of a citizen-father, citizen-mother, or both, is indeed a 'natural born citizen' within the contemplation of the Constitution," Administrative Law Judge Jeff Masin wrote. A group of New Jersey residents and a Catholic University of America law professor insisted that Cruz, born in Canada to an American mother and a Cuban father, did not meet the...

Wednesday, April 6, 2016: At a campaign rally in Bethpage, NY just one day after losing Wisconsin to Ted Cruz, Donald Trump took an opportunity to blast 'Lyin' Ted', saying he couldn't draw 100 people at an event he held earlier in NY. Trump then reminded the crowd of Cruz's "New York Values" comments.

Michael Patrick Carroll looks to Lone Star State for next Commander-In-Chief. MORRIS PLAINS, N.J. - Outspoken New Jersey Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll has formally announced who he's endorsing for President Of The United States, and the candidate has no New Jersey ties. It was announced Monday morning by Ted Cruz's campaign that the decades-long New Jersey legislator endorsed the Republican candidate from Texas. From the statement: "I am proud to have the support of Mike Carroll," said Cruz. "Mike is indicative of the caliber of leaders who are joining our campaign nationwide. A solid consistent conservative who understands and defends...

Donald Trump Jr., the oldest son of the Republican presidential front-runner, said Sunday that it's possible that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie could have a spot waiting for him in a Trump administration -- especially in the real estate tycoon's Justice Department. Asked by "Sunday Morning Futures" host Maria Bartiromo whether his father would choose Christie as his running mate, Trump Jr. said that he had not been a part of those conversations but that "the possibility is certainly there." "I mean, I think there would certainly be something within the Justice Department for him," the 38-year-old Trump Jr. added,...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vExmqVkv1ds

Former GOP New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman says if Donald Trump is the party's presidential nominee, she'll vote for Democratic contender Hillary Clinton, the Star Ledger reports. The two-term Whitman, a longtime moderate Republican, announced Friday she was backing longshot presidential candidate Ohio Gov. John Kasich, the newspaper reports. But she tells columnist Tom Moran she'd jump the party ship if Trump winds up as the Republican nominee -- and claims she won't be alone....

This is already the most fascinating Republican presidential primary campaign since the fabled Ford-Reagan fight of 1976, But at the moment it looks like it won't turn out as well from the establishment's perspective. Back then, the establishment managed to put their candidate over the top against his right-wing challenger. That's not likely to happen this year. That's because the Ford-Reagan race was essentially a two-man race. But the Trump-Rubio-Cruz race has three men in it. One is likely to keep getting around a third of the vote while the other two split up most of the remainder. The hope...

MANCHESTER, N.H. - An internal poll conducted on Sunday suggests that Marco Rubio's fumbled debate performance has damaged his prospects heading into the New Hampshire primary. The poll, conducted by the pro-John Kasich New Day for America Super PAC, shows Rubio plummeting to fourth place in the primary here, with 10 percent of the vote. Most of the polling conducted in the immediate days before the debate showed Rubio in second place. The survey, which was based on phone calls to 500 likely voters (margin of error plus or minus 3 percent), was conducted Sunday, the day following the latest...

"Three tickets out of Iowa." It sounds like a movie starring, say, Glenn Ford, Henry Fonda (or Peter in the remake), and Van Heflin. Actually, it's the conventional wisdom regarding Iowa caucuses. When there's a large field, Iowa punches three candidates' tickets to New Hampshire and beyond, so they say. The conventional wisdom happens to hold up well this year. As John says, after Iowa it looks like a three-man race for the GOP nomination among Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, and Marco Rubio. I believe a fourth ticket will be punched in New Hampshire if Jeb Bush, John Kasich, or...

I'm rather torn as to whether this is some sort of indicator that's worth watching tomorrow or just a piece of inevitable political minutia like so many others which gets flushed away with the next dawn. We learned something about Iowa Governor Terry Branstad's primary preferences last month at that same time that he celebrated the milestone of becoming the longest serving governor in the nation's history. He insisted that he wasn't going to be endorsing anyone or playing favorites, but he definitely didn't want Ted Cruz to carry the day. At the same time we saw how the rest...

Following the Thursday GOP presidential debate, the campaigns are trying to make the most of their gains and minimize their problems coming out of feisty face-offs with their rivals. Donald Trump is continuing to bash Sen. Ted Cruz over his "New York values" slur; Cruz responded with a snarky dig at liberal politicians, which was non-responsive considering his crack was about the values of New York. More forcefully, Trump is keeping the flap going about Cruz's Goldman Sachs and Citibank loans, telling Jake Tapper, "How are you going to be president if you didn't know about a million-dollar loan from...

