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For the first time in 68 years, the Republican Party will need more than one ballot to pick its nominee this summer in Cleveland, Karl Rove predicted in his annual list of prognostications. "Delegates will be fractured-with many legally bound, for at least one ballot, to support the winner of their state or district-and at least two ballots will be required," he wrote in The Wall Street Journal. -snip- Should Donald Trump, the current leader in most statewide and national polling, become the party's pick, Rove predicted that the Democrats would maintain control of the White House for another four...

Karl Rove's quail hunting trip to the Texas-Mexico border over the Christmas holiday took an unexpected turn when he ran into two men hiding in the brush. The former adviser to President George W. Bush said he and a couple friends had been hunting near the southern border when they discovered the men lurking in a small grove of trees, according to a Tuesday interview with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly. They immediately called in Border Patrol officials, but attempted to detain the men while they waited for law enforcement. "One of them was in very bad shape. After our truck...

Jeb Bush and his super PAC are set to assault New Hampshire airwaves with a series of ads leading up the first-in-the-nation presidential primary. The spending looks like an effort by Bush to empty campaign coffers, filled in a fundraising haul started in late 2014, in a last ditch effort to gain ground in a state famous for anointing the Republican establishment standard-bearer. This strategy includes two ads from Bush's PAC, Right to Rise. Those ads are set to air in New Hampshire during the Super Bowl. The Boston Herald reported that the Bush team has reserved more than $14...

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and his super PAC are set to dominate the TV airwaves between now and the Granite State primary, reserving more than $14 million in commercials on both New Hampshire and Boston stations - including two Super Bowl spots - the Herald has learned. It's a clear sign that Bush operatives, despite criticism over already spending more than $35 million nationally on commercials for just 4 percent in the polls, are doubling down on a strategy of massive TV buys. Bush's forces plan to spend $14.1 million on ads on TV stations in New Hampshire and...

-snip- To many of the billionaires it felt like a mugging. -snip- Rove's 2012 crash is having profound effects on the 2016 Republican primary. To begin with, George W. Bush's Brain is no longer considered much of a brain. "I gave Rove $500,000. What did I get for it? Nothing!" Langone told me. Two of Rove's most generous 2012 funders, Texas billionaires Bob Perry and Harold Simmons, have since passed away, and their heirs have turned off the cash spigot. "Everyone is still shocked Romney lost," says Simmons's widow, Annette. "I haven't committed at all." So far this year, Crossroads...

Donald Trump's incessant criticism of longtime Republican strategist Karl Rove continues, with the leading GOP presidential hopeful now calling Rove an "establishment flunky." In separate tweets Thursday, the brash billionaire accused Rove, a former senior adviser to President George W. Bush, of making "false statements" both in print, as a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, and on TV, as a Fox News contributor. The tweets come less than 24 hours after Rove published his latest column, titled "Trump is the Democrats' Dream Nominee," in which he raises questions about the Republican front-runner's electability.

Donald Trump's call on Monday for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" is unlikely to blow up his campaign. No matter how outrageous his statement seems to most Americans, his supporters apparently eat up stuff like that. Forty-six percent of Mr. Trump's backers say that their minds are made up and won't change before the primaries, according to a Dec. 2 Quinnipiac poll. Only 33% of Ted Cruz's supporters, and 23% of Marco Rubio's, say that they are sure of their choice. Apparently no matter what Mr. Trump does, he continues to poll generally in...

Republican strategist Karl Rove may be moving to help bankroll Ben Carson in the presidential race. Reports say Rove helped to set up a meeting between Carson's campaign and billionaire Steve Wynn, but additional details were not immediately clear. Wynn, who owns casinos and hotels across the country, has contributed a combined $30,000 to political action committees associated with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in this election cycle. Ben Carson presently ranks fourth in the Washington Examiner's power rankings. Wynn is munificent when it comes to campaign contributions, and he rarely discriminates between parties. Federal Election Commission filings indicate Wynn...

Karl Rove says Donald Trump may very well win the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. But the influential GOP consultant and policy adviser, in an exclusive interview with Newsmax TV, adds the billionaire developer's acidic attacks on his fellow candidates could hurt his chances. "He's taken the lead - took the lead in July and held it. He's got a chance to win the nomination," Rove said Wednesday on "Newsmax Prime" with J.D. Hayworth. "His challenge is, he's created a high floor, but a low ceiling. It's sort of hard to grow when you've taken on the habit of excoriating everybody...

Republicans are riding high with white voters, but need to win over American minorities if they expect to recapture the White House in next year's presidential election, influential GOP consultant and policy adviser Karl Rove tells Newsmax TV. "It's not just Latinos. Republicans have to do better among African-Americans, Latinos and Asian-Americans because we're tapped out — we're taking six out of every 10 white voters," Rove said Wednesday on "Newsmax Prime" with J.D. Hayworth.

