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The states of Iowa and North Carolina have at least two things in common. First, they are the nation's top producers of hogs. Second, they are often overrun with politicians desperate to attract attention and votes. But I repeat myself. Now that we know the results of the Iowa caucuses, the 2016 political landscape is much clearer. Those seeking office or running campaigns in North Carolina would be well advised to look to Iowa, another purple state, for lessons about the press, the polls and the parties. For starters, reporters and commentators are only as insightful as their sources. Many...

It's the day for polls, apparently. Civitas reports a phone survey of Republican voters on the GOP presidential candidates with one big takeaway: It's a tie between Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz. The numbers show Trump pulling 27 percent of the support, while 23 percent favored Cruz, which is within the margin of error. Eleven percent said they have no preference in a candidate. Ten percent favored Sen. Marco Rubio, and 7 percent went with Ben Carson. The rest: Chris Christie, 4 percent; Jeb Bush, 4 percent; Mike Huckabee, 2 percent; John Kasich, 2 percent; Rand Paul, 2 percent;...

Earlier today it was widely reported that North Carolina Senator Richard Burr was not happy with Ted Cruz. That doesn't make him a special snowflake. Most of the practitioners of crony capitalism and Failure Theater in the Senate are not happy with Ted Cruz. But Burr was not content to merely take a number and get in line. Burr had to make a point of how pissed he was at the idea of Ted Cruz winning the nomination. (Burr's Heritage Action score is 45%, which is the same as arch-conservatives John Cornyn and Mitch McConnell.) Cruz has become such a...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) may not have had a Rick Perry moment in last night's CNN-moderated Republican presidential debate, but he may nonetheless have landed himself in hot water. The Associated Press reports that Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has ordered staffers to examine whether Cruz improperly revealed classified information during the Las Vegas face-off. The probe centers on Cruz's statements about counterterrorism surveillance under the Cruz-backed USA Freedom Act. Responding to criticism from rival Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Cruz said that investigators can examine "nearly 100%" of phone numbers in terror investigations under...

Senator Ted Cruz has received the Asheville Tea PAC (ATPAC) endorsement for the 2016 election for United States President. Senator Ted Cruz’s staunch commitment to Constitutional authority is evidenced in his proven voting record. Undaunted and undeterred by even those in his own party, he has remained resolute in the defense of the principles Asheville Tea PAC embraces: individual rights, limited government, fiscal responsibility and free markets. Asheville Tea PAC is dedicated to bringing the people back into the election process by their participation to replace compromised incumbents with good men and women who commit to Constitutional authority. We focus...

Los Angeles (AFP) - President Barack Obama said the Republican Party has "gone off the deep end" with its messy failure to elect a new speaker of the House of Representatives. The Republican-controlled House was left in shock and disarray this week when Kevin McCarthy, the frontrunner to replace John Boehner, who has announced his resignation, suddenly withdrew from the race because of a revolt by conservatives. The challenge now is to find a consensus candidate who can soothe wounds and unite a fractious caucus. Obama addressed the drama at an expensive fundraiser at a private home in Los Angeles....

"Why not resign like Bob Livingston?”In the hours before House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) abruptly withdrew his candidacy to be the next speaker of the House, he was sent an email from a conservative activist threatening to expose an alleged affair with a colleague. The subject line: “Kevin, why not resign like Bob Livingston?” The email, sent just after 8 a.m. on Thursday, came from Steve Baer, a Chicago-based GOP donor known for mass-emailing conservative figures and Republican lawmakers. It was addressed to McCarthy and numerous others, including the personal account of Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.), who conservative media...

If you had to vote in your state primary/caucus today, knowing what you know now about the various declared and probable candidates, who would you vote for? Why? Who would you like to see as the running mate for your preferred candidate? If you could help staff your candidates cabinet and other top appointments, who would you choose? If you could recommend different congressional leaders than we have now, who would they be? And who would you like to see on the Supreme Court and why? And finally, feel free to donate to Free Republic.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican presidential candidate, is set to announce his North Carolina-based leadership group, including several activists who previously worked with Lt. Gov. Dan Forest and a civil rights leader who was involved in the Greensboro sit-ins. The campaign said it had recruited evangelical and Tea Party leaders. The Cruz campaign tells Dome that Cruz was looking for leaders to add to “grassroots momentum” and to help him raise money and compete for the nomination. A formal announcement is expected Tuesday to include: ▪ USMC Lieutenant Colonel William “Bill” and Velvet Cowan (Ret.) of Mt. Airy. Cowan...

Raleigh looked like Iowa-lite over the weekend, with presidential candidates popping up everywhere. They gave speeches, worked the hallways, and posed for selfies at the three-day state GOP convention held at the Raleigh Convention Center. They met with potential donors and activists, attended fundraisers, and made pilgrimages to Jones Street. They hated Barack and Hillary, loved Reagan and Israel. And left the impression that Obamacare was only slightly better than radical Islamic terrorism. This is the result of the legislature moving up North Carolina’s presidential primaries from its traditional date in May to probably the first Tuesday in March –...

