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The fact that not every Republican presidential candidate is a white male may help in the fight against the Democrats/ The Republican presidential field is expected to double this week, as retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee are expected to declare their candidacies. Carson and Fiorina are expected to announce on Monday, while Huckabee is summoning the press on Tuesday to his hometown of Hope, Arkansas - a town made famous by Bill Clinton, who, upon becoming the Democratic presidential nominee in 1992, famously declared: “I still believe in a place...

Arguably the most important Republican presidential endorsement to precede the 2016 Iowa Caucuses will come from Bob Vander Plaats, who failed on three occasions to become governor of Iowa. And over here in the ‘nobody cares’ pile is Terry Branstad, Iowa’s current Republican head of state and the soon-to-be longest-serving governor in the history of this nation. How a man with that kind of stature can have zero impact on presidential politics is a solid lesson in pyrrhic victories. The reason for such a counter-intuitive reality is simple. It’s a matter of having convictions versus pursuing positions. Vander Plaats is...

The study analyzed between 12 and April 19 Hispanic conversations through Twitter and Instagram. The former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, aspiring to occupy the White House in 2016, will feature talks Hispanic social networks over Republican candidates Hispanic Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, according to a study published by the research platform "Hey!". The report "Hey!", An organization dedicated to analyzing the behavior in social networks Hispanics showed that the announcement of the presidential candidacy of the former first lady and memes (digital teasing) subsequent took to the social networks. 37% of Hispanics participating in Twitter and Instagram spoke...

[SNIP] ".........While the joke goes that every senator looks in the mirror each morning and sees a potential occupant of the Oval Office, senators do have automatic fund-raising bases and little difficulty attracting the spotlight. Still, since 1960, only two — John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Barack Obama of Illinois — have risen directly to the White House.... [SNIP] ....For now, Republican Senate colleagues are optimistic about the presidential aspirants’ ability to make it back to Washington for crucial votes, and about the party leadership’s willingness to try to work around their campaign schedules, when possible. “Remember when Obama...

Prominent voices in conservative media have already begun deciding on favorites in the Republican presidential primary. Most of the candidates and potential candidates have received at least some praise from influential voices in the right-leaning news media, but since the start of 2015, there have been clear signs of who is warming up to who. After Sen. Marco Rubio announced his candidacy in mid-April, the Wall Street Journal editorial board, representing the corporate pro-immigration wing of the GOP, sang the Florida freshman's praises in ways unfelt by others in the field. "The senator … has the rhetorical gifts to make...

[VIDEO at source] Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer praised Florida Sen Marco Rubio at the National Review Institute’s Ideas Summit Friday, saying he is “a very strong candidate.” Ahead of presumed 2016 announcements by Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina and Mike Huckabee, Krauthammer told National Review’s Rich Lowry that Rubio is “the perfect antithesis” to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. He said Rubio is the candidate Democrats “fear the most.” “Marco is a very strong candidate,” Krauthammer started. “You can see a route for him, and he’s the perfect antithesis to Hillary. If you ask Democrats who they fear the most, I...

For Republicans looking ahead to 2016, Florida is the pivotal state in the Electoral College. Naturally, we can’t know exactly what will happen a year and a half from now, but from our current vantage point, it appears very likely that the GOP must win the state to have a shot at winning 270 or more electoral votes and control of the White House. Given the state’s importance, particularly to the Republicans, it seems appropriate that the top two contenders for the party’s presidential nomination in the Crystal Ball’s rankings now hail from the Sunshine State. Moving into the number...

Republican insiders in early-voting states say a crucial battle is emerging in the 2016 presidential race between Marco Rubio and Scott Walker, competing to establish themselves as the party’s “bridge” candidate who can appeal to both the establishment and grass-roots activists.As it has become increasingly apparent that they are key rivals, the men have started taking regular,subtle but unmistakable,shots at one another. Walker talks about the need to nominate someone who is not from Washington and implicitly compares Rubio to Barack Obama. Rubio suggests that there is “no way” a governor like Walker is prepared to deal with global crises...

