Free Republic

Dear Mr. President, please appoint Elizabeth Warren to the Supreme Court before the end of the week. Sign our petition to the president, asking him to nominate Elizabeth Warren to the Supreme Court. And forward this to your friends, so that they can do the same. Why Elizabeth Warren? She started waiting tables at the age of 13, a year after her father was driven into poverty by a heart attack followed by huge medical bills. She later taught children with disabilities. She was a Harvard Law Professor for almost two decades -- in fact, the only one there with...

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Friday pressed Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) to drop his Senate bid amid scrutiny surrounding his hedge fund, according to a statement provided to The Hill. Reid challenged Grayson's progressive credentials and criticized the Florida congressman's "moral compass" based on the recent reports about his fund. "These deeply troubling allegations should disqualify anyone from a seat in the U.S. Senate," Reid said in a statement, which was first reported by The Associated Press. "Alan Grayson used his status as a congressman to unethically promote his Cayman Islands hedge funds, and he should drop out...

"Please clap," Jeb Bush wryly told a subdued crowd in New Hampshire last week, a moment that epitomizes his problem. The pundits call it lack of traction. Among too many voters it's lack of interest. If Jeb bombs in New Hampshire, he's done. Even if he doesn't quit the race, it's over. A year ago this scenario was unimaginable. He had more money, more brains, more connections and more governing experience than any other Republican wanting to be president. Like many people, I thought his nomination would be a slam dunk. The gaseous rise of Donald Trump upended everything, but...

MANCHESTER, N.H. - An internal poll conducted on Sunday suggests that Marco Rubio's fumbled debate performance has damaged his prospects heading into the New Hampshire primary. The poll, conducted by the pro-John Kasich New Day for America Super PAC, shows Rubio plummeting to fourth place in the primary here, with 10 percent of the vote. Most of the polling conducted in the immediate days before the debate showed Rubio in second place. The survey, which was based on phone calls to 500 likely voters (margin of error plus or minus 3 percent), was conducted Sunday, the day following the latest...

That leaves FL-18 open, and gives Republicans an excellent opportunity for a pickup. The South Florida coastal district has a Cook rating of R+3, and without a Democratic incumbent to hold it, the district may serve as a bellwether of sorts for the GOP’s potential success in the entire state. Former Army Ranger and veteran of Afghanistan Brian Mast has announced this morning that he will seek the Republican nomination for Congress in this district — less than five years after losing both of his legs in Afghanistan

"Three tickets out of Iowa." It sounds like a movie starring, say, Glenn Ford, Henry Fonda (or Peter in the remake), and Van Heflin. Actually, it's the conventional wisdom regarding Iowa caucuses. When there's a large field, Iowa punches three candidates' tickets to New Hampshire and beyond, so they say. The conventional wisdom happens to hold up well this year. As John says, after Iowa it looks like a three-man race for the GOP nomination among Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, and Marco Rubio. I believe a fourth ticket will be punched in New Hampshire if Jeb Bush, John Kasich, or...

There's a reason Hillary Clinton finished third in the 2008 Iowa Caucus, behind Barack Obama and John Edwards. In addition to her costly vote supporting the war in Iraq, Clinton has always pleaded "guilty" to being a moderate. It's this centrism (even when progressive values are now popular throughout the nation) that fuels questions about why she opposed gay marriage or as The Huffington Post writes, accepted "$133,246 to the Ready for Hillary PAC" from major prison lobbyists. The Iowa Caucus was once labeled as part of the Democratic Party's "extremes" by Hillary Clinton in a recently disclosed State Department...

Ok Freepers, put down the Trump/Cruz bats for a minute and consider this. According to polling a plurality of Iowa voters are either undecided or soft in their support for any candidate. Religious voters play a significant role in Iowa politics. Religious voters have demonstrated in the past a distaste for candidate who engage in the bare knuckle politics Cruz/Trump have recently engaged in. Historically polling in Iowa has been rather in accurate. Iowa almost always produces a surprise result. Rubio has gone full out of for the religious votes. His ads spend a lot of time with him talking...

Former New York Gov. George Pataki is throwing his support behind Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. "I am proud to endorse Marco Rubio," Pataki said today in an interview with Fox News, adding that he believes Rubio is the right person to unite the Republican Party. "Donald Trump is dividing us," Pataki said. "Marco Rubio is going to bring us together." Pataki's support comes on the heels of the Des Moines Register announcing its endorsement of the Florida senator. Pataki dropped his long-shot 2016 presidential bid last month after low support in polls...

We're far enough along in the Republican primary process -- though not a single vote has been cast -- that the field has winnowed down to a small number, and we can begin to project how each of them might win the nomination. I see this is as three-man race right now: Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio. Why? Because for everyone else, the path to the nomination begins with "and then a miracle occurs." Well, maybe not a miracle. But they're basically waiting for some spectacular and unexpected change of events that will break their way and suddenly...

