Free Republic

Indiana hasn’t cast its ballots for president yet, but Donald Trump is already losing. Republican Party insiders in the state will select 27 delegates to the national convention on Saturday, and Trump is assured to be nearly shut out of support, according to interviews with a dozen party leaders and officials involved in the delegate selection process. Anti-Trump sentiment runs hot among GOP leadership in Indiana, and it’s driving a virulent rejection of the mogul among likely delegates. Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/donald-trump-indiana-primary-221747#ixzz45L5x533h  Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook

John McCain followed Mitt Romney on Thursday in blistering Donald Trump, warning that voters should think "long and hard" before making him commander in chief. “I share the concerns about Donald Trump that my friend and former Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, described in his speech today,” said the Arizona senator and 2008 Republican nominee.

The ex-chief of staff for House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) helped Democrat Terry McAuliffe beat Republican Ken Cuccinelli in Virginia’s gubernatorial election race.Boyd Marcus, the chief of staff for Cantor until 2003—who later teamed with another GOP operative Ray Allen to found the firm Marcus Allen, which Cantor employed until earlier this year—joined the McAuliffe campaign after Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, with whom Marcus campaigned, did not win the GOP nominee in Virginia.“I was looking at the candidates, and I saw Terry McAuliffe as the guy who will work with everybody to get things done,” Marcus told the...

House Republicans have more than taken a page out of Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) shutdown playbook. They’re following it to a “T.” GOP leaders on Tuesday introduced a series of bills to fund specific parts of the government in lieu of one sweeping package — a strategy Cruz had floated a week ago and promoted again Monday night as the government was closing its doors. The freshman senator has also been the driving force behind the plan to condition any new spending on the inclusion of provisions scaling back President Obama’s 2010 healthcare reform law. Cruz and GOP leaders have...

Friday afternoon, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said that he tends to agree with Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio’s stance on immigration policy. In response to President Barack Obama’s changed position on the issue — and decision to selectively enforce illegal immigration law — Rubio said it’s a “short-term answer to a long-term problem.” “I believe the status of young people who come here through no fault of their own is an important matter to be considered and should be solved on a long-term basis, so they know what their future would be in this country,” Romney said in...

Herman Cain's rise in the polls appears to be no fluke. Unlike some other Republican presidential contenders who have flamed out fast after auditioning as the conservative antidote to Mitt Romney, Cain is still riding high atop public opinion surveys. "They said I was the flavor of the week," the Georgia businessman said at an appearance Friday on a campaign swing through Alabama. "But four weeks later the Cain campaign still tastes good!" Cain lacks the money and organization of his top-tier GOP competitors. But, so far, he's survived several high-profile campaign blunders and an onslaught of attacks on his...

(snip) Beyond South Carolina, Graham thinks the GOP should look to all corners of the country, “our pretty deep pool,” for its vice-presidential nominee. The Northeast, he predicts, could be the place to find a leader who balances the ticket. Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, he says, would be excellent. Or, if Republicans were looking to Florida, freshman Sen. Marco Rubio, “a good guy, would obviously be very helpful.” Those two names, I say, are obvious. Graham smiles and floats another: Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor. “I know it would create problems on the social side,” he...

Rick Perry entered the Republican presidential race like a jackrabbit bounding out of the West Texas prairie. He quickly hopped past longtime leader Mitt Romney, who was deliberately, step by step, inching his way toward the nomination he felt was his to win. Now, Romney's strategists are hoping that the former Massachusetts governor plays the tortoise to Rick Perry's hare, slowly and steadily working to win the long race, and that Perry fades in the stretch. But presidential contests are not fables, and it'll take a lot more than hope to make Romney finish first.... [snip] Some of the contrasts...

Republican political strategist Mark McKinnon – veteran of McCain and Bush presidential campaigns – acknowledged in an interview with David Frum that a third-party presidential effort for 2012 was not far off, and hinted at his involvement in one. In the podcast interview, McKinnon, who was discussing his recent Daily Beast column “A Centrist Manifesto”, lamented that “there’s nobody that gets rewarded for bipartisan behavior, [and] in fact they get punished.” To that end, he said, “there is a very real possibility for a legitimate third party effort for 2012 … American voters are so hungry for more voice, and...

(snip) BLITZER: Are you ready to work with the Democrats on immigration reform? GRAHAM: Yes, I'm ready to solve the problem -- the immigration problem once and for all. Start with securing the border, and if I'm not willing to work on immigration reform? Why am I up here? Because it's a huge problem for the country. Start with border security. I'm willing to do anything that makes America stronger as long as I get something for it. (snip)

Sen John McCain, R-Ariz., countering a stinging political attack by President Obama on Monday that Republicans, led by President George W. Bush, are to blame for the recession having driven America's economic car into the proverbial ditch, told reporters Tuesday, "George Bush looks like a piker compared to what has taken place since President Obama has come into the presidency. He can keep 'B.I.O.B.' no matter what it is, 'Blame it on Bush' - he can keep that up. The American people are going to hold him accountable this November, not an administration that went out of power more than...

RNCC? Out there?

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was dismissive of the Tea Party movement in a “This Week” exclusive interview with Terry Moran. "The Tea Party is not going to go anywhere,” Schwarzenegger told Moran. “I think the Tea Party is all about just an expression of anger and dissatisfaction. ”MORAN: It's a very aggressive Republican positioning and I want to go back to the CPAC conference. The Republicans reasserted their congressional power. Essentially the massive campaign of obstruction, filibusters more than 100 in one year, 80 percent of major legislation -- and as Mike Pence, congressman from Indiana, one of the Republican...

One of the stories coming out of CPAC this year is the embrace of the tea party movement not by the Republican Party, but by the conservative movement. The issues of spending and smaller government are shared across the board. But while conservatives are embracing the tea party movement, Republican Senators continue castigating tea party activists and hoping they shut up and go away. The latest is Senator Orin Hatch who is petrified that tea party activists might elect Mike Lee and defeat Bob Bennett in Utah. The Hill reports: Speaking to constituents at a town hall, Hatch warned Tea...

<p>WASHINGTON (Associated Press) -- Rep. Ron Paul won the most support for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination in an unofficial straw poll of conservative activists attending an annual conference.</p>

Below, release from Kirk.... McCain to Endorse Kirk at Veterans Gathering in Glenview McCain: "The people of Illinois deserve a Senator who will restore honest government, strengthen our national security, fight for veterans and bring fiscal discipline to Washington. Mark Kirk has my strongest endorsement." Who: Congressman Mark Kirk Senator John McCain When: 4:00 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 30 Where: Glenview Park Center, Lakeview A Room 2400 Chestnut Ave. Glenview, IL What: Senator John McCain will endorse Congressman Mark Kirk for U.S. Senate at a veterans gathering in Glenview on Sunday afternoon. Kirk, an early supporter of McCain's presidential bid during...