Free Republic

The chore of determining who is the inevitable candidate for Republicans – at least in the minds of beltway insiders and the media – is clearly becoming more difficult. But the Washington Post takes a swing at the problem this weekend as they delve into the number of big donors who are now courting Jeb Bush to get off the bench and toss his hat in the ring. Many of the Republican Party’s most powerful insiders and financiers have begun a behind-the-scenes campaign to draft former Florida governor Jeb Bush into the 2016 presidential race, courting him and his intimates...

Today’s quiz: What do Vladimir Putin’s aggression and ObamaCare’s troubles have in common? OK, that was too easy.

Kennedys honor George H.W. Bush's ‘read my lips’ flip-flop with Profile of Courage award The Kennedy foundation is praising George H.W. Bush for risking “his reputation and ultimately his political career by forging an important compromise on the budget in 1990.” Jack Schlossberg, President Kennedy’s grandson and a Yale University student, will present the award to Bush at a ceremony in May. George H.W. Bush’s epic “read my lips: no new taxes” promise cost him a second White House term, but it’s earning him a 2014 Profile in Courage award from the Kennedy clan. Despite his fervent pledge against a...

On Monday, Governor Heineman released his newest column warning Nebraskan's of current efforts in Nebraska's Legislature to silence the voice of Nebraskans on future Presidential races. The Bill, LB1058 (sponsored by Republican State Senator Tyson Larson who made it his priority bill is also now cosponsored by liberal Democrat Sen. Ken Haar ). The bill is being pushed by highly paid lobbyists (noted below). The bill proposes that Nebraska join the National Popular Vote Compact, in essence promising all five of Nebraska's electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote (even if that candidate didn't win...

Sen. Rand Paul has become the first Republican to assemble a network in all 50 states as a precursor to a 2016 presidential run, the latest sign that he is looking to build a more mainstream coalition than the largely ad hoc one that backed his father’s unsuccessful campaigns. Paul’s move, which comes nearly two years before the 2016 primaries, also signals an effort to win the confidence of skeptical members of the Republican establishment, many of whom doubt that his appeal will translate beyond the libertarian base that was attracted to Ron Paul, the former Texas congressman. Rand Paul’s...

Come on guys, let’s start focusing on the important stuff like ObamaCare, Ukraine and winning the Senate. All this outrage in the conservative media about how much money it’s costing for Barack Obama’s trip to Belgium and for Michelle Obama’s travels to China is just a waste of time. Yes, the cost of their trips, whether they’re measured in millions of dollars or thousands of hotel-room nights, is outrageous. But what POTUS (the president of the United States) and FLOTUS (the first lady of the United States) are doing on their travels is nothing new or abnormal. Obama’s official overseas...

In a speech Friday, Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush praised illegal immigrants as "risk takers" who embody the entrepreneurial spirit of America and doubled down on his defense of Common Core. According to the Miami-Herald, Bush made his remarks in front of business leaders in Florida. “People who come here legally and illegally are the risk takers,” Bush reportedly said. “If you’re living in a rural area of Guatemala and you come, you’re a bigger risk taker than those who stay,” he added. Of course, the first action of those who come to the country illegally is breaking the law....

In our first ranking of the very large and very unsettled 2016 Republican presidential field back in April of last year, we decided to not even include the name of one of the brightest stars in the GOP universe: Jeb Bush. We just didnÂ’t think, at the time, that the former Florida governor and brother and son of presidents was all that interested in running.But during 2013 and into this new year, weÂ’ve gotten the sense, like many others, that things might be changing. So much so that we now consider Bush the leader of the field if he decides...

Two things happened over the weekend in the race for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination. 1. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul led the field in a national poll conducted by CNN/ORC International. 2. Paul won the straw poll at the Northeast Republican Leadership Conference. 3. Those two events come just a week after Paul cruised to another 2016 straw poll victory at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Add those things up and it's quite clear that Paul is the candidate of the moment on the Republican side. There's no one -- not even Ted Cruz or Jeb Bush -- who has...

Mike Huckabee had asked me to send him my picture. He’d be sans entourage for our meeting at a Starbucks near Fox News’s midtown Manhattan headquarters, and he wanted to be able to pick me out of the crowd. Sure enough, at the appointed hour, he’s waving at me through the glass walls before he even makes it through the entrance. The barista line is long; since Huckabee hasn’t brought anyone to stand in it for him, coffee is forgone. “We’ll do our work,” Huckabee says with a shrug. Later, after he realizes he has been droning on, he implores,...

