Free Republic

With eyes increasingly on him, Jeb Bush signaled on Sunday the kind of campaign he would mount if he ran for president: one arguing against ideological purity tests while challenging party orthodoxy on issues like immigration and education. Even as he sharply criticized President Obama for his handling of foreign affairs and health care, Mr. Bush made clear that he would run against the style of politics that has characterized recent Republican nominating contests. He said he would decide by the end of the year, in part on whether he thought that with a “hopeful” message, he could avoid “the...

Jeb Bush and Bobby Jindal appear in a commercial that will air Sunday to promote NewRepublican.org, a project focused on outlining a positive GOP agenda for the future. The former Florida governor and the current Louisiana governor, both potential 2016 presidential candidates, support a super PAC that is the brainchild of Republican strategist Alex Castellanos. “If you believe that every parent ought to be able to choose their child’s school, and that the economy should be driven from the bottom up, not the top down from Washington, then you’re thinking like a New Republican,” Bush says to the camera at...

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush sees an opening in the 2016 field and is seriously considering an attempt to become the third member of his family to occupy the White House.

If 2016 brings another Bush-Clinton matchup, not all famous last names are equal at the start. The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll makes clear why it’s better to be associated with the 42nd president than the 43rd and 41st, at least for now. The poll has plenty of good news for Hillary Rodham Clinton. Two-thirds of Americans say they’d consider voting for Clinton in 2016, and a full 25 percent say they will definitely support her. Again, among all Americans – not just Democrats, or Democrats and independents – one in four say they are fully on board for Hillary...

As New Jersey dug out Friday from the Nor’easter and braced for more snowflakes on Saturday, Gov. Chris Christie jetted off to Puerto Rico for some sun and fun, CNN reported on Friday. “After the storm had passed, the governor left the state [Friday] morning for a long weekend away with his family, and he will return Monday night,” Christie spokesman Colin Reed told the network.

As the debate brews over whether Republicans will take up the task of pushing through immigration reform, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Sunday said he is hopeful Republicans will put something forward. "I have not given up hope that we would act and we must act," McCain said on "State of the Union" with Candy Crowley. "In states like mine, the demographics will only overtake and throughout the whole southwest," McCain said referencing the Hispanic vote he said Republicans need to win a national election. McCain stood by his past comments that Republicans would not be able to win another...

Matt Bevin, the tea party primary challenger aiming to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, charged Monday that McConnell can’t win a general election. In remarks at a Washington, D.C. event sponsored by the tea party-affiliated group FreedomWorks PAC, Bevin painted himself as the only Republican who can beat Democratic candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes in what is already among the most high-profile races of the 2014 midterm cycle. “We run a tremendous risk of losing this seat in Kentucky to someone who does not represent Kentucky values,” Bevin said. “We run the risk of losing this seat because of a...

As head of the Republican Governors Association, Gov. Chris Christie is expected to be out of state fundraising quite a bit. But he did not expect the current storm clouds to follow him from New Jersey to Texas where he is today. While fundraising for the RGA in Dallas and Fort Worth, the Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa will be shadowing Christie. More interesting is who will not be present – both Texas Gov. Rick Perry and leading GOP gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott, the Dallas Morning News reports. “Governors come to our state regularly for a variety of reasons...

A top Tea Party group practically declared war on the Republican Party establishment Monday, launching a super PAC to target GOP incumbents in Senate races who don’t meet its conservative standards. In announcing the move, the Tea Party Patriots’ Super PAC put a bull’s-eye on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC), who already face tough re-election contests. “Both Lindsay Graham and Mitch McConnell vote with President Obama more frequently than they vote the way the people in the Tea Party movement would want them to vote,” Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin, who is...

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference next month, despite a snub from the group last year and the ongoing controversy over the George Washington Bridge closures. Christie has accepted an invitation to address CPAC, POLITICO confirmed Monday.

