Free Republic

The field for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination is as flat as any in modern memory—pretty remarkable for a party that usually has a fight but almost invariably ends up nominating whoever's turn it is. While nomination trial-heat polling tells us very little this early, there are some poll questions that are better measurements of at least where these candidates are starting out, before the campaigning, debates, and advertising begin in earnest.An April 26 to April 30 NBC News / Wall Street Journal poll asked Republican primary voters whether they could or could not see themselves voting for each of 10 different...

The media’s conventional wisdom is that Mike Huckabee, a onetime winner of the Iowa caucuses, doesn’t have much of a shot in 2016. So why are some pundits and news outlets suddenly attacking him if he’s just an asterisk? The answer is that the former Arkansas governor and ex-Fox News contributor will matter, at least in the early states. And beyond that, some conservatives have a visceral dislike for the guy—and especially for his passionate defense of entitlement programs.

The media’s conventional wisdom is that Mike Huckabee, a onetime winner of the Iowa caucuses, doesn’t have much of a shot in 2016. So why are some pundits and news outlets suddenly attacking him if he’s just an asterisk? The answer is that the former Arkansas governor and ex-Fox News contributor will matter, at least in the early states. And beyond that, some conservatives have a visceral dislike for the guy—and especially for his passionate defense of entitlement programs.

And now Mike Huckabee, the Gomer Pyle of unadulterated hatred masquerading as good ol' religion, has, again, joined the Republican race for the presidency. Distressed because of the success Ted Cruz has had making inroads to the virulent right wing religious/racist base of the Christian Right, Huckabee made sure to fluff his announcement with the prerequisite xenophobia necessary to show he's still The One. A little mention of the evils of Islam here, a little homophobic red meat there- Huck's on the move to shore up those right wing evangelical votes. The problem is that Huckabee's all hat and no...

The former governor of Florida, John (or as he prefers to be called, Juan) Ellis Bush, doesn't appear to have a lot of support among Republicans, as opposed to Republicans in Name Only (RINOs), who absolutely adore him. But Juan isn't sweating it. He's rolling in dough, and more importantly, he's rolling in opponents. Have you ever heard of a "straw" candidate? When you have a weak front-runner that can't reach 50 percent, often a third, or a fourth, or even a fifth candidate suddenly jumps into the race. If he has a name similar to that of the strongest...

One of the Senate’s leading liberals is borrowing a page from the playbook of Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is pushing to strike out language from the “cromnibus” spending bill unveiled Tuesday that would roll back restrictions on “swaps” transactions included in the 2010 financial regulatory overhaul known as Dodd-Frank. Repealing the “push-out” provision would mean that certain derivatives could again be held in bank units with federal deposit insurance. Using a strategy sometimes employed by Cruz for entirely different policy reasons, Warren said that with the $1.013 trillion spending package first being considered by the...

Mike Huckabee is not the evangelical candidate. Oh sure, he’ll get a hefty amount of the evangelical vote even though there is a much more competitive field this time around. But if you think he’s a one-trick pony then you miss the larger story. The easy media narrative will be that Huckabee must appeal to evangelicals to do well. And there’s no denying that will be a part of his potential winning equation. But what Huckabee has that no other candidate possesses is an, “aw shucks,” bless your heart, southern charm. That will play well in the heartland of this...

Despite having a relatively moderate record on tax policy as the governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee has wholeheartedly embraced a radically regressive tax plan as a central plank of his presidential candidate platform. For years, Huckabee has been one of the main proponents of the “Fair Tax,” a plan that would replace all federal taxes with a national sales tax. Citizens for Tax Justice and the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation have each found that to raise the same amount of revenue as current law, the sales tax rate would have to be about 50 percent. A study by the...

Mike Huckabee is the Pepperidge Farm Remembers candidate for 2016. Don't underestimate his chances for success.Nearly nine years removed from holding public office, Mike Huckabee is a different candidate now in a number of ways, operating at a much greater remove from the homegrown populism of his insurgent 2008 campaign – but he’s going to try to bottle that old magic to make his brand of social moralizing and economic moderation populist again. The problem for Huckabee is that there are better populists out there now. Both Huckabee and Chris Christie passed on running in 2012 for their various reasons,...

