Free Republic

It’s one of the most intriguing sub-plots of the 2016 election: Why are evangelicals, who historically have supported immigration reform and a path to citizenship for deeply felt religious and moral reasons, gravitating towards the two candidates who are most hostile to policy changes that would accommodate and integrate undocumented immigrants into American life? Cruz has been working behind the scenes to line up the support of influential evangelical leaders around the country, and it has been paying off: he has already rolled out some big endorsements, and many more are set to come. Meanwhile, Cruz and Donald Trump have...

Ted Cruz is beginning to surge significantly in the polls in Iowa. Surely the evangelicals in Iowa are the key factor. Already, some of the political pundits are writing him off, likening him to Barry Goldwater, the libertarian-leaning firebrand, who was soundly defeated by Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Goldwater lost by a landslide. But, by the same token, Ronald Reagan won by landslides in 1980 and in 1984. And Reagan was perhaps more conservative than Goldwater. The question many are asking about Ted Cruz and his conservative values is: Will he be the new Goldwater or the new Reagan? Reagan...

Las Vegas -- Mike Huckabee, a longtime ally of Evangelical leader Tony Perkins and other conservative leaders who last week secretly voted to endorse Ted Cruz for president, says it's "disappointing" the group decided to back a relative newcomer like Cruz. In a brief interview here following Tuesday's Republican presidential debate, Huckabee says he was made aware of the group's decision, but wasn't given any explanation. "For reasons I don't fully understand, years and years of actually doing something and getting things done didn't matter," Huckabee said of the group's deliberations. "And I don't understand that." Perkins said in an...

WASHINGTON : Sen. Ted Cruz says he doesn't pay much attention to labels of "GOP rock star," despite a flattering interview with the evangelical Christian Broadcasting Network portraying him as a rising force with faith and family at heart. Cruz, a Southern Baptist, discussed the central role faith plays in his life. "Life, liberty, and property, the fundamental natural rights of man are given to every one of us by God, and the role of government fundamentally is to protect those rights," he said. Cruz described faith not as organized religion, but as "a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as...

So we have got a new poll out from Quinnipiac University looking at Iowa. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) 100% has just taken over the Real Clear Politics lead in Iowa by a hair, a finding of Donald Trump 28, Cruz 27 is not surprising at all. What is interesting though is to see who is winning Iowa’s conservatives, and who is winning the moderates.It turns out it is not even close. Cruz wins TEA Party Republicans 45-26 and Very Conservative Republicans 34-24. It is among the center and left wings of the party that Trump takes over: Somewhat Conservatives are...

Iowa pollster says Evangelicals the KEY to Ted Cruz's 'SPECTACULAR' 'UNPRECEDENTED' rise! J. Ann Selzer of the polling firm that reported Ted Cruz’s “spectacular and unprecedented” surge in Iowa this weekend tried to explain just how they did it.Watch below:Iowa Pollster Responds To Donald Trump's Claims | MSNBC (Video)Selzer says the real key to his surge is that he’s been targeting Evangelicals, and they have a strong record of showing up disproportionately to vote in the Iowa caucus. Clearly el Trumpo sees him as a threat and understands this Christian dimension because he tried to undermine his faith on Friday,...

Yesterday we reported that Donald Trump and Ted Cruz seemed to be preparing to go to war with each other. A few hours later, however, Cruz himself responded on Twitter by saying that, although the media would love to see a cage match between himself and the billionaire businessman, he won't play along. That could -- and by all means should -- have been the end of it. Sadly it is not. Trump can also read polls and understands that Cruz poses a serious threat to him in Iowa. And so the cage match has started, whether Cruz likes it...

After a week of tension between the two Republican presidential candidates, front-runner Donald Trump took a shot at Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Friday, saying that “oil companies pay him a lot of money.” “With ethanol [Cruz has] gotta come a long way,” Trump said in Des Moines, Iowa. "He’s right now for the oil. But I understand if oil pays him a lot of money, he’s gotta be for oil. Right?”  “But I’m with you,” Trump told his supporters, noting he toured ethanol plants in Iowa last month. "If Ted Cruz is against ethanol, how does he win...

The Texas senator's campaign is beginning to see returns after months of methodically courting evangelical leaders.Ted Cruz increasingly looks like the man to beat in Iowa. He's rising in the polls, building on an already extensive field organization and locking down critical conservative endorsements.Among the biggest yet came Thursday, when Bob Vander Plaats, the head of the conservative group Family Leader, came out for Cruz, citing what he sees as electability in Iowa and nationally. "This is a guy that's been very consistent in principles, in communications, and his campaign has shown ability to slowly gain ground and build momentum,...

At Nate Silver's 538.com, they describe the Republican electorate as a five-ring circus, composed of Libertarian, Tea Party, Evangelical, Establishment, and Moderate voters. A candidate who can bring three of the rings together will be the winner. Ted Cruz is the one who's doing it. With his pastor/father Rafael leading the way, Cruz has taken the lead among Iowa religious voters away from Ben Carson. Their affection for the fervently Christian Carson is not enough to overcome his obvious weakness as a commander in chief. Santorum and Huckabee are his other competitors in this ring, and neither has Cruz's money...

Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2015/12/10/why-bob-vander-plaats-chose-ted-cruz-over-donald-trump-marco-rubio-ben-carson/77087998/

Following his Iowa script, Texas senator reaps support as Carson appears to fade. GREENVILLE, S.C. - He's locking down pastors in every county, held a rally to celebrate religious liberty and is methodically courting Christian grassroots leaders.Ted Cruz has taken his evangelicals-focused Iowa playbook to South Carolina - and conservative leaders in the state say that it's starting to work."Ted Cruz has done perhaps the best job in the state, frankly," said unaligned South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott of the Texas senator's organization, going on to add, "It's not going to help my friends who are serving with me, but...

I understand the tremendous popularity of Donald Trump in America in 2015. He is a larger than life reality TV star; he is incredibly rich and not beholden to anyone; he is fearless and speaks his mind; he articulates the frustrations and anger of millions of his countrymen; he gives the impression that he can fix our economy and will put an end to illegal immigration; he is not a Washington insider; he could be a strong leader who could face down our global enemies; he can even be winsome and self-effacing at times. Yes, I do understand all this...

The religious right may be yesterday’s news, but its signal accomplishment, the white evangelical voting bloc, remains the Republican Party’s most important constituency. And it’s moving toward Ted Cruz. The latest numbers from Iowa show Cruz neck and neck with Donald Trump thanks to evangelical support. According to Quinnipiac, it’s now Trump at 25 percent, Cruz at 23 percent, and Ben Carson slipping to 18 percent among all likely Republican caucus-goers. White evangelicals, who make up 60 percent of them, now favor Cruz over Carson, 27 percent to 24 percent, with Trump at 20 percent. And as white evangelicals in...

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz takes questions after The Family Leader's Presidential Family Forum on Nov. 20, 2015, in Des Moines, Iowa. (Photo by Patrick Svitek) DES MOINES, Iowa — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Friday night offered a wide-ranging appeal to evangelicals in this key presidential proving ground, opting for humor, solemnity — and an unambiguous pitch for his viability as the GOP's presidential nominee. "If the body of Christ rises up as one and votes our values, we can turn this country around," Cruz said as he drive home his mantra that more Christians need to show up the polls...

...Trump could absolutely win the nomination...the traditional coalition it takes for a Republican to win the White House may have to be reconfigured with Trump as standard-bearer. ...alliance of pro-life Catholics and evangelicals...became the dominant force in the GOP's grassroots... Since Roe...every Republican presidential election victory except one has one thing in common-the GOP won the Catholic vote. The lone exception was in 2000... If Republicans do not run a strong pro-life candidate for president, they don't have enough else in common with Catholic voters to win the Catholic vote. And Trump is not a strong pro-life candidate. Just a...

It is no secret that Senator Ted Cruz of Texas is serious about wooing evangelical voters.Remarks on the stump are laced with references to religious liberty - and what Mr. Cruz sees as attacks against it. His team has assembled a master list of 411 national evangelicals whose support has been deemed most critical, according to a campaign official. The campaign said Mr. Cruz had secured the support of 191.And over the next two days, Mr. Cruz will make his case at a pair of rallies aimed at the class of voters who will be central to his fortunes. He...

The Southern Baptist primary is over, and the preacher’s kid won. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, son of a Baptist evangelist and capable of bringing his own fire and brimstone in the Republican campaign, collected both a thunderous ovation and a subtle blessing Sunday at the North Texas Presidential Forum at Prestonwood Baptist Church. Eight years ago, Prestonwood Pastor Jack Graham told worshipers how “God is lifting up” presidential candidates and “his favor is upon Mike Huckabee”... This time around, Huckabee has plenty of words. Just no campaign money. He chatted breezily with Graham Sunday, and drew cheers when he brought...

I miss Donald Trump. There, I said it. Mea maxima culpa. Ever since Pope Francis blew into town, nobody seems to care about him. Yes, heÂ’s still leading in the polls. But somehow, no one seems to care. HeÂ’s just kind of sitting there, mired in the low 20s, waiting for someone, anyone, to take his place. Ben Carson made a run at him, but has subsided. Carly Fiorina likewise. Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz the same. The whole damn race seems stuck in neutral. O Francis, what hast thou wrought? Apparently a need for some churching up, as Curtis once...

Donald Trump recently showed up at a gathering of Iowa conservative Christian voters with a copy of the Bible in hand. "See, I'm better than you thought," he said. Then came a black-and-white photograph from his confirmation to further prove his Christian cred. "Nobody believes this," he said to laughs. "What went wrong?" As the Republican presidential front-runner and billionaire businessman tries to maintain his lead in early polls with rivals gaining, Trump is increasingly courting a wing of the Republican Party that might seem antithetical to his brand: evangelical Christians....