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that won’t necessarily generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers: * Hillary Clinton didn’t explicitly endorse a $15 minimum wage, but she nevertheless made a surprise call yesterday to a convention of fast-food workers who are rallying for the cause. The Democrat declared, “I want to be your champion.” * On “Face the Nation” yesterday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) reiterated his support for a federal crackdown on states that legalized marijuana. Asked if he would “go after” state experiments, and prohibit the legal use of...

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who is in Raleigh this weekend organizing his campaign in the state, sees some parallels between the crowded GOP presidential primary and the NCAA basketball tournament. With the GOP primary becoming increasingly crowded, Cruz said it is useful to break down the field into brackets. Candidates must win their brackets in order to advance. “I think of the Republican primary very much like an NCAA tournament bracket,” Cruz said in an interview at the Raleigh Convention Center on Friday. The typical Republican primary, Cruz said, is composed of 35 percent of self-identified moderates, 15 percent libertarians,...

North Carolina may not be “First in the South,” but the so-called “valley of humility betwixt two mountains of conceit” has become an increasingly competitive state in general elections (to the extent there’s really a “contest” between Democrats and “Republicans” anymore). Of more immediate relevance to GOP presidential campaigns is North Carolina’s role as one of twelve states holding primaries or caucuses on March 1, 2016 – a.k.a. “Super Tuesday.” Looking to boost his Tar Heel State support is U.S. Senator Ted Cruz – who will spend part of the coming weekend in Raleigh, N.C. as the state’s “Republican” party...

On and off the campaign trail in the Carolinas, voters say they have ‘no hard feelings’ toward Hillary Clinton. They say the opposite about Republicans.Bryan Burns could not make up his mind. Here was this African-American voter in khaki shorts, a v-neck T-shirt and black-rimmed eyeglasses, browsing shops at the Crabtree Valley Mall, on a swelteringly hot Friday in the not-yet summer of the American south. And there was Hillary Clinton, who needs to win the minds of exactly this kind of voter, a 30-year-old Virginia native who has spent the last decade living in North Carolina, a state that...

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz will be a keynote speaker at next month’s NC Republican Party State Convention. Cruz, a US Senator from Texas, will keynote a luncheon reception on Saturday, June 6, at the Raleigh Convention Center. The GOP says the convention’s other featured speakers include Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who may also run for president next year, Donald Trump and Amb. John Bolton, who is expected to announce tomorrow if he will run for the White House.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)RALEIGH (WTVD) -- Ted Cruz arrived in Raleigh Monday to help dig an even deeper foothold with conservative voters. Since the junior senator from Texas announced he was running for president in March, he's shot up in the polls here. PPP, a Democratic pollster in Raleigh, showed a dramatic rise in support from North Carolina Republican voters. Cruz's support rose from 5 percent over the winter to 16 percent now. Cruz found a receptive audience at the North Raleigh Hilton where he addressed a crowd of conservatives from across the state at a $100 a ticket luncheon hosted by the...

The latest North Carolina survey from Public Policy Polling suggests that conservative U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz entering the race is stunting Scott Walker's momentum in North Carolina. The PPP poll released on April 10 shows Jeb Bush now leads the GOP field in North Carolina with 19 percent to 16 percent for Walker, with Cruz, Mike Huckabee and Marco Rubio each at 11 percent, Ben Carson at 9 percent, Chris Christie at 7 percent, Rand Paul at 6 percent and Rick Perry at 2 percent. Cruz is up 8 points from his 3 percent standing a month ago, while Walker...

Raleigh, N.C. — Republican legislative leaders say they plan to file further legislation to regulate abortion this year, even as abortion-rights groups called on them to keep their hands off rules proposed by state regulators for North Carolina abortion clinics. "I'm sure there will be a pro-life bill this year," said House Speaker Pro Tem Paul Stam, R-Wake. The state Department of Health and Human Services last month released rules for clinics drafted under a 2013 law that proposed major changes to the state's abortion laws. Several Democratic lawmakers said Thursday that they fear social conservatives dissatisfied with the result...

RALEIGH — Is North Carolina ready to be an early stop on the road to the White House? Thanks to recent legislation, the Tar Heel State has abandoned its traditionally late presidential primary, held in May. State lawmakers couldn’t let Iowa, New Hampshire, and especially South Carolina have all the fun. So they separated North Carolina’s presidential contest from the state’s other primaries and moved it to the Tuesday after South Carolina’s Saturday primary. Although some of the dates remain tentative, here’s how the nomination battles may unfold according to Josh Putnam, an Appalachian State University political scientist who maintains...

More GOP cavalry arrived in Georgia today as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz stumped with David Perdue and Gov. Nathan Deal in Canton, invoking memories of long gas lines and stagflation as he attacked their Democratic rivals. “Here in Georgia, we’ve got on the ballot Jimmy Carter and Sam Nunn,” he said. “It’s like ‘That 70’s Show.'” The Texas firebrand echoed Perdue’s talking points by saying that an election of Michelle Nunn, the Democratic nominee, equals a stamp of approval for President Barack Obama’s agenda. Republicans need a net gain of six Senate seats to take control of the chamber, and...