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Many Donald Trump supporters think he is a slam dunk to beat Hillary Clinton in the general election. The candidate himself certainly takes this view. But Trump's analysis of current public polls is preposterous. In the RealClearPolitics.com average of recent polls, Trump trails Clinton by 6 points, 47 to 41 percent. Ted Cruz, in contrast, leads Clinton 46 to 45 percent. Ex-candidate Marco Rubio and splinter candidate John Kasich have been running even better. All at least equal the 46 percent that is the lowest percentage won by either party's nominee this century. Against each of them Clinton falls short...

Talk about political whiplash. Exactly one week ago, 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney -- in his effort to defeat Donald Trump -- campaigned in Ohio with John Kasich, telling the state's voters to cast ballots for their governor. "Unlike the other people running, he has a real track record," Romney said of Kasich. "He has the kind of record that you want in Washington, and that's why I'm convinced that you're going to do the right thing tomorrow." Today, however, Romney's voice appears on robocalls in Arizona and Utah, telling these voters to side with Ted Cruz -- and...

Sen. Ted Cruz landed an immediate blow on GOP presidential rival Donald Trump, who spoke before him Monday at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference, for how the front-runner referred to the Palestinian people. "Let me say at the outset, perhaps to the surprise of the previous speaker, Palestine has not existed since 1948," Cruz said to lead off his speech in Washington. Trump repeatedly referred to the Palestinian people as "Palestine" during his remarks just minutes before Cruz. Neither the United States nor Israel recognizes Palestine as a country...

The aversion to Donald Trump is so strong among Utah Mormons that if the Republican frontrunner secures the party’s presidential nomination, it could produce a general election outcome that has not happened in half a century: the state could go blue. “The Bible says if you’ve got a wicked leader, the nation suffers,” said Chris Herrod, a former Utah state representative and a Utah campaign coordinator for Ted Cruz. “I’m not saying Donald Trump is wicked, but for most Utahns, the moral character of a leader makes a big difference.” At the state’s high-stakes GOP caucuses on Tuesday, political experts...

Mitt Romney took his willingness to support Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz one step further by recording robocalls for the Texas senator. In the calls, first reported by The Daily Caller, Romney encourages voters in Arizona and Utah to support Cruz. A call targeting Arizona voters was released today and another call will begin ringing in Utah homes tomorrow. Both Utah and Arizona will hold nominating contests tomorrow. “I’m calling to ask you to join me in supporting Ted Cruz for president this Tuesday in the Utah Republican caucuses. This is the time for Republicans across the spectrum to unite...

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.

Glenn Beck brought a fasting child on stage yesterday during his campaign speech for Ted Cruz in Utah. Beck declared to the Cruz crowd: “This is the priesthood rising.”

“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...

ed Cruz will grab an upset win over Donald Trump in Arizona's presidential primary election on Tuesday, as he's the "only candidate with any kind of organization out here," a close confidant of Sen. John McCain predicts. "They have him positioned to spring the upset," Kurt Davis, a GOP operative in Arizona, told The Hill. "They just have to deliver."

In 2012, Mitt Romney ran on a solidly conservative platform and rhetoric, just as Trump is doing now. Yet most (IMO) FReepers agreed with Jim Robinson in vigorously opposing Romney during the primaries and supporting him, if at all, only with nose firmly held in the general election. Why? Because Romney had a record, and it was on far too many matters a liberal record. Well, Trump's many liberal public statements are at least as fresh as Romney's were ... and in some cases are ongoing (cf. "Donald Trump a Typical New York City Liberal Then and Now" - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3385906/posts)....

Sen.-elect Ted Cruz believes Mitt Romney got a little too close to Barack Obama in the third presidential debate. “I’m pretty certain Mitt Romney actually French-kissed Barack Obama,” Cruz said in a speech at the Federalist Society’s annual conference Friday.

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...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) isn't backing off the tough rhetoric he's used to describe the Iran nuclear deal, despite criticism leveled by 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Thursday. -snip- Cruz, 2016 presidential candidate, fired back at Romney in a Thursday radio interview with KFYO's Chad Hasty. "So Mitt Romney's tweet today said, 'Gosh, this rhetoric is not helpful,'" Cruz said. "John Adams famously said, 'Facts are stubborn things.' Describing the actual facts is not using rhetoric; it is called speaking the truth." The senator recalled what he described as a critical moment during the 2012 presidential race: A...

His newest foreign policy advisor, Frank Gaffney, is a key player in the effort to remove Grover Norquist from the organization's board. Ted Cruz named Frank Gaffney his foreign policy advisor on Thursday, a move that threatens to involve the Republican presidential contender in a contentious fight to get the party's most prominent anti-tax advocate kicked off the National Rifle Association's board. Gaffney once worked for President Ronald Reagan's Department of Defense and now runs the Center for Security Policy, a hyper-conservative think tank that promulgates theories about a Muslim Brotherhood conspiracy to infiltrate the U.S. government. The Southern Poverty...

Anti-Donald Trump protesters tore down Secret Service security checkpoints in an effort to storm the doors of the Infinity Event Center while Trump was speaking, only to be repelled by police, CNN reported.

For seven months, Republicans -- myself included -- have argued against the data. The data showed that Donald Trump would be a viable candidate. Many of us presumed he would eventually fade. Many of us presumed he would eventually burn out his supporters with his gaffes, waffling and walk backs. What many of us misunderstood was Republican voter anger. There are a lot of angry people out there and they are flocking to Donald Trump. They have good reason to be angry. Washington politicians, particularly Republicans, have broken promise after promise. People in Washington seem to be doing quite well...

With more of a whimper than a bang, the 2012 GOP nominee has made his preference clear. As POLITICO’s Nolan D. McCaskill reports MITT ROMNEY declared he would be caucusing for TED CRUZ on Tuesday in Utah’s primary — an endorsement, of sorts. The former Massachusetts governor said he believes no one will win the nomination outright by accruing the necessary 1,237 delegates, which would lead to multiple ballots at a contested convention. “At this stage, the only way we can reach an open convention is for Senator Cruz to be successful in as many of the remaining nominating elections...

Today, there is a contest between Trumpism and Republicanism. Through the calculated statements of its leader, Trumpism has become associated with racism, misogyny, bigotry, xenophobia, vulgarity and, most recently, threats and violence. I am repulsed by each and every one of these. The only path that remains to nominate a Republican rather than Mr. Trump is to have an open convention. At this stage, the only way we can reach an open convention is for Senator Cruz to be successful in as many of the remaining nominating elections as possible. I like Governor John Kasich. I have campaigned with him....