WASHINGTON -- A New Jersey imam will be sitting Tuesday in the same place where House members last year voted to restrict Syrian refugees from coming to the U.S. Imam Hamad Ahmad Chebli of the Islamic Society of Central Jersey in Monmouth Junction will be watching President Barack Obama's State of the Union address in person as the guest of Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-12th Dist.). The speech traditionally is given in the chambers of the U.S. House. "We will be, all of us, under the roof of the Congress," Chebli said by telephone. "Who can say, 'So-and-so is better...

The South will play a crucial role in the 2016 presidential contest, both in the nominating process and in the General Election. For the Republicans, Dixie's plethora of primaries come quickly after the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary and will probably determine the nominee. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton's strong support among African Americans in the Southern primaries should cement her already commanding lead for her party's nomination. And in the General Election, at least three Southern states are likely to be competitive and may well determine the outcome of the race for the White House. Until...

Now we're getting somewhere. When our governor went after Texas Sen. Ted Cruz last week, the dispute starkly defined the battle lines in this year's Republican presidential primary. Someone has to represent the conservatives in the party. And someone has to represent the moderate/establishment voters. When it comes to the conservatives, Cruz and Donald Trump seem to have their votes locked up. But we've got a real race for spot of the establishment candidate. There are at least four candidates in contention. None of them wants to mess with Trump. But if Christie can establish himself as the establishment's hit...

New York real-estate developer Donald Trump has dominated the Republican nomination campaign for months -- but his strongest support doesn't come from any of the organized blocs in the Republican party. He polls well among conservative and evangelical voters, to be sure, running competitively against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) with these voters. He draws considerable support, also, from self-identified "liberal"or "moderate" Republicans. In fact, in the latest Quinnipiac poll, his biggest polling margin against his GOP rivals was among moderate and liberal Republicans. But his strongest support comes from Republicans who used to be Democrats, according to new polling analysis...

Just like it's past time for Jeb Bush and Rand Paul to get out, and it's past time for Rick Santorum and George Pataki to get out. That's obvious, but it's made more obvious now that Huckabee is resorting to off-base and stupidly dishonest ads attempting to trash candidates who have taken his votes away. Here's a PAC ad Huckabee's camp is running in Iowa... (VIDEO-AT-LINK) The same consulting firm also put out similar attacks on Cruz in Iowa on his opposition to ethanol subsidies and accusing Cruz of being bankrolled by the oil industry....

With a deeper-than-ever split between Republicans and Democrats over abortion, activists on both sides of the debate foresee a 2016 presidential campaign in which the nominees tackle the volatile topic more aggressively than in past elections. Friction over the issue also is likely to surface in key Senate races. And the opposing camps will be further energized by Republican-led congressional investigations of women’s health care provider Planned Parenthood and by Supreme Court consideration of tough anti-abortion laws in Texas....

He’s the GOP’s strongest candidate, right? But what if he can’t win a single early primary? The Rubio problem no one is talking about—yet. Everybody I know, I mean everybody, thinks Marco Rubio is the strongest Republican candidate. Yes, there’s a debate about how strong. Some say he’d beat Hillary Clinton, some say that what with some of the extreme positions he’s taken so far in this race, he’d be hard-pressed to do much better than Mitt Romney’s 206 electoral votes plus maybe his own Florida. So there’s a debate about that. But there ain’t much debate that he’s the,...

Author and political satirist P.J. O’Rourke stated Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump “will finally be exposed as a double agent,” criticized GOP presidential candidate Texas Senator Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) for “dragging in all these tired, sick, old social issues” and said of Cruz and Trump, “I really do hate it with this immigration stuff” on Tuesday’s broadcast of “CNN Tonight.”O’Rourke said, “Cruz could actually get…nominated. I’m assuming that Trump will finally be exposed as a double agent, and will have to be stuck in a Chappaqua safe house, or wherever Hillary has got Bill stashed. But Cruz could actually...

During an appearance yesterday on MSNBC, “Hardball” host Chris Matthews said that if progressives weren’t so consumed with discussing the antics of Donald Trump, they’d realize that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is a “scarier” candidate for president. “I expect if [Trump] keeps in there fighting against somebody like Cruz they’re going to realize something that really is scary to most moderates and progressives, that Cruz is scarier than Trump and that will be a frightening prospect to realize that Trump is the more – well, he’s not acceptable to progressives, but when you look at him against Cruz,” Matthews said....