Free Republic

Link only, due to copyright issues: http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2015/may/06/experts-support-base-growth-still-chall/?f=news-arkansas

The field of announced Republican candidates has recently doubled to six, with the entry of Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, and Mike Huckabee. When you add the candidates who are almost certain to soon join the race--Jeb Bush, Gov. Scott Walker, Rick Perry, and Gov. Chris Christie--and the others who might, the field will be big enough to fill an airport shuttle van. The stage at the first Fox News debate in early August will have so many people on it, the organizers may need to put everyone on bleachers. The Republican presidential pageant is vastly more diverse than the Democratic...

Condorcet Voting Allows you to rank candidates so we can simulate a large number of pairwise elections between candidates. It can help uncover surprising strengths and weakenesses candidates have. This condorcet poll needs more input from Republican voters to more accurately reflect a cross section of voters.

Glenn Beck likes Sen. Ted Cruz’s devotion conservatism, but not much else. The conservative radio host called Cruz “a bulldog” Monday, but implied the senator couldn’t lead the nation. “We are looking at unbelievable times ahead of us,” Beck said. “And I would say on this, I’m not sure [Cruz] could get the coalition together. He’ll be a bulldog and he’ll stand for principles but I’m not sure that he could govern. I’m not sure yet.” Later, Beck attempted to clarify his remarks and blamed the media for taking his comments out of context. He said he equated governing with...

The plentiful field of Republican presidential hopefuls may be both a blessing and a curse, according to conservative activist Bob Vander Plaats, who appeared Monday on "America’s Forum" with pollster John Zogby to discuss the weekend’s Faith and Freedom Summit in Iowa and the importance of a candidate doing well in the Hawkeye State. "The good news is a great field and a lot of full-spectrum conservatives," said Vander Plaats on Newsmax TV. "The bad news is it's a great field, which means it's going to divide our vote. If we have that kind of splintering, can we really unite...

In 1974, Nobel Prize-winning economist Friedrich Hayek criticized those who believed they could measure the real-world impact of economic theories with scientific precision. They were wrong, Hayek said in his Nobel lecture, entitled “The Pretence of Knowledge.” They didn’t have enough solid information. What they lacked couldn’t be reduced to a number. It wasn’t quantifiable. Yet economists continued to “proceed on the fiction that the factors which they can measure are the only ones that are relevant.” It might seem a stretch, but Hayek’s insight applies to politics, and notably to the 2016 presidential campaign. Reporters and commentators have been...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) Columnist Charles Krauthammer said that Jeb Bush “is lagging” and “should not be in single digits” on Friday’s “Special Report” on the Fox News Channel. During the show’s Friday candidate casino segment where the panelists bet $100 of fictional money on presidential candidates, Krauthammer put $40 on Marco Rubio to win the GOP nomination, $25 on Bush, $20 on Scott Walker, $5 on Ted Cruz and the remaining $10 on wine, women, and song. He explained, “I’m increasing my investment in Rubio. I’m feeling vindicated and somewhat cocky, having been in on the deal very early when he was...

SALT LAKE CITY — Now that Utah's favorite son Mitt Romney is no longer a candidate for president, "undecided" is the top choice of the state's Republicans in the party's 2016 nomination race. A new UtahPolicy.com poll found that just over one-fourth, 26 percent, of Utah Republicans haven't picked a preferred presidential candidate yet. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was the candidate with the most support so far, 22 percent. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a close ally of Utah Sen. Mike Lee, followed with 13 percent. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who like Cruz and Lee is aligned with the tea...

Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz have markedly improved ratings in the National Journal's "Hotline" rankings of GOP presidential candidates after officially announcing their campaigns this spring, but Sen. Rand Paul's standings dropped slightly. Rubio, of Florida, is now tied for second place with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker behind his friend and one-time mentor, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, while Cruz comes in just behind the two, according to the publication's rankings, which were released Friday. Paul, though, dropped one place in the Hotline rankings after his campaign rollout, after questions arose about his temper. Paul clashed with popular "Today"...

