Free Republic

IOWA CITY, Iowa—Rand Paul kicked off his first public appearance in the Hawkeye State since launching his anti-establishment presidential campaign with a question that was meant as a rallying cry. “Do we have any liberty lovers here?” he asked a crowd composed mostly of University of Iowa students, who sported Rand stickers and responded with cheers and whistles. But if Paul’s going to have any chance of contending for his party’s nomination, he better hope their nonlibertarian-leaning parents feel the same way. The Iowa caucus will, of course, be the first major test for the entire GOP field—but the first-in-the-nation...

Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA), and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) after a Town Hall Panel Discussion hosted by Steve Deace at the NICHE Homeschool Iowa Capitol Day at the Holiday Inn Des Moines-Airport/Conference Center in Des Moines on Thursday, Apr. 9, 2015.DES MOINES — The debate over religious liberty in Indiana spilled over into Iowa Thursday as four presidential hopefuls pledged to defend the rights of parents who home-school their children to worship as they choose and educate their children as they wish. Religious liberty is the “civil rights issue of...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: This is classic, too. You know these two guys, Heilemann and Mark Halperin, that we talk about a lot here? They've got this Internet show at Bloomberg, and they're classic. Halperin may be a little bit more informed about us than your average Drive-By Media person, but it doesn't do him much good. These are the two guys that write campaign books. They learn all the stuff that would kill a Democrat candidate, and they hold it for after the election for their book, it's those two guys. Halperin used to be at ABC, political director, whatever....

U.S. Senator Rand Paul is running for president … in fact, he announces his candidacy next week in Louisville, Kentucky. From there he travels to early voting Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina – including a big fundraiser in the Palmetto State the day after he announces. As we write this, money is being collected. Speeches are being vetted. He’s 100 percent in … and not only that, Paul is one of the few candidates in the race with (we believe) a path to victory. And one of the few candidates (we believe) to be worthy of real consideration. Is...

In countless interviews last week, I told members of the media that the conservative Cruz was a natural fit with Iowa’s Republican caucus goers. Cruz’s brand of politics has not make him a lot of friends inside the beltway, but it has made him a hero to many conservative Republican activists. As Cruz traveled across Iowa on Wednesday and Thursday, large enthusiastic crowds greeted him. And Cruz didn’t disappoint those who came out to see him. He was on top of his game. The rollout of Cruz’s presidential campaign couldn’t have gone any better. Sure, he has long been considered...

The early bird is getting the worm when it comes to the 2016 Presidential race, as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is reaping the benefits of being the first to officially enter the race. Recent public polling shows a surge of support for Cruz among Republican primary voters. As Breitbart News reported, Cruz launched his campaign with a speech on March 23rd at Liberty University that invited his audience to imagine a future for our country where millions of “courageous conservatives” stood up to “reclaim the promise of America.” The message seems to be hitting home with Cruz’s conservative base, concerned...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)DES MOINES, Iowa — The first person to declare they are running for president will be in the metro Thursday night. Republican Senator Ted Cruz is in Iowa meeting with voters just one week after he announced his candidacy for president. Cruz made his first public appearance in the state that holds the first in the nation caucuses Wednesday in Sioux City. Cruz told the crowd at Morningside College that in order to have a bright future, the country has to look to the principles of the past. He talked about restoring free enterprise, tax reform, and regulatory reform. To...

Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/candidates/2015/04/01/ted-cruz-sioux-city-morningside/70798928/

Sen. Ted Cruz (R. of Texas) on Wednesday commended Indiana Gov. Mike Pence for signing the state's controversial religious freedom law. 'Religious liberty is not some fringe view,' Cruz said. Sioux City, Iowa — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz says concern about religious freedom, awakened in the debate over a new Indiana law, could unite conservative Republicans and rally some Democrats to the GOP in 2016. Cruz told an audience Wednesday he could carry the banner for that cause in his GOP presidential campaign....

When Sen. Rand Paul makes his first visit to Iowa as an official presidential candidate next month, he will head to the campus of the University of Iowa. The location—one of the state's biggest liberal strongholds—seems unusual for a Republican, but Paul is headed there in the hopes of appealing to a different constituency. As Paul prepares to formally enter the 2016 arena, younger conservatives are emerging as a backbone of his campaign strategy: a source not only of volunteers and energy but votes. A youth-fueled campaign, his team hopes, will also help brand him as a fresh face for...

John Zogby, founder of the Zogby Poll and the Zogby companies, is an internationally renowned pollster, author and political pundit. He spoke to the Trib regarding U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas becoming the first Republican candidate to officially announce a 2016 presidential bid. Q: Does Cruz benefit at all by being the first GOP candidate to be formally out of the gate? A: I don't think so, but it doesn't hurt him, either. He got the news cycle on a slow news day, so he took advantage of that and he got the announcement in his hometown newspaper first,...