Republican Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist pastor and unabashed culture warrior, enters the race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination on Tuesday facing competition for the support of social conservatives who backed him in 2008. The ex-governor of Arkansas, 59, became a national figure by staging an upset win in Iowa's kickoff nominating contest during his 2008 presidential bid. This time around other Republicans with national recognition have emerged as rivals for the role of leading crusader on social issues such as abortion rights and gay marriage. Polls show Huckabee's support among Republican voters is only in the single digits....

His advisers call it "the SEC strategy." Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is plotting a route to the Republican presidential nomination that could easily be mistaken for the sports bracket of a Southeastern Conference super fan. As he seeks to avoid a repeat of the spectacular flameout of his 2008 run, Huckabee is pinning his hopes on the 11 contiguous states that run from Florida to Missouri and Texas to South Carolina. His advisers and allies call it “the SEC strategy,” for the college sports conference that tracks the same map....

The money fueling Sen. Ted Cruz’s campaign for president comes in both trickles and torrents. And the sources of much of it are murky. A hedge fund billionaire is reported to have poured $30 million into the cause isn’t talking. So it’s unclear why he picked Cruz and how much he’s willing to spend to keep the Texas Republican’s hopes alive as the race plays out. Nor will Cruz identify supporters who’ve agreed to raise up to $500,000 from their networks of friends and associates — bundlers who’ll be rewarded with special access to the candidate in coming months. “Some...

The Upshot’’s Nate Cohn is making the contrarian case for Mike Huckabee. I give him credit for seeing things that others might not, but—despite the optimistic headline: “Mike Huckabee Would Be a More Important Candidate Than You Might Think,” he actually underestimates Huck’s potential as a disruptive factor in this campaign. It’s unclear what’s in the water in Hope, Arkansas, but that Bill Clinton and Huck are both from the same hamlet is nothing short of miraculous. Put aside the snake oil salesman stuff, and the numerous ridiculous things Huckabee has said to get attention, and you’re left with a...

If Jeb Bush doesn’t win any of the first four GOP contests — Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada — does that eliminate him from the Republican race? Or does he have the staying power to survive those losses? If Texas Sen. Ted Cruz finishes first in the Iowa caucuses, does that all but eliminate hopefuls such as Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Ben Carson from the race? If Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul finishes fourth in Iowa (which would be worse than his father’s third-place showing in the caucuses...

The Women’s Defense League of NH is co-sponsoring an event featuring New Hampshire first-in-the-nation presidential primary candidate, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, according to a press statement. The event will be held from 11:45 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, Arpil 19, at the Londonderry Fish and Game Club, 5 Lund St. in Litchfield. Cruz will be coming to speak to the 2nd Amendment Community in New Hampshire. He was the first candidate to formally announce his 2016 Presidential candidacy. The event is free but space is limited and pre-registration is required. Tickets are available via EventBrite. Event is sponsored...

Hillary launches her campaign on Sunday – and, some Dems say, it’s about damn time.At long last, the campaign has a candidate. After playing one of the more tedious games of cat and mouse in recent American political history, Hillary Clinton stands now ready to admit that she is what she has been for the last two years: an actual contender for the Democratic nomination for president. The announcement comes as Democrats in DC have fretted that without an organized infrastructure Clinton has been a glutton for Republican attacks, and ill-equipped to respond to the news of the moment, whether...

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...

Walker 15 Bush 12 Carson 11 Cruz 10 Huckabee 10 Paul 9 Rubio 8 Christie 4 Perry 3 Santorum 2 Jindal 2 Kasich 1

Nearly a week since Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), igniting a nationwide debate about whether the controversial law invites discrimination based on sexual orientation, most potential Republican presidential candidates have taken the opportunity to bolster their conservative credentials. "Governor Pence has done the right thing," said former Florida Governor Jeb Bush on Monday. “I want to commend Governor Mike Pence for his support of religious freedom, especially in the face of fierce opposition,” Texas Senator Ted Cruz said in a written statement. “Governor Pence is holding the line to protect religious liberty in the...

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Sunday brushed off the idea that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) would intrude on his turf among conservative Christian voters. "My base is really beyond just evangelicals," Huckabee said on CBS's "Face the Nation." "I think the untold secret is a lot of the support that I have, and that I anticipate I will have, is from the working-class, blue-collar people who grew up a lot like I did – not blue-blood, but blue-collar," Huckabee said. He acknowledged that evangelical voters played a major role in his 2008 presidential campaign. Cruz, the first major Republican...