Free Republic

If you think the arguments between the Republican candidates have been bad, well, you ain't seen nothing yet. Pundits, reporters and political analysts are going to really have at it. Two competing theories about the Republican race are about to come to a head, and both of them can claim a victory of sorts after South Carolina. The first theory is simple. It can be summarized in one word: Trump! The more detailed version would argue the following: * Trump has easily won two of the first three states. * Trump is ahead in the polls in pretty much every...

An aide to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's (R) likely presidential campaign resigned late Tuesday night just a day after her hire was announced. Liz Mair, who was a digital strategist for Walker, came under a storm of criticism for her advocacy for some relatively liberal policy positions and colorful tweets that critics claimed were insulting to Iowans. "In other news, I see Iowa is once again embarrassing itself, and the GOP, this morning. Thanks, guys," Mair wrote about a January event hosted by conservative Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), according to the Associated Press. "The sooner we remove Iowa's front-running status,...

Donald Trump comfortably defeated his Republican presidential rivals on Saturday in South Carolina's GOP primary. Trump's resounding victory isn't simply a boon to his prospects for winning the Republican presidential nomination, an outcome once thought impossible that is looking increasingly more plausible. It is also an embarrassing repudiation of conservative orthodoxy that has dominated Republican politics for decades. It suggests that the party's intellectual leaders, who organized the base around the National Review/Weekly Standard consensus -- small government, free trade, pro-Israel, deregulation, low taxes, social conservatism and an aggressive foreign policy -- have been generals of a phantom army. The...

Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.expressnews.com/business/eagle-ford-energy/article/Cruz-is-big-oil-s-new-crush-as-donors-cool-to-6843524.php

Well then, you must like losing your job to someone in Mexico who will make $3/hour. Union leaders at an air conditioner factory in Indianapolis threatened with losing 1,400 jobs to Mexico said on Tuesday the plants owner expects to pay Mexican workers $3 an hour compared to an average of more than $20 an hour for the U.S. workers. "We have not given up the fight yet," said Chuck Jones, president of the United Steelworkers union local that represents workers at the Carrier Corp plant. "But Carrier has pretty well indicated that the wage differential is too great and...

Is Trump losing his one big lead in South Carolina? Just days before the South Carolina primary, some polls have shown Trump's once-huge lead in Palmetto State is shrinking. But now, hours before voters head to the polls, FOX Business' Charles Gasparino is hearing it from inside sources that both Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are seeing surges in support. On Friday's show, Gasparino told Tom Sullivan the campaigns and the "big money" behind them are seeing private poll numbers that suggest both Republican Senators may do better than the pundits expect and even top Donald Trump....

Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2016/02/19/republican-presidential-candidate-marco-rubio-stays-indiana-ballot-commission-rules/80607168/

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. -- Speaking just six miles apart on Friday morning, Donald J. Trump and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas renewed their bitter personal feud, while their supporters echoed the candidates' language and themes - a sign that the bitterness between the two men has now seeped deeply into the feelings of voters. Mr. Trump called Mr. Cruz "the biggest liar I've ever seen," a line he has been pushing all week. Trump supporters, some of whom said they had once considered supporting the Texas senator, largely agreed with Mr. Trump's harsh assessment. "I'm very disappointed in Ted Cruz...

Ted Cruz has pinned his hopes on a big showing in the South. He could still do it, but it's far from certain It's taken a while for the chattering classes to come around to the idea that Donald Trump may actually pull this thing off. It's hard to blame them. It's as if we all went to sleep one night and woke up in an alternate universe. But they do seem to have accepted it. He came close to winning Iowa, a notoriously buttoned up electorate, and won decisively in New Hampshire. All the polling going forward looks good....

Conservative radio host Glenn Beck has taken to his blog to clarify comments about 2016 presidential candidate Ted Cruz he made on Monday’s show. The comments came amid a discussion about who Beck thought would be the right fit for the White House in 2016. This led to the surprising quote where Beck said of Sen. Cruz, “I’m not sure he could govern.” Of course, Beck has long been a supporter of Cruz, so he wrote a clarification Tuesday morning entitled “Shocker: Media takes Glenn’s comments about Ted Cruz completely out of context.” Here’s a quick excerpt: As we were...