CEDAR FALLS - Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz will hold a town hall in Cedar Falls next week sponsored by the Cedar Valley Patriots for Christ. Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas, will speak at 11:30 a.m. Thursday at the PIPAC Centre, 1521 Technology Parkway in Cedar Falls. The event is free, but those who wish to attend should RSVP at www.tedcruz.org/rsvp/ia-cedar-falls-town-hall/. U.S. Rep. Rod Blum, R-1st District, also will attend the town hall. The Black Hawk County Republicans will host the event, but its policy is not to endorse any candidate ahead of the primary election. Instead, it supports...

<>Politico writes that Rand Paul is losing support among key followers. One of the most prominent defectors is Drew Ivers, chairman of Ron Paul’s 2012 Iowa campaign, who says he will not endorse Rand Paul for president. On Tuesday, three members of Iowa’s Ron Paul-aligned Liberty movement — state Sen. Jason Shultz and former Iowa Republican Party central committee members Chad Steenhoek and Joel Kurtinitis — announced the same, adding that they will support Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Ivers, who had dinner with Rand Paul in August, said the Kentucky senator has abandoned many of the stances that made Ivers...

On Monday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) became the first major contender to announce his candidacy for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. Dan Balz has written that Cruz’s candidacy “tests the limits of conservatism,” and based on his congressional roll call voting record, Cruz is the fourth-most-conservative member of the Senate. But how does his ideological position compare to those of Republican primary voters, especially in early states such as Iowa and New Hampshire? Very favorably, as we will see. We use data from the 2014 Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES). The 2014 CCES asked respondents to place themselves and several...

It has become perfectly clear that coastal Republicans and the GOP’s Beltway-based class of political professionals – the people who are in the business of running campaigns – are suspicious of Iowa’s caucuses and the Hawkeye State’s heelers who determine their results. The feeling is mutual. Since the Iowa GOP has compelled Scott Walker’s campaign to jettison his digital strategist simply because she said some disparaging things about Iowa’s political culture, it’s clear that this state still commands an unparalleled level of influence over both party’s presidential nominating processes. This fit of pique from Iowa-based Republicans was understandable, but it...

While Democratic potential candidates decided not to participate in the first-ever Iowa Ag Summit, the Republican representatives expressed their viewpoints freely. Part 1 covered the participants’ positions on the Renewable Fuel Standard, while part 2 reviewed their comments on EPA’s recent decisions on Waters of the U.S. The nine potential presidential candidates who came to Des Moines earlier this month for the Iowa Ag Summit were: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, former Texas Governor Rick Perry, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, former New York Governor George Pataki,...

A veritable bevy of Republican presidential hopefuls have already hired staff, wooed deep-pocketed contributors and made speeches in Iowa and New Hampshire, proving what we already know: The 2016 nomination preseason is well underway. Fundraising, organization, the size of the field and the calendar all will play a significant role in affecting how the race unfolds. The outcome is uncertain. The current conventional wisdom is, in spite of changes intended to shorten the nominating process, the race for the GOP nomination could be more of a marathon than a sprint. The last two Republican presidential nominating fights — with John...

Governor Scott Walker has taken Iowa Republicans by storm. In the span of just a couple months, Walker has gone from a potential candidate who everyone seemed to like, to the frontrunner for the 2016 Republican caucuses. By every indicator available – buzz, staff hires, endorsement, or poll numbers – Walker is the lead horse in the Iowa caucus race. Walker’s campaign in Iowa is moving so fast that it will make your head spin. But that’s not all that is moving at a fast pace for Walker. Some of his long held positions seem to be on the move...

At Iowa's "Ag Summit" on Saturday, Jeb Bush had an auspicious debut, while Dems skipped town and others struck out. There’s a new player in the game at the Iowa caucuses this season, and the competition has just been elevated. That new player is Jeb Bush, and his debut at Saturday’s Iowa Agriculture Summit in Des Moines could be a game changer — for both Republicans and Democrats. Even though they were invited, Democrats were missing in action at the Summit. Republican hopefuls took full advantage of the opportunity to appeal to Iowa’s core industry, as entrepreneur and President of...

A question I often am asked is: "Who would you bet on to win the presidency?" Personally, I don't bet on politics, but here's my current take on the 2016 presidential race—with, of course, the caveat that we don't know which campaigns will turn out the best in terms of organization, strategy, tactics, or execution, much less which candidates will step on land mines along the way. The Democratic nomination appears fairly straightforward. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is now the prohibitive favorite. If her early stumbles during her book tour, or remarks like the one she made about...