Opening a door to hedge his political bets, Sen. Rand Paul has asked the leader of the Kentucky Senate for legislation to ensure that Mr. Paul can run both for the White House and for re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2016, The Washington Times has learned. “Yes, I am working on clarifying an ambiguous state law that Rand Paul believes is unconstitutional if it is interpreted to bar running for re-election to the Senate and for president at the same time,” Kentucky Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer told The Times on Monday. “The purpose of the bill will be...

If the next president wins two terms, regardless of the party, the Supreme Court could reach a near ideological monopoly unknown in the post-World War II era of American History, perhaps a monopoly never achieved since FDR's eight Supreme Court nominations. However, FDR presided during a time when both parties had liberal and conservative wings; therefore, there was more ideological overlap in a judicial nomination, even if he/she was from the opposing party. With two deeply divided parties, the next president has a crucial influence on the future of the Supreme Court that is rarely discussed as we get closer...

Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal’s latest moves indicate he is gearing up for a presidential bid. Though Jindal skewered Mitt Romney just a week after the 2012 election, he’s now turning to the Romney camp in an effort to beef up his fundraising operation. Sources say he is looking to tap Romney’s vast donor network and has asked Romney’s finance director, Spencer Zwick, for an assist with introductions to some of the Romney campaign’s top givers. A number of the GOP’s likely Republican presidential candidates, including Rand Paul, are looking to Zwick to make these introductions. That’s in part a rite...

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signaled Sunday that he would be open to a White House bid at some point, though the governor has previously ruled out seeking the presidency in 2016. Asked in an interview whether he could see himself as a national candidate — not necessarily in 2016 — the second-term Democrat responded: “Maybe. Maybe.” “That’s a decision I have to make along with my wife of 30 years, and she’s a tough one to convince,” Patrick said. Prodded further, the former Justice Department official responded: “Let’s just see what time tells.” Only the second African-American elected governor of...

Allen West, the fast-talking former congressman and tea-party hero, isn’t ruling out a presidential bid come 2016. “No one should ever sit around and say, ‘I want to be president,’” the retired lieutenant colonel tells me. “That’s a position that somebody needs to be called to serve.” West, who spent 22 years in the U.S. Army and one term in Congress before losing his bid for reelection in 2012, says he will always be ready to serve his country. “You have to have yourself in a position to be available for your country and to be obedient to God’s will,”...

Ask Mitt Romney if he would run for president a third time, and he will deny it every which way. “I’ve had my turn,” he told CNN. “We’re so ready to watch the next person step up and take that nomination,” his wife told Fox News. “Oh, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no,” Romney told The New York Times. But in recent weeks, a strange thing has happened: Some supporters and donors, pollsters and pundits are starting to suggest — without irony — that the former Massachusetts governor run for president in 2016. “Once a...

Sources close to MSNBC host Joe Scarborough think he is seriously considering the prospect of leaving morning television to run for president in 2016. Last week, Scarborough was all smiles — even letting out a laugh — on “Morning Joe” when Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol suggested on the air that Scarborough could represent the “Jon Huntsman lane” in a 2016 GOP primary. But behind the scenes, those who know Scarborough are not laughing. It’s widely believed at MSNBC — including among network brass — that Scarborough is actively mulling a presidential bid, sources said. Meanwhile, some of Scarborough’s guests...

With Chris Christie still stuck in a traffic scandal at the foot of the George Washington Bridge, the donors and Main Street Republicans who make up the bulk of the GOP center-right establishment can be forgiven for feeling a little nervous. If Christie fades, this cohort, which boosted both Mitt Romney and John McCain to the nomination, fear that a Tea Party-fueled candidate will take over the party, leading to a drubbing at the hands of the Democrats come November 2016. Thus hopes have turned to Jeb Bush as a possible savior, even though the Florida governor has been out...

One poll showing him ahead is a fluke. Two polls showing him ahead? We call that “momentum.”I’m not in the habit of making pledges, but I promise you this: I will never, ever tire of trolling you guys with numbers showing Huck as some sort of contender for the nomination. Ever. Fourteen percent of Republicans and independents who lean toward the GOP say they would likely support Huckabee for their party’s nomination if he runs.Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky is next at 13% followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Christie tied at 10%…That’s a change from November, when...

"“OK, Bill, you’ve got a long list of my mistakes,” "