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Cruz also basked in the praise of two big-name Mormons: former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney and conservative talk show host Glenn Beck. […] Beck, a Mormon and conservative radio talk show host, said he always vows to be the worst enemy of politicians who do not keep promises. “I don’t have any friends in Washington except these two,” he said about Cruz and Lee. He added they are the first politicians he has even endorsed. Beck said that he, like many Mormons, believe in a prophecy that the Constitution will hang by a thread in the last days....

Smartmatic Group, an electronic voting firm whose worldwide headquarters is located in the United Kingdom, will be running the online balloting process in the Utah Republican Open Caucuses on Tuesday. The chairman of Smartmatic’s board, Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, currently serves on the board of George Soros’s Open Society Foundation and has close ties to the billionaire. The Wall Street Journal dubbed the Republican party’s online adventure on Tuesday as “one of the biggest online votes conducted so far in the U.S.” and the “largest experiment with online presidential voting since 2004, when Michigan allowed Democrats to vote in a party...

SALT LAKE CITY — If Donald Trump becomes the Republican Party's nominee, Utahns would vote for a Democrat for president in November for the first time in more than 50 years, according to a new Deseret News/KSL poll. ... While Clinton was only slightly ahead of Trump — 38 percent to 36 percent — Sanders, a self-declared Democratic socialist, holds a substantial lead — 48 percent to 37 percent over the billionaire businessman and reality TV star among likely Utah voters. Read More

SALT LAKE CITY — If Donald Trump becomes the Republican Party's nominee, Utahns would vote for a Democrat for president in November for the first time in more than 50 years, according to a new Deseret News/KSL poll. "I believe Donald Trump could lose Utah. If you lose Utah as a Republican, there is no hope," said former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, a top campaign adviser to the GOP's 2012 nominee, Mitt Romney. he poll found that may well be true. Utah voters said they would reject Trump, the GOP frontrunner, whether former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or Vermont...

Despite President Obama citing the bipartisan congressional support his Supreme Court pick received in the past, Senate Republicans vowed to remain firm on not moving nominee Merrick Garland forward. Garland, a Harvard Law grad and the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since 1997, stood by Obama's side in the Rose Garden today as the president detailed the judge's list of accomplishments. During the confirmation process to the D.C. Circuit, Obama noted, "he earned overwhelming bipartisan praise from senators and legal experts alike." "Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, who was then chairman...

After graduating with honors from Harvard University and Harvard Law School, D.C. Circuit Judge Merrick Garland clerked for Judge Henry Friendly on the Second Circuit and then for Justice William Brennan. Garland has spent most of his career in public service, much like Justice Samuel Alito. Both served as Assistant United States Attorneys and as high-level aides to Attorneys General. If nominated and confirmed to the Court, Garland would be the third sitting justice with prosecutorial experience (joining Justices Alito and Sotomayor). But while Alito remained in government, Garland's career also included several years in private practice at Arnold &...

Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, one of the top Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Monday morning that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been mentioned as a possible nominee to the Supreme Court. "I even heard the name Hillary Clinton today, and that would be an interesting person in the mix," Hatch said on NBC's "Today Show." The senator said he would not pre-judge whether any potential nominee would be an appropriate candidate to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens, but he had general praise for the secretary of state. "I happen to like Hillary Clinton, I think she's...

Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz, campaigning in Utah, called Donald Trump's attacks on Mitt Romney Mormon affiliation "sad" and "disgraceful.'' "It was sad yesterday to see Donald Trump stand up in Utah and call into question Mitt Romney's faith," the Texas senator told reporters on Saturday after a rally in Draper ahead of the state's Republican nominating contest on March 22.

Ted Cruz has a significant lead over his two Republican challengers in the days leading up to the Utah caucuses — and yes, that includes Donald Trump. A Y2 Analytics survey released on Saturday shows Cruz with the support of 53 percent of likely Republican caucus-goers. If Cruz were to get at least 50 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s caucus, he’d capture all 40 of the state’s GOP delegates. Ohio Gov. John Kasich came in second in the poll with 29 percent, and Trump followed him at 11 percent. The survey also found that 64 percent of Utah Republicans...

