Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) — When former President Donald Trump was asked to list those he considers the future leaders of the Republican Party, he quickly rattled off names including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz. Conspicuously absent from the list: Mike Pence. The former vice president is steadily reentering public life as he eyes a potential run for the White House in 2024. He’s joining conservative organizations, writing op-eds, delivering speeches and launching an advocacy group that will focus on promoting the Trump administration’s accomplishments.

While speaking to reporters on Monday, Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) said that he is keeping an open mind on which witnesses he wants to hear from in the Senate impeachment trial, and wants to hear from former National Security Adviser John Bolton. Romney said, “I support the Clinton impeachment model, which is a vote on witnesses later. But as to which witnesses I’d want to hear from, and so forth, that’s something which I’m open to until after the opening arguments.” He added that Bolton is “someone who I would like to hear from, and presumably, I’d get the chance...

Will try to add link

Donald Trump is not going to quit the race. The Republican party is not going to push him off the ballot. He may have a brief surge in the polls at some point, because the first rule of politics is that all races tighten. Then again, maybe not. It could be that Trump's surge came and went during the final week of July and that the tightening period has already passed. But while we're talking about things that are not going to happen, understand this: Donald Trump is not going to win.

Members of the "Free the Delegates" movement are expected to file separate lawsuits in Arizona and Virginia on Friday, challenging the constitutional restraints on binding delegates to a candidate at next month's Republican National Convention. A source familiar with the forthcoming court filings claimed that some individuals seeking to unbind all 2,472 delegates in Cleveland next month are being intimidated by state-level GOP officials. In some cases, the source said, party leaders have threatened to revoke delegates' credentials to the national convention. Regina Thomson, who serves as executive director of Free the Delegates, could not be reached for further details....

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's endorsement of Donald Trump, which can only be described as stunning and shocking to the political world, will cause panic and chaos throughout the GOP establishment. Here are some of the immediate results of the Christie move. First, Christie's endorsement of Trump for president is devastating to the GOP establishment which was in virtual panic about the rise of Trump before Christie endorsed him and is now in a state of total panic behind the scenes.

It's hard to keep up with the twists and turns in this presidential race. Hillary Clinton under fire on Benghazi! Ben Carson has a theory about the pyramids! Bernie Sanders wrote about rape fantasies! Donald Trump . . . well, Donald Trump! Figuring out which headline will have the biggest impact on the general election is a bit of a parlor game. But what if they have no impact at all? After the 2012 election, political scientists John Sides and Lynn Vavreck wrote a book called"The Gamble"that looked at the cause of President Obama's victory over Mitt Romney. They sifted...

GOP wins in Mass., N.H. would raise Romney stockFormer Bay State governor Mitt Romney’s high-profile campaign stops for Republicans Charlie Baker and Scott Brown this week indicate the exploding popularity of the former presidential nominee — and GOP wins in those races could vault him to the top of the 2016 White House sweepstakes. “He’s been extremely well-received across the country and he’s the only candidate with an instant national network,” said Saul Anuziz, former GOP chairman in Michigan. “He would definitely be a viable candidate.” .... A Brown victory over incumbent U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire, home...

Nicolle Wallace, former adviser to the McCain-Palin 2008 presidential campaign who worked with Steve Schmidt, appeared on The View on Thursday and gushed over Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, and even Bill Clinton. Predictably, however, she trashed Sarah Palin. Wallace has tried to blame Palin for the incompetence she and the McCain team displayed during the 2008 campaign against then-Senator Barack Obama. The program played a clip from Game Change, which has been called out for numerous lies and inaccuracies, that allowed Wallace to whack Palin as someone who had a "gap in her knowledge" about issues. She didn't mention that...

Former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown told the Herald he is exploring a possible 2016 presidential bid today as he hit a well-worn stomping ground for Oval Office hopefuls – the Iowa State Fair. “I want to get an indication of whether there’s even an interest, in Massachusetts and throughout the country, if there’s room for a bi-partisan problem solver,” said Brown, who has been meeting with top republicans nationally and last week hosted a Fenway event for Republican National Committee members. Brown indicated he isn't close to deciding whether he will run. “It’s 2013 I think it’s premature, but I...

Herman Cain leaving the campaign trail: Why now? Herman Cain is surging in popularity in a number of polls. So why is Herman Cain putting his campaign on hold for the next month? The Hermantor Experience is, by almost any measure, the hottest thing going in the GOP presidential primary (not named Chris Christie). < snip> But Cain seems destined to squander it. And here’s why. As NBC’s thoughtful First Read points out this morning, Cain's promoting a book - and appears to be taking himself off the campaign trail for almost a month. Cain won’t be back in the...

