Free Republic

Scott Walker is decidedly not for amnesty for undocumented immigrants. But what immigration policy is he for? The Wisconsin governor, fresh off a speech at the Iowa Freedom Summit that earned rave reviews, and currently enjoying a popularity surge — he’s just pulled ahead of the Republican presidential pack in Iowa for the first time — stopped by ABC’s This Week earlier today for an interview with Martha Raddatz. After grilling Walker on foreign policy and getting him to say he wouldn’t rule out sending ground troops to Syria, Raddatz shifted the conversation to immigration. Stipulating that Walker supported securing...

Marco Rubio sees room for himself in the GOP's crowded 2016 field — and is starting to throw elbows to make space. The Florida senator is moving full throttle towards a White House bid, hitting the road hard to raise money and elevate his profile. While allies and advisors say he hasn’t made a final decision, most now privately expect he’ll take the plunge.

Mitt Romney’s decision to forgo a third try at the White House has settled the question of whether the 2016 GOP presidential field has a front-runner — bestowing a coveted status on former Florida governor Jeb Bush that also raises new challenges and perils. Republicans have a tradition of picking an anointed one early. That establishment candidate almost always ends up with the nomination, although not without a fight and some speed bumps along the way.

A new poll suggests that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush stands to gain the most from Mitt Romney’s decision not to run for president for the third time. A Fox News poll released Thursday before Mr. Romney’s decision was announced found that Mr. Bush was the second choice of many who favored Mr. Romney, and would lead the field in his absence. Although Mr. Romney would have led the field with 21% of Republicans surveyed by Fox, the poll found that in his absence Mr. Bush rose to No. 1 spot with 15%, followed by Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee...

Mitt Romney’s exit from the 2016 presidential race sets up a critical challenge for Jeb Bush, top Republicans say: If the former Florida governor can scoop up many of Romney’s big donors, he would set himself up as the dominant front-runner in the establishment wing of the party — and make life much more difficult for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. “It sets up the first big test for Jeb on whether he can start closing all these big donors right now and cement his status as the premier candidate in the field and the one who offers the best...

Now that Mitt Romney has announced he will not make a third White House run, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is the leader in an early South Carolina poll. Romney made his announcement on Friday, and a Gravis poll conducted January 21-22 actually found Romney in the lead in the first-in-the-South primary state with 20%. Bush, who leads without Romney in the field, received 18%. Former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was in third at 9% while former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee received 8% along with Sen. Ted Cruz. Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) received 7% each. New...

Jeb Bush’s secret weapon in his potential White House bid is his wife of 40 years, Columba Bush, supporters of the former Florida governor say. Columba, who would be the nation’s first Hispanic first lady if her husband wins the presidency, largely eschewed the public spotlight in Florida and is known for having a shy public demeanor.

Match the fictional POTUS with their movie/TV show

Mitt Romney will call senior donors at 11 a.m. ET Friday to give them “an update” on his campaign plans. Sources have told The Daily Beast that the former Massachusetts governor will announce his intention to explore a third run for the White House. Romney and his senior aides believe he is the best placed candidate to defeat Hillary Clinton. In a memo sent by Romney to his inner circle Thursday, he highlighted three reasons he should run: He thinks he’s the only qualified Republican in the field, polling is favorable to a win, and he thinks he can do...

At a stop on his book tour Tuesday, Mike Huckabee again defended his decision as Arkansas governor to grant the children of illegal immigrants in-state tuition at state universities. But he also went a step further, hinting that those children should be put on a path to citizenship — a position more in line with Democrats and DREAMers than some of Huckabee’s more conservative Republican peers who are also weighing bids for the presidency.

In the so-called Invisible Primary of 2016, Jeb Bush is the invisible man — and he prefers it that way. After taking the political world by surprise in early January with the formation of a shiny new political committee, Bush has largely receded from public view, instead putting an acute focus on raising money and building what his growing team of aides describe as a "shock and awe" campaign operation. Aside from some previously-booked paid speeches, a series of banal postings on Instagram and Twitter and a few random run-ins with scrap-hungry reporters, the former Florida governor seems determined to...

The usually grim-faced media mogul practically swooned in his seat. Moments after Jeb Bush delivered what many in the audience described as an unremarkable talk at a conference in Washington, Rupert Murdoch turned to his seatmate, Valerie Jarrett, the White House adviser, to gush over its content and tone. Mr. Murdoch was pleased that Mr. Bush, the former governor of Florida, had listed the economic benefits of overhauling the nation’s immigration system, confiding in Ms. Jarrett that Mr. Bush, a likely Republican presidential candidate, had said all the right things on the fraught issue, according to three people with firsthand...

Hillary Clinton is in the final stages of planning a presidential campaign that will likely be launched in early April and has made decisions on most top posts, according to numerous Democrats in close contact with the Clintons and their aides. Campaign advisers say the likelihood of a campaign, long at 98 percent (she never really hesitated, according to one person close to her), went to 100 percent right after Christmas, when Clinton approved a preliminary budget and several key hires.

Sarah Palin saying “Of course” she's interested regarding running for the presidency in 2016 has people buzzing. During that interview, Palin said we need a candidate who is ready for Hillary. I agree. Romney would be Mr. Nice Guy/gentleman unwilling to attack the girl. As for Palin running, a woman wrote: “I have never given up on her (Sarah Palin). I am sooooooo hoping that she will be our spokesperson. My husband says the press and Obama have tainted her so much that it would be impossible for her to run. I say that 'with God, all things are...

It doesn’t happen often in politics, but every once in a while, someone pulls back the green curtain on a time-honored exercise in democracy and reveals an uncomfortable truth. Such was the case in Des Moines on Saturday when the circus came to town in the form of a dozen potential Republican White House hopefuls and the masses of journalists already following their every move.

Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney did not reach an agreement during a Salt Lake City lunch meeting on Thursday on how to reconcile their competing plans to run for the White House next year, advisers to both men indicated after the talk. “Governor Bush enjoyed visiting with Governor Romney today in Salt Lake,” Kristy Campbell, Mr. Bush’s spokeswoman, said, declining to elaborate. Republicans close to both Mr. Romney and Mr. Bush were notably tight-lipped about the long-planned meeting, which the two would-be candidates and their advisers were unhappy had been revealed publicly.

Sen. Marco Rubio has begun taking concrete steps toward launching a presidential bid, asking his top advisors to prepare for a campaign, signing on a leading Republican fundraiser, and planning extensive travel to early-voting states in the coming weeks, ABC News has learned. "He has told us to proceed as if he is running for president," a senior Rubio advisor tells ABC News.

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-01-22/revving-up-jeb-bush-rolls-through-washington

Vice President Joe Biden claims he might enter the 2016 fray. Biden insisted Wednesday morning the contest is "wide open" for both Democrats and Republicans, despite polls showing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is by far the front-runner for the Democratic nomination. "Yes there's a chance," Biden replied on ABC's "Good Morning America" when directly pressed on whether he would challenge Clinton. "But I haven't made my mind up about that."

With 2015 just getting under way, the buzz of political activity makes it seem almost as if we are already in the midst of the 2016 presidential campaign. Among the Democrats, Hillary Clinton is honing her message to appeal to the mindset of the left wing of her party, whose support she will need in her second attempt to get the nomination as the Democrats' presidential candidate in 2016. The left wing's true believers would of course prefer Senator Elizabeth Warren, who gives them the dogmas of the left pure and straight, uncontaminated by reality. But she says she is...