Free Republic

It’s a mystery how the chattering class arrives at any conclusion as to the “front-runner” in an election two years away with no declared candidates. First the “front-runner” was New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; then, according to others, it was Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), despite his obvious unacceptability to a significant segment of Republicans). The polls, if anything, reflect name identification, and in that department former governors Jeb Bush and Mike Huckabee generally lead — in a race neither may enter. That is what being a “front-runner” means on talking-head cable TV shows. More relevant at this stage is figuring...

We recently published a forecast that described the GOP as more likely than not to win the U.S. Senate in November. But our analysis was less bullish on Republicans’ prospects of flipping the seat in Iowa currently held by Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin, who is retiring. There, Democrats appeared to have a strong candidate in Rep. Bruce Braley, who has cleared his primary field. Republicans, meanwhile, face a contentious primary with a number of candidates who have never won races for statewide or federal office. After we published our forecast, the Republican PAC America Rising released a video of Braley,...

With Chris Christie in deep trouble, Republican poobahs are reportedly looking to Jeb Bush to save their party in 2016. The former two-term governor of Florida speaks fluent Spanish, is a convert to Catholicism, and has high name recognition. Jeb could raise millions of dollars over night by just saying “yes” to running. Despite all this, there are strong reasons Republicans should say no to him. 1. His last name is poison. Let’s face it, if Jeb Bush had the last name of Something Else he would have already run for president in 2008 or 2012. According to a recent...

Considering the lies,arrogance and hidden anger of Harry Reid we have been seeing lately,can you just imagine if a reporter were to ask him what his theory/explanation/opinion is of flight 370?,It would be beyond obvious what he would likely say.Just like when Liberals were blaming the GOP and Sarah Palin for all of the mass shootings since 2009.Rush made a comical comment that the Kock Brothers hijacked the plane.Although it is a little odd that the far left hasn't said anything yet regarding the tragedy being they are always the first ones to blame all tragic events on the GOP&Conservatives.

Drudge Report readers in a recent poll were asked which Republican presidential candidate they would pick for 2016. Rand Paul ended on top of the poll with 30.91 percent of the vote (72,277 votes), followed by Ted Cruz with 28.33 percent. The other candidates were pretty far behind. Jeb Bush was next with 6.30 percent. After him was Sarah Palin (5.24 percent); Chris Christie (4.87 percent); Rick Perry (4.33 percent); and Mike Huckabee (3.73 percent). Bobby Jindal, Paul Ryan, Rick Santorum, and Donald Trump were also choices in the poll, in which over 230,00 votes were cast. Other recent polls...

So Republicans are "The Party Of No"?,well at least Republicans and Conservatives answer questions regardless of whom ever asks them,especially on live TV.But over the last five years,it seems that whenever a liberal/democrat is asked even basic questions regarding any scandal or screw-up,all we get is,"I don't know",and/or "this all started under the Bush Administration.There is more than enough footage of any Liberal&Democrat leader acting "Stupidly"when questioned over any international or national dilemma.And to think that Hillary didn't recall anything during the Clinton Years! and she wants to be President?

Sen. John McCain is the least popular senator in the country of those surveyed by Public Policy Polling, with low marks from members of his own party, independents and Democrats. Just 30 percent of Arizona voters approve of the job the Republican senator is doing, while 54 percent disapprove, according to a PPP release Thursday. That is the worst of any senator’s polling in the nation that PPP has found. Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/03/poll-john-mccains-low-job-approval-104355.html#ixzz2vDwQ2KMU

e are already at the point in this prematurely unfolding 2016 presidential campaign when a glance down the list of prospective candidates can cause most observers to wince. As that seductive and sultry crooner Peggy Lee once sang, “Is that all there is?” At the U.Va. Crystal Ball, we currently have 11 Republicans and nine Democrats as probable or possible presidential contenders. The Democrats have fewer and more tentative contenders because of the paralyzing gravitational pull of “Planet Hillary,” as the New York Times Magazine described the Clinton operation. The former secretary of state is a kind of massive Jupiter...

Hillary has to wonder how she can campaign before her massive crowds of 300 to 1000 and deal with dozens of people screaming back at her,"What Difference Does It Make" and, "You Let Them Die !!!".Is there a purple state out there where Hillary will allow anyone into her rallies?What will her staff do?Interview everyone before they enter the arena and make sure they don't have extra magic markers to alter or make new signs?

Let's take a look at what 200 Million Adults will or may be laughing at during the 2015 campaign season.Joe Biden,Cuomo,O'Malley,Moonbeam,Howard Dean,Wendy Davis(after she loses in Texas),Deval Patrick,Chris Christie,Charlie Crisp,and maybe even Bozo or "Eric The Clown".Hillary?,anyone really believe she will have the strength to campaign at her age?,Anyone looking forward to the never ending laughter watching the Dem's lie for 12 months,trying to convince us that Obama-Care is a success and the economy is booming?