Influential GOP consultant and policy adviser Karl Rove says former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels would be the perfect running mate for whoever wins the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. And at the very least, Rove adds in an exclusive interview with Newsmax TV, the GOP's vice presidential pick should be a Midwesterner to maximize the Republican ticket's drawing power. "It would be good to have somebody from the Midwest. I've got an out-of-the-box idea for you, how about the former governor of Indiana, Mitch Daniels," Rove said Wednesday on "Newsmax Prime" with J.D. Hayworth. "[He's] done an exemplary job serving in...

There are three Republican candidates who can plausibly win the GOP nomination in 2016, former George W. Bush strategist Karl Rove said Wednesday, but he doesn't think Donald Trump is one of them. Instead, Rove said he'd pick "[Jeb] Bush, [Chris] Christie, or [Marco] Rubio, in alphabetical order," telling MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program that while he can make the case that "probably six or seven people," including Trump, can make the nomination, he doesn't think it's likely that the New York billionaire will win. Rove said he also sees Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, or Ohio Gov. John Kasich...

Donald Trump didn't hold back on Karl Rove. In the span of 15 minutes, the Republican presidential front-runner referred to Rove as a "total moron" - adding that "you can print that if you want" - and compared him to someone who has worse aim than someone randomly throwing darts. "A guy like Karl Rove, Karl Rove is Republican establishment. He spent last cycle, $US430 million, and lost every single race," Trump said in an interview with Business Insider last week. "And I saw the commercials and the things that he was making, they're the worst I've ever seen. I...

Former Florida governor is spending more than twice as much as any other candidate, according to new data With a full year left until the 2016 presidential election it's still unclear who will emerge the winner. But when it comes to millions spent on TV ads, one candidate has already taken the top spot: Jeb Bush. However, other than some gift baskets from local stations in Iowa and New Hampshire, the former Florida governor has little to show for it, with poll numbers stubbornly stuck in the single digits. Bush and his supporters have so far spent an eye-popping $20...

He was the night's biggest loser: full of contradiction and without depth. Tuesday night's Republican presidential debate was the best so far. The moderators emphasized substance and the candidates complied, most doing themselves some good-the biggest exception being Donald Trump. -snip- Jeb Bush went in facing the most pressure and came through, reassuring supporters with his best performance so far. He whacked Hillary Clinton for saying that President Obama's economic policies "get an A," declaring that a weak jobs picture, growing poverty and increasing dependency on food stamps "may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do, but it's not...

MARTHA MACCALLUM, FNC: What is the mind-set at this point? When you look at these numbers and you have Carson and Trump trading spots at least according to one national poll for first and second, what we're looking at, but you know these other folks who everybody thought were strong, deep bench of the Republican Party are just mired, they're not getting anywhere at all, Karl? Does anything change that. KARL ROVE: Well, sure there is and you see it in the poll this morning. I agree with what Chris Stirewalt said earlier this is one poll. You shouldn't sort...

HOUSTON — Right to Rise USA, the super PAC supporting former Florida governor Jeb Bush's campaign for president, is considering deploying ground staff to key states after focusing most heavily on running television ads so far. It's a notable strategic consideration that comes as Bush's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination has struggled to gain traction in early-voting states and as it makes moves to curtail costs in what began as a sprawling operation.

Longtime political strategist Karl Rove is warning Republicans not to nominate a presidential candidate that reflects the same "populist anger" that gave birth to the rise of Donald Trump. In his latest op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, Rove explained the GOP will have two choices when delegates gather in Cleveland, Ohio, next July to determine which remaining Republican hopeful they wish to see challenge Democrats in the general election. "Will the party choose a nominee with a conservative agenda or one reflecting populist anger?" Rove wrote. "The two are hardly the same," he noted. "Conservative principles provide a winning...

After George W. Bush attacked Ted Cruz over the weekend, and Karl Rove followed up with attacks today, Conservative Review’s Editor in Chief Mark Levin dedicated the first hour of his program to going through the ways the Bush establishment (Bushtablishment) has repeatedly squandered conservative victories. Levin went through how the Bushtablishment squandered two historic victories by Ronald Reagan by squishing. Levin explained that by embracing liberal policies the Bushtablishment GOP kept losing elections. Listen in as Levin explains how Bushtablishment governance lead to the Republican Party losing the congressional majority in 2006, which gave the nation the Obama years....

Former Lt. Governor David Dewhurst has agreed to pay off $800,000 of debt from his failed bid for the U.S. Senate in 2012, according to a report in The Texas Tribune. According to a September letter obtained by the Tribune, Dewhurst has agreed to pay the debt over the next year but he said that he was not legally obligated to pay the money to his vendors. “While there is obviously no legal obligation that I personally pay the vendors invoices, and while a few of you let me down with messaging and media that was counter-productive, plus there were...