ABC Piece Calls Governor Palin “Sideshow”, Doesn’t Mention Her Main Source is Mitt Romney’s “Wonderful Friend”Unbelievable. Late yesterday ABC’s Huma Khan wrote a piece on the Republican race in which she essentially called Governor Palin a “sideshow candidate”. No, she didn’t say that directly, but given the large picture of Governor Palin right beneath the words “sideshow candidate”, the intent is clear. That ABC would do a hit-piece on Governor Palin is not exactly “unbelievable”, of course. Far from it. But here’s what I found noteworthy. The main source for Huma’s article is Ron Kaufman, whom Khan describes as a:...

First the House GOP required Democrats to get their three week continuing resolution passed — a continuing resolution that cuts less money than the interest on our national debt that will accumulate over the next three weeks. Then the House GOP started bad mouthing the conservatives who voted against their plan. Now the House GOP is launching a direct assault on . . . wait for it . . . conservatives. One reporter called me today. He is a long time acquaintance for a national newspaper. In shooting the breeze he dropped the names of leadership staffers pushing several of...

Prominent New Hampshire Republican Judd Gregg says that Sarah Palin just might have a clearer path to the Republican presidential nomination next year than commonly understood – an event he warns would lead to President Obama's clear reelection. Gregg, the former senator and governor of the Granite State, says the muddled GOP presidential field means it's more likely than ever there won't be a clear consensus candidate before the party's nominating convention in August of 2012. If that happens, says Gregg, Palin and her army of supporters might have the upper hand when it comes to settling on a presidential...

Dearly as I esteem Ross Douthat, I thought his blogpost today on the press and Sarah Palin did not hit the nail on the head. Ross: "No politician, from Bush to Barack Obama to Nancy Pelosi, is hated so intensely by so many Americans [as Sarah Palin]. And this is what’s so problematic, to my mind, about much of the Palin coverage: The media often acts as though they’re covering her because her conservative fan base is so large (hence the endless talk about her 2012 prospects), when they’re really covering her because so many liberals are eager to hear...

Andrea Michell is discussing Sarah Palin (what a surprise) with Democrat David Bonier and Republican strategist Vin Weber, here's the video of Weber. ------- MITCHELL: "She had the choice of when to speak and the tone. and one has to wonder why doesn't she have a wider circling of advisers. i don't know any political strategist of a national campaign, republican or democrat who thinks that was a smart thing to do. VIN WEBER: "Well, we really don't know who advises her. She's quite isolated from what you might think of as the Republican establishment. No one is quite sure...

Barack Obama would easily take Nevada if he had to stand for reelection today...unless the Republicans nominated Mitt Romney. Obama has early double digit advantages against Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, and Sarah Palin in the state but has just a single point edge over Romney. Nevada is one of the few swing states we've polled in the last couple months where more voters approve (50%) than disapprove (46%) of Obama. Like everywhere else in the country Democrats are largely happy with him and Republicans are most unhappy- what sets apart his numbers in Nevada is his popularity with independents, 55%...

Republican politicians rushed to defend Massachusetts GOP Chairwoman Jennifer Nassour yesterday, after she told the Herald she deserves another chance as she prepares to fight off a challenger in the new year. State Rep. Jeff Perry (R-Sandwich), who failed in his bid to win an open seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, said Nassour has done the best she could for the party. “I think the party in Massachusetts is heading in a new direction, and I think it’s going to get better as we head into the next election,” Perry said. He said he doesn’t blame Nassour for...

Nicolle Wallace, a former colleague of Sarah Palin, has become the latest senior Republican publicly to round on the darling of the Tea Party movement, saying that her opponents should avoid criticising her directly and let her expose her own multiple flaws. SNIP "She has very obvious deficiencies that will reveal themselves as the nominating contest gets closer," she told The Daily Telegraph, adding: "Let her shoot her moose or whatever the heck she does on her [television] show, it will all work out." SNIP "What's troubling is she has missed an opportunity to go beyond the platitudes and deepen...

We are just south of Christmas, and the nation's insiders -- self-proclaimed blue-bloods by birth and/or worldview -- have declared open season on Sarah Palin. Crazed left and sclerotic right have united in common purpose -- "hellbent," as Politico put it -- to rid this nation of the possibility of a presidency that would most assuredly end in "apocalyptic disaster" after which "the survivors will envy the dead" (or so says that fading leftist icon, The New Republic). Stop her now -- or we may end up with a normal American at the helm. Sarah Palin is just too dumb...