Ted Cruz is summoning his top fundraisers to an exclusive retreat in Las Vegas next month. The Texas senator's aides on Friday called their top bundlers to gather between April 8 and 10, according to an invitation obtained by CNN. The candidate and his wife, Heidi, will be on hand. The retreat for national finance committee members comes at a time when Cruz's fundraising team is taking on more moneymen in order to wage a long, expensive national campaign, in order to prevent Republican front-runner Donald Trump from locking up the delegates needed to win the nomination. Current fundraisers must...

Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton told attendees at a Utah campaign stop that her mother is eager to extend Obamacare "to people who are living and working here, regardless of immigration status, regardless of citizenship status." The apparent promise to extend Obamacare to illegal immigrants came Tuesday at a campaign stop for Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton in Salt Lake City, where an unidentified man questioned Chelsea about the intersection of heath care and immigration policy. "I'm a proud gay Latino immigrant, now a U.S. citizen. So I support your mom," the man said in a video of the encounter...

“I want to speak to you about something that may be controversial. And it’s not something that I have said when I have been out for Ted [Cruz] and now Mike [Lee]. But it’s something that this crowd needs to hear – that Utah needs to hear. The body of the priesthood is known to stand up when the Constitution hangs by a thread,” Beck said. ... “I joined many times. What held me through was the prophesy that the Constitution will hang by a thread, and this People would remember what our Founders did. It is our responsibility to...

Latest Poll Cruz 53% Kasich 29% Trump 11%

When Donald Trump entered the presidential race, Laurie Towers liked how he was able to channel many Americans’ anger and frustration. But as the primary season ramped up, Towers, who is Mormon, increasingly found herself turned off by Trump. “We have values and standards that he doesn’t hold dear,” Towers said of herself and other members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As Trump continues to gain support from nearly every demographic that makes up the Republican primary voting base, primary results show that he is lagging behind with a small group: Mormon voters. -snip- Meanwhile, the...

Provo, Utah (CNN) -- Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on Saturday picked up the support of Utah's lieutenant governor three days before Republicans head to the state's caucuses. Spencer Cox, who had previously endorsed Sen. Marco Rubio's candidacy, endorsed Cruz at a rally here Saturday afternoon that was hosted by a pro-Cruz super PAC. "Ted has unwaveringly fought for conservative principles time after time, and as president, he will do the same. I am asking all of my fellow Utah Republicans to join me, Senator Mike Lee and Mitt Romney in voting for Ted Cruz on Tuesday," Cox said....

Cruz in Utah: Glenn Beck says he’s fulfillment of Mormon prophecy, Gayle Ruzicka predicts he’ll be better than Reagan. Republican Presidential candidate Ted Cruz told Utahns on Saturday that the biggest danger America faces is career politicians who no longer listen — and he relishes battling them for the people. -snip- Beck, a Mormon and conservative radio talk show host, said he always vows to be the worst enemy of politicians who do not keep promises. "I don't have any friends in Washington except these two," he said about Cruz and Lee. He added they are the first politicians he...

Hundreds of activists chanted "Dump Trump" and "Mr Hate out of our state" as riot police blocked the entrance to the rally in Salt Lake City last night. Others waved banners reading "Trump is Hitler" and "Trump makes America hate again" before tearing down a security tent, according to media reports. And some eyewitness claimed rocks were thrown at Trump supporters leaving the venue, the Infinity Event Centre, at around 9pm local time....

residential candidate and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) hasn't abandoned his take-no-prisoners approach to politics after all. Cruz — who called former presidential candidate Mitt Romney "honorable" and "experienced" in his New York Times-best selling book — privately described Romney as the worst possible candidate during an event earlier this year, according to the National Journal on Friday. While giving a speech in May for the Council for National Policy, a secretive group of top conservative donors and activists, Cruz said Romney was the worst candidate the GOP could have nominated in 2012 because of his record on healthcare reform. -snip-...

Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said Thursday that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's rhetoric on Iran "hurts the cause." "I am opposed to the Iran deal, but @SenTedCruz is way over the line on the Obama terrorism charge. Hurts the cause," Romney, acting in his emerging role as party elder, tweeted Thursday. -snip- Cruz fired back at Romney on Thursday afternoon during an interview on the Chad Hasty radio show, in a clip flagged by Democratic rapid response group American Bridge 21st century. "When you send billions of dollars to Jihadists trying to kill Americans, you bear responsibility for the...