'Cruz missile' strategy propels Stockman toward runoff vs. Cornyn. It is a monumental shift in major race that could be sending shock waves through the GOP establishment. Underfunded and targeted by GOP strategist Karl Rove, Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas, has defied the odds in his long-shot bid to topple the second-most powerful Republican in the U.S. Senate, and he’s on the verge of forcing a crucial runoff with incumbent Sen. Jon Cornyn, R-Texas, in the Texas GOP primary. According to the results of a stunning new poll, Cornyn has fallen from 50 percent to 43 percent. That means Cornyn would...

He said this at a conference organized by House Democrats, who’ve spent several years in the minority and are doomed to spend at least a few more at the hands of The Party That Doesn’t Exist. My favorite part in the clip below is where he touts the fact that ObamaCare, which has been underwater in public approval since the day it was signed, nonetheless hasn’t annoyed quite enough people to build a majority in favor of repeal (yet). To hear him talk, there must be a Democratic landslide brewin’ in November. But he’s not wrong about the fracturing of...

BANGOR, Maine – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas on Saturday won an unofficial straw poll to be the 2016 GOP presidential nominee at the Penobscot County Republican caucus at Husson University. Administered by the Maine Republican Liberty Caucus, caucus attendees paid $1 for a ballot that listed 20 potential GOP presidential candidates’ names plus room for write-ins, according to Maine RLC State Chair Vic Berardelli. Balloters were asked to mark their first, second and third choice. Points were weighted at five points for a first place vote, three points for second and one point for a third place vote....

Former vice presidential candidate and Alaska Republican Gov. Sarah Palin would prove "formidable" in a 2016 run for president, Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol predicted Thursday. "She's a huge political talent. She has a real populist streak, and a real feel for, sort of, middle America in a way that very few politicians do," Kristol told MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "The truth is, she might be kind of formidable," he added.(VIDEO-AT-LINK) Her biggest obstacle, Kristol maintained, would be explaining why she stepped down as Alaska's governor before serving her entire term. Kristol advised the next Republican nominee to "spend some time...

Gee, I wonder if she’s running? Let’s put this another way. If anyone had a 6:1 lead over the closest potential opponent in a future race (with a 61-point lead), and that closest opponent’s name was Joe Biden, who wouldn’t run? Hillary Rodham Clinton holds a commanding 6 to 1 lead over other Democrats heading into the 2016 presidential campaign, while the Republican field is deeply divided with no clear front-runner, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Clinton trounces her potential primary rivals with 73 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, reinforcing a narrative of inevitability around her...

According to a Gallup poll surveying the U.S. States, Obama's job approval ratings are the highest in the District of Columbia and Hawaii with 81% and 61% respectively approving of the presidents job performance. Also earning honorable mention is Maryland, neighbor of D.C., weighing in with a 57% approval rating.

Gallup has released President Obama's approval numbers for 2013 for the 50 states and the District of Columbia. I thought it would be interesting to compare those percentages with Obama's percentage of the 2012 popular vote in each state and D.C. His approval numbers seem to track closely with his percentage of the vote: his job approval nationally was 50 percent in the first week of November 2012, and he received 51 percent of the popular vote. Gallup conducts many interviews over the course of a year, and so its figures for each state are statistically meaningful, although I think...

I realize that all presidential polls this far out from election day are hot garbage but there’s no way I’m missing an opportunity to troll my Huck-hating readership as golden as this one. Two words, my friends: Huckabee/Christie?Although Huck’s now technically the GOP frontrunner, he’s not the pol with the highest favorable rating among Republicans. That’d be Sarah Palin, who’s at 70/20 and has the highest numbers among both women and men. PPP didn’t offer her as an option in its presidential polling, presumably because they think she’s unlikely to run. Following the controversy over his ‘Uncle Sugar’ speech Mike...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Video: Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has concluded that the state's ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional and he will no longer defend it in federal lawsuits.Public opinion on same-sex marriage has shifted so dramatically in recent years that Democratic groups now see the issue as a critical way to mobilize voters in a slew of races up and down the ballot. Just a decade ago, widespread opposition to gay marriage did just the opposite, allowing Karl Rove to mobilize conservatives in 13 states and help reelect George W. Bush as president. The changing political dynamics were on full display...

PICK YOUR POISONS … For those of you who haven’t been paying attention, the “Republican” Party is coming apart at the seams as factions of increasingly divergent political ideologies battle for a shrinking pool of the electorate. And the camps are getting increasingly belligerent … In one corner we have big government “neoconservatives” – fiscal liberals who are wholly owned subsidiaries of America’s military industrial complex. These “Republicans” want no changes to the status quo in Washington, D.C. – with the exception of perpetual funding increases for the bloated U.S. military. In another corner we have big government Bible Thumpers...