Conservative activist Richard Viguerie says divisions over immigration could spark a “civil war” within the Republican Party, leading frustrated conservatives to abandon the party if the 2016 Presidential nominee is too liberal on this crucial issue. Viguerie began the exclusive interview with Breitbart News by citing one of his main concerns — and pet peeves — regarding immigration. The “root cause of the problem,” he says, is the desperate situations immigrants face in the countries they are leaving. “Has anyone looked beyond our border?” he asked. “At some point you have to do that, but no one seems to be...

Rubio follows fellow Republican nomination aspirants Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, both of whom signed the pledge last week. His move could put fellow Floridian mentor-turned-rival Jeb Bush in a difficult position in the brewing 2016 presidential contest.

Aren't Democrats supposed to be more enlightened on this issue?Yesterday the Brennan Center for Justice published an essay collection that highlights both the emerging bipartisan consensus in favor of criminal justice reform and the vacuousness of some politicians who claim to support that cause. The book, titled Solutions: American Leaders Speak Out on Criminal Justice, features worthy and substantive contributions from, among others, Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Ted Cruz (R-Texas), not to mention nonpoliticians such as UCLA criminologist Mark Kleiman and Marc Levin, founder of Right on Crime. Even New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is...

This past week, we witnessed the unseemly pandering of several Republicans to the radical homosexual lobby. Each stumbled over the other to present his credentials. Florida Senator Marco Rubio—in a display of complete incoherence—stated on Face the Nation: “I don’t believe that your sexual preferences are a choice for a vast and enormous majority of the people… the bottom line is I believe that sexual preference is something people are born with.” Which one is it, are all people born that way, or just the ones who want to make that claim? Rubio’s incoherent view seems to boil down to...

Bill Kristol writes in this week's newsletter: About 7,500 votes were cast in The Weekly Standard's third presidential poll of the year, twice as many as in the poll a couple of months ago. In that straw poll (and, to repeat, these are obviously not scientific surveys, but rather polls of those who chose to participate), Scott Walker, was far ahead, with almost half the first place votes. He still leads, but has come back to the field some. He's got 30% of the first place ballots, and appears on an impressive 69% of all ballots as a first, second...

It’s been fascinating to watch the media “discover” Marco Rubio as the GOP’s new front-runner. He is suddenly leading the field in a Fox News poll with a less-than-overwhelming 13 percent, just a tick ahead of Scott Walker (12), Rand Paul (10), Jeb Bush and Mike Huckabee (9), and Ted Cruz (8). Not bad for a freshman senator, until you realize that the poll’s margin of error is 5 percent. Meaning that, in theory, Cruz could be first and Rubio could be sixth. One of the most popular Rubio story lines involves the evolution and possible strain on the Jeb-and-Marco...

On newspaper pages and online, the pundit primary is heating up in the Republican Party. The views of conservative columnists such as George Will, Charles Krauthammer, Bill Kristol, Stephen Hayes, and Jonah Goldberg will shape the way donors and party leaders view the 2016 candidates. HereÂ’s a look at the GOP hopefuls who, for better or worse, are getting the most attention from these influential thinkers: Marco Rubio The Florida senator is running away with this contest. The buzz for Rubio began back in 2012 as Republicans sought to regroup after President ObamaÂ’s diverse coalition delivered him a surprisingly easy...

Since Marco Rubio was born in the U.S. to the parents that were not U.S. citizens, does that make him an anchor baby? I personally think at least one parent should be a U.S. citizen before citizenship is granted upon birth. I haven't really seen many people talking about this.

(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...

Our bubbled mainstream media got a serious crash-course in reality this week with the revelations that Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio don’t hate gays, and that Bruce Jenner, who is in the process of transitioning into a woman, remains a Christian Republican. During a two-hour interview Friday night, Jenner said to a noticeably puzzled Diane Sawyer, “I’ve always been more on the conservative side.” Still in shock, Sawyer then asked if he’s a Republican. Jenner responded in the affirmative, ”Yeah. Is that a bad thing? I believe in the Constitution.” Jenner also said he was a Christian and not a...

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has already filed seven amendments, some with the backing of Republican colleagues. They include a proposal to require certification that Iran has recognized Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state and another to require certification that the Iranian government has released all detained Americans. Depending on your perspective, the Senate is looking for pass a “foundationally” solid bipartisan Iran bill, in the words of Sen Lindsey Graham, or a watered down nothing burger that really does nothing but allow the Senate to express their disapproval of Obama’s Iran deal, without the teeth to stop it.

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"...