U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson announced Thursday he had filed a bill to make tuition free and restructure student loans for students at public colleges and universities. Grayson, an Orlando Democrat running for Florida's U.S. Senate seat, modeled his House Resolution 4385, introduced last week, after a bill introduced in the U.S. Senate last year by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is running for president. The would have the U.S. Department of Education award grants to states to allow them to eliminate tuition and other required fees at state colleges and universities. The bill was referred to the House Committee on...

VERO BEACH -- Des Moines Republicans who vote for Ted Cruz on Feb. 1 might have been encouraged by Vero Beach residents Tim and Laura Zorc to back the Texas senator's presidential bid. The Zorcs, a politically active family who spent a snowy December holiday break bunking with scores of campaign volunteers, can watch the Iowa caucus results knowing their canvassing in the bitter cold helped deliver votes that might win Cruz the state in a razor-sharp primary with GOP rival Donald Trump. "I think we helped inspire and motivate other volunteers and also people who worked on the campaign,"...

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)'s campaign has cancelled almost $1 million worth of TV-advertising in the Hawkeye State, just one week prior to the state's first-in-the-nation caucus. Rubio also cancelled around $125,000 in paid advertising in New Hampshire, which votes on February 9th, eight days after Iowa. Rubio has been advertising extensively in both states since December. In Iowa alone, Rubio has already spent around $3 million on paid advertising. He also still has advertising-slots booked in both states, but his campaign's decision to scale back his buys suggests a change in strategy, just as voters are preparing to cast their...

In a few weeks' time, it's possible that Donald Trump and Ted Cruz will steamroll their way through Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina and dominate the so-called "SEC Primary" -- the collection of 13 mostly Southern states that will vote on March 1 -- horrifying many GOP elected officials and depriving any other candidate of a night to celebrate. Yet even if that happens, it's still possible that Marco Rubio (or another more establishment-friendly candidate) could end up with the nomination, thanks to quirks of the GOP's complex delegate math. The GOP's primary calendar is surprisingly front-loaded with states...

Following the Thursday GOP presidential debate, the campaigns are trying to make the most of their gains and minimize their problems coming out of feisty face-offs with their rivals. Donald Trump is continuing to bash Sen. Ted Cruz over his "New York values" slur; Cruz responded with a snarky dig at liberal politicians, which was non-responsive considering his crack was about the values of New York. More forcefully, Trump is keeping the flap going about Cruz's Goldman Sachs and Citibank loans, telling Jake Tapper, "How are you going to be president if you didn't know about a million-dollar loan from...

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is doubling down on his support for in-state tuition for illegal aliens. On ABC, George Stephanopoulos asked Rubio about his work in the Florida statehouse in which he "co-sponsored legislation to provide in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants." Stephanopolous asked Rubio directly: "Do you stand behind that position now?" Rubio said that he "absolutely" stands behind that legislation: RUBIO: It was a very narrowly drafted bill. You had to have a certain GPA, you had to live in the U.S. a long time, you had to graduate from a Florida high school. It was very narrowly tailored...

What do you get when you combine Rubio's slimy friend David Rivera and their joint push to make sure undocumented immigrants receive in-state tuition in Florida? Nothing good for Marco Rubio. When Sen. Marco Rubio was in the Florida state house, he teamed up with his scandal-plagued pal David Rivera to co-sponsor legislation that would allow undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates. This issue combines the dual ghosts of Rubio's past, both of which he is trying to escape as he navigates his way through a tough GOP presidential primary: his relationship with Rivera, a former congressman under investigation...

The South will play a crucial role in the 2016 presidential contest, both in the nominating process and in the General Election. For the Republicans, Dixie's plethora of primaries come quickly after the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary and will probably determine the nominee. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton's strong support among African Americans in the Southern primaries should cement her already commanding lead for her party's nomination. And in the General Election, at least three Southern states are likely to be competitive and may well determine the outcome of the race for the White House. Until...

MATH was never my strongest subject, so maybe I'm just not crunching the numbers right. But the more I stare at them, the less sense Marco Rubio makes. Rubio as the front-runner, I mean. As the probable Republican nominee. According to odds makers and prediction markets, he's the best bet. According to many commentators, too....

New York real-estate developer Donald Trump has dominated the Republican nomination campaign for months -- but his strongest support doesn't come from any of the organized blocs in the Republican party. He polls well among conservative and evangelical voters, to be sure, running competitively against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) with these voters. He draws considerable support, also, from self-identified "liberal"or "moderate" Republicans. In fact, in the latest Quinnipiac poll, his biggest polling margin against his GOP rivals was among moderate and liberal Republicans. But his strongest support comes from Republicans who used to be Democrats, according to new polling analysis...