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men will never put Chris Christie together again if New Jersey’s governor fails to refute the accusation that he knew of the George Washington Bridge lane closures as they were taking place. In that event, Christie’s governorship is over and he should prepare to face a federal criminal probe as a private citizen. Resignation would be a must. Otherwise, impeachment would be a snap. Christie stands on the brink of ruin thanks to David Wildstein, the high school pal who, as his Port Authority enforcer, ordered the closures that plunged Fort Lee...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) refused say whether he thinks former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie (R) will be a good candidate for Virginia's Senate race, putting the National Republican Senatorial Committee vice chairman at odds with its chairman and many in his party.Cruz repeatedly refused to say what he thinks of Gillespie's background or chances as a candidate against Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.)."I like Ed Gillespie, he is a friend of mine, he's a good man. That's ultimately a decision for the voters of Virginia," Cruz told The Hill on Thursday evening, hours after Gillespie entered the race.He demurred...

Chris Christie is one of the GOP's brightest stars and one of its best hopes for 2016. But during his toughest hour, he simply hasn't been able to count on a chorus of national GOP support rallying full-bore to his side. -snip- Christie's rise in GOP circles is in no small part due to an invisible but immensely powerful donor and power broker class that loves him. This wing of the party tried to woo him to run for president in 2012, even after Mitt Romney was in the race. And they are expected to be there for him in...

U.S. investigators are looking into whether embattled New Jersey Governor Chris Christie misused about $2 million in Superstorm Sandy relief funds for an ad campaign that put him in the spotlight in an election year, a lawmaker said on Monday. Already enmeshed in a scandal over snarled traffic at the George Washington Bridge, Christie, a rising star in the Republican party, is now being audited by the Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, said New Jersey Congressman Frank Pallone Jr., a Democrat. The inspector is focusing on a federally financed $25 million Jersey Shore marketing...

Marxist collaborator Mitch McConnell kicked off his reelection campaign last week with a new ad in which he claimed to be a conservative who loves America. This is the same Mitch McConnell that: •Told GOP donors that Tea Party activists needed to be punched in the face •Opposed the Ted Cruz-led partial shutdown of the tyrannical federal government •Bribed Kentucky voters with $3 billion in taxpayer money •Defends Obama’s illegal NSA spying •Works behind-the-scenes to pass amnesty To add insult to injury, the ad featured Rand Paul– whom Mitch McConnell opposed in 2010, and who only reluctantly agreed to endorse...

As the political winds are turning to presidential politics in 2016, now is the time for Republicans to start thinking about their ticket. I know it's early, but the top of the Democratic ticket has already been pretty much decided by the mainstream media. It's Hillary and whoever she wants as her veep. For the Republicans, they will need someone at the top of the ticket who is principled. He'll keep his campaign promises. He must have an economic issue that will resonate with women because men already support the GOP. Women — especially independent women — are the holy...

Christie, 51, leads the Republican Governors Association and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley was one of the few members to stand in support with Christie, expressing her support after his press conference. Rudy Giuliani came out to support Christie on Friday and RNC Chair Reince Priebus praised Christie for his transparency.

(Spoiler Alert!)Netflix's new trailer for Mitt, a documentary about Mitt Romney's run for president of the United States, begins where the Republican candidate's journey ends: the moment he realizes he lost the election to Barack Obama. The film, directed by Greg Whiteley, premieres Jan. 24. It details the behind-the-scenes actions of Romney's aspirations starting in 2006 and concluding at his concession speech in 2012. Among the moments Whiteley captured was this odd way to iron his clothes: *****Image in Comments****** “I first met and filmed the Romney family in Park City [Utah] in 2006 as they gathered to discuss whether...

It’s early for a palate cleanser but I’m not sure this doesn’t qualify as legit news. I … did not expect to find myself eager to revisit the Romney 2012 campaign on film, but here we are, my friends. Here we are. It’s true that the trailer is more humanizing than anything Romney’s campaign did for him, but the deck is stacked. The bio video that the GOP produced for the convention was solid but nothing as stage-managed as campaign propaganda will ever have the disarming charm of behind-the-scenes footage of the candidates in unguarded moments. Plus, the trailer’s cheating...

Former senator Scott Brown (R-Mass.) is selling his home in Massachusetts and moving to New Hampshire — perhaps the clearest sign yet that he's serious about running for Senate in the Granite State two years after losing his seat in its neighbor to the south.