One responded to the Kennedy-era call for a new generation of leaders, and the other renewed that call for a new generation to lead this country in a new direction in a new century. One is an untraditional figure who personifies the slow, traditional path to leadership in American life, and the other is a untraditional political figure who wants to leap ahead in the race for American leadership. One is an old-fashioned liberal, the other a new-era conservative. In many ways the two candidates who entered the presidential race in recent days define the 2016 political contest -- and,...

Washington (AFP) - Hillary Clinton and Marco Rubio are early frontrunners to become the next president of the United States, according to a well-regarded poll released Thursday. The youthful but relatively inexperienced Rubio launched his campaign earlier this month, calling for a new era of American leadership that is not "stuck in the 20th century." Rubio was the only Republican candidate to have double-digit support among hardline Tea Party supporters, evangelicals and party liberals.

“RUNNING for office is real simple,” Ted Cruz told supporters in New Hampshire recently, within earshot of a Politico reporter. “You just surgically disconnect your shame sensor. Because you spend every day asking people for money. You walk up and say, ‘How are you doing, sir? Can I have money? Great to see you, lovely shirt, please give me money’.” This year should be a good one for shame surgeons: the Republican field for 2016 so far consists of 20 men and one woman who have either declared their candidacy for president, set up the machinery for a run or...

Cruz and Rubio climb, and Paul slides, after their official campaign launches.Three Republicans have officially announced they're running for president—but only two of them improved their standing since Hotline's previous edition of its GOP Presidential Power Rankings. Sens. Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio kicked off their campaigns in early spring, with Cruz and Rubio in particular demonstrating unexpected financial might and taking advantage of the moment. Meanwhile the most memorable moment from Paul's rollout was a clash with the press. Still, as we mentioned last time, if you're going to make mistakes in the presidential race, it's better...

Next year, the country will elect a new president. But next year is already here. Notice how candidates are already positioning themselves for the primaries and caucuses? It is urgent that now–not next year–is when all candidates must realize that American voters of Asian and Pacific heritage will play a major role in the 2016 elections. Republican Jeb Bush was first at the gate, albeit unofficially, in next year’s presidential elections. Bush is of course, former Florida governor and son and brother of two former presidents. In a crowded Republican field, Senator Ted Cruz was the first to officially launch...

Too soon, too soon, of course. After observing close-up the kind of headwinds her husband has met in Washington, D.C., and beyond, there is absolutely no indication that first lady Michelle Obama is looking to place her own name on any ballot. She has, in fact, said the opposite, although in his just-released book, Michelle Obama: A Life, veteran journalist Peter Slevin reports that she has always been a full partner in her husband’s political career. But it is significant that former first lady, U.S. Sen. and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has hired Michelle Obama’s former communications chief as...

Rubio’s out-polling Rand Paul among tea partiers now, eh? Interesting footnote to the CNN results: Of the three Republicans who’ve formally announced they’re running, only two have seen their numbers improve since last month. Cruz gained three points (not coincidentally, Ben Carson, a competitor for the social conservative vote, lost five) and Rubio gained four points. Rand actually lost a point after jumping in. Maybe all of that is just an artifact of the margin of error, or maybe it’s an early warning that Rand’s “conservatarian” ceiling will be lower than everyone thinks.

Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/politics/2015/04/18/ted-cruz-scott-walker-jeb-bush/25987009/

It's almost always the colonels who lead the coups. Why? Because they're usually young, hungry and oh-so-close to holding the reins of power, if only those pesky generals weren't in the way. The US isn't big on military putsches, but in the past month the Republican Party has witnessed a political equivalent, as three Republican "colonels" - first-term senators with little establishment authority but lots of ambition - made their moves for the White House. Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio may be junior players in congressional chambers but Republican politics, and US electioneering in general, have changed in...

In which we learn that old memes do not learn new tricks as Politico explains the biggest factors facing Hillary Clinton in her presidential campaign.Remember how important it was for Democratic senatorial candidates in the 2014 midterms to "distance themselves" from the massively unpopular policies of the massively unpopular incumbent president? Remember how well that worked out for Senators Bruce Braley, Alison Lundergan Grimes, and Michelle Nunn? Well, thanks to Tiger Beat On The Potomac this morning, we see that someone's rolled back the stone on that particular meme. The two factors that might be most vital to Hillary Clinton's...