Free Republic

It’s been a little while since we checked in on New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s presidential campaign, probably because she’s been stuck in the trenches and polling in the vicinity of zero. But she’s still out there beating the bushes and trying to round up votes and campaign contributions. One of her latest campaign gimmicks involved getting out there with the regular people and playing some beer pong. No… seriously. This is a thing that actually happened. (Associated Press) Her first shot landed short and her teammate’s bounced away. But Kirsten Gillibrand’s second ping pong ball splashed home and she...

DES MOINES | Ted Cruz has assembled an impressive presidential campaign structure in Iowa, veteran political observers here say, with one going so far as to describe Cruz's campaign as perhaps "the most sophisticated" the first-in-the-nation caucus state has ever witnessed.Because of that grassroots organization, Cruz is primed to maintain his recent surge in the polls and win the Iowa Republican caucuses in five weeks, those observers say.Cruz, a tea party firebrand and first-term U.S. senator from Texas, was the first Republican candidate to enter the presidential race, on March 23. Nine months later, he has overtaken longtime front-runner Donald...

Ted Cruz, staring at hundreds of thousands of dollars in negative advertisements against him in Iowa that show only signs of growing, is battling to keep pace there with his most aggressive push yet to maintain his momentum in the Hawkeye State. On Wednesday, the day that a fourth and fifth independent group launched paid media campaigns attacking Cruz as out of touch with Iowa Republicans, Cruz's campaign sent word that he will launch a 36-county, six-day tour right after the new year, his most extensive trip of the state so far. Cruz is expected to spend much of January...

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz speaks at a campaign stop at a Pizza Ranch restaurant in Newton, Iowa November 29, 2015. REUTERS/Mark Kauzlarich KNOXVILLE, Tennessee - Four hours before Ted Cruz was expected to arrive at Farragut High School, Tammy Purcell exclaimed cheerily, "I want to make sure I get in there. I want to give him this birthday cupcake," she said, explaining why she was the first person in line to see Cruz. She had come at 6 a.m., wielding a cupcake in one hand and a sign reading "Happy Birthday Ted" in the other as she waited...