Noah already wrote a policy rebuttal to Paul’s position, which Paul elaborated on this afternoon in a new op-ed at Time. (The op-ed, unlike his tweets, doesn’t mention Rubio by name. Although it does approvingly cite … George W. Bush?) Anyone want to make the case that the politics of attacking Rubio on this issue were smart, at least? I can’t figure out why Rand would do it. When I tweeted out my surprise a few hours ago, a dozen people tweeted back, “Maybe Paul’s just saying what he really believes.” No doubt. But the thing that distinguishes Rand from...

SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Ted Cruz's campaign is trying to make the most of Gov. Nikki Haley's endorsement of Marco Rubio days ahead of the South Carolina primary: driving sky-high his political expectations here. "If he doesn't finish first, this is a massive loss," Jason Miller, a senior Cruz adviser, said hours after news reports began circulating that Haley would endorse Rubio at a rally Wednesday evening. "Rubio has to win here." Earlier this week, Jeb Bush had called Haley's endorsement "the most powerful, meaningful one in the state." Haley's backing of Rubio comes on top of the support of Sen....

According to reports, Presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was slated to receive Tuesday afternoon the endorsement of the head of the nation's largest pro-Israel PAC. Jewish Insider broke the news Tuesday morning that the Texas senator, who is campaigning in South Carolina ahead of that state's Republican presidential primary on Saturday, will receive Dr. Ben Chouake's backing. Chouake is president of NORPAC, a nonpartisan political action committee whose primary purpose is to support candidates and sitting members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives who demonstrate a genuine commitment to the strength, security and survival of Israel....

AUSTIN -- The 2016 presidential election -- well on its way to clocking in as the most expensive in history -- is oozing with political cash from Texas. Donors from Texas, long known as a vaunted piggy bank for White House hopefuls, plowed at least $88 million last year into the presidential race, according to a San Antonio Express-News analysis of federal campaign finance and IRS filings. That includes money injected directly into about two-dozen individual campaigns and an army of roughly 30 allied groups that can raise and spend unlimited sums to support their candidate of choice. Big money...

Trump won in dominant fashion and Cruz met expectations as Rubio fell completely apart. This is scary stuff. I've been writing about the Donald Trump phenomenon several times a week for seven months now. As his candidacy evolved from a bizarre spectacle to a serious campaign, it's become clear that this is a pivotal moment in American politics. It's not just that we have a shocking demagogue or a profane performer topping the polls in the Republican presidential race. It's the alarming notion that a crude authoritarian white nationalist is appealing to a very large section of the American people....

Texans start voting in the presidential election in eight days....

MANCHESTER, N.H -- If Marco Rubio won the Iowa caucus by finishing third last week, Ted Cruz just won New Hampshire. Cruz (R-Texas), the actual winner of the Iowa Republican caucus, finished third in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday night, behind life-sized Chucky impersonator Donald Trump and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. In other words, he lost. But don't count Cruz out quite yet. Just two of the 48 states have voted, and Cruz has the money -- and the polling numbers -- to stay in the GOP race and, potentially, win it. Cruz, a methodical politician, plotted a course to...

The Jewish donors gathered Thursday had two demands of the Republican presidential candidates who'd come to speak to them: unambiguous support for Israel and respect. Donald Trump seemed to fail at both. The party's 2016 front-runner openly questioned Israel's commitment to the Mideast peace process in his remarks to the Republican Jewish Coalition, echoing comments he made the night before in an interview with The Associated Press. He drew boos after refusing to endorse Jerusalem as the nation's undivided capital. And he suggested to the influential group simply wanted to install a puppet in the White House....

Tech entrepreneur Scott Banister has long been an ally to the liberty movement. The angel investor, IronPort founder, and PayPal board member donated $3 million to a Rand Paul supporting Super PAC, and has been a vocal supporter of the libertarian Republican. Now that Rand Paul is out of the presidential race, Banister has thrown his support behind Ted Cruz. Cruz is a self-described constitutional conservative who earned the endorsements of both Rand and Ron Paul in his 2012 Texas Senate race. Scott Banister Our best chance for a constitutional presidency is now @tedcruz. #LibertariansForCruz Cruz's relationship with the Pauls...

ABC News(DES MOINE, Iowa) — Congressman Steve King has endorsed Ted Cruz for President — saying Cruz is the "answer to my prayers" and that Ben Carson and Donald Trump's lack of Washington, D.C., experience makes the job "harder" for them. "I do believe that Ted Cruz is the full package, the constitutional conservative that can restore the soul of America," King told reporters in a conference room at the Des Moines Marriott. King is an influential voice in Iowa politics who was courted by many conservative Republicans, including Bobby Jindal, Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee. He said he made...