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Sen. Marco Rubio called out Sen. Ted Cruz by name Monday night for voting to "weaken U.S. intelligence programs," escalating their increasingly intense rivalry for the Republican presidential nomination. Calling it a distinctive issue in the campaign for the White House, the Florida senator said, "At least two of my colleagues in the Senate aspiring to the presidency, Sen. Cruz in particular, have voted to weaken the U.S. intelligence programs just in the last month and a half. And a weakening of our intelligence gathering capabilities leaves America vulnerable." Rubio, speaking before The Wall Street Journal CEO Council at the...

There will be a few empty seats around one Thanksgiving table this year: Donald Trump and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush are among those skipping Friday's Presidential Family Forum in Des Moines. The event is hosted by the conservative Christian group the Family Leader. President Bob Vander Plaats is seen as an evangelical kingmaker in Iowa. Discussions of politics and religion may be ill-advised at most holiday feasts, but not so here. Instead, Republican presidential hopefuls sit together around a table and answer open-ended questions that Vander Plaats says are designed to reveal their "character." Vander Plaats has a track...

Patricia Scalabrini, whose husband works for a local wind turbine manufacturer, wanted to know if Trump supports subsidies for the industry. The company that employs her husband, TPI, moved into a factory that was abandoned when Maytag moved its operations to Mexico. TPI employs about 800 people in Newton. It is helped by subsidies, in the form of the "production tax credit," which gives energy producers tax breaks based on how many kilowatt-hours of electricity they generate using renewable methods. The PTC has been continually renewed for short periods, meaning that it often becomes a political bargaining chip. It is...

HOUSTON, Texas - Cruz for President today announced that longtime Iowa political activist, and well-respected Republican leader, Loras Schulte, has formally resigned from the State Central Committee to publicly endorse and support Ted Cruz for President."I've been actively involved in Republican politics for more than thirty years, serving in nearly every capacity one can be involved in; from local committee-man to County Chairman, to serving on the State Central Committee," Schulte said. He also served as the State Director for Pat Buchanan's Presidential Campaign in 1996 and for Gary Bauer in 2000.Leading up to this current election cycle, each member...

In a stinging rebuke to President Barack Obama by Republicans and Democrats, the House ignored a veto threat Thursday and overwhelmingly approved GOP legislation erecting fresh hurdles for Syrian and Iraqi refugees trying to enter the United States. Forty-seven Democrats joined all but two Republicans as the House passed the measure by a veto-proof 289-137 margin, a major setback to the lame duck president on an issue —the Islamic State group and the refugees fleeing it — that shows no signs of easing. The vote exceeded the two-thirds majority required to override a veto, and came despite a rushed, early...

Donald J. Trump released a set of radio ads in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina on Wednesday, seizing on the attacks in Paris as evidence that his brand of leadership is needed to keep America safe. The ads are part of a $300,000 buy that Mr. Trump is making in early nominating states. While some other presidential candidates have said they want to avoid politicizing last Frida's attacks, Mr. Trump is using them to criticize President Obama. "The tragic attacks in Paris prove once again that America needs to get tough on radical Islamic terrorism," Mr. Trump said in...

"Slamming the door in their faces would be a betrayal of our values," [Obama] said.Six Republican governors have announced that Syrian refugees won't be allowed to resettle in their states in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks in Paris. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley issued statements Sunday saying that they wanted to prioritize the safety of the residents in their states. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott; Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a GOP presidential candidate; Arkansas Gov. Gov. Asa Hutchinson; and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence joined them on Monday. "Michigan is a welcoming state and we are...

Ever since Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) departed the House in 2008, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) has been the lower chamber's most visible critic of immigration reform. For the past three months, he has taken on the role of ringleader of the House's anti-immigration caucus, hosting regular meetings in his office to discuss with his tea party-minded colleagues how to scuttle efforts to pass legislation that would offer legal status to any of the country's 11 million undocumented immigrants. (SNIP) "I told this to Karl Rove one day, we were having this discussion," King said. "I said, Karl, if you give...

Influential Iowa Rep. Steve King has officially endorsed Ted Cruz for president, giving the GOP Texas senator a boost ahead of February’s Iowa caucuses. “Cruz has a proven record of standing up to both Democrats and Republicans to put the American people first, and I believe he is the only one who can unite conservatives around his campaign and build the organization needed to beat Hillary Clinton,” King said in a statement put out by the Cruz campaign. “With Ted Cruz, conservatives no longer have to accept a Republican nominee who doesn’t truly share our values.” King is a key...

Now, 25 Republican governors – and one Democrat too – have said they don't want Syrian refugees in their states, as President Obama recommitted the U.S. to take a portion of this population fleeing from ISIS. In a press conference this morning in Turkey, Obama said that 'the United States has to step up and do its part,' while chiding those in the opposition party for suggesting there be a 'religious test' for entry into the United States. There's concern, after Friday's brutal attack in Paris, that ISIS fighters are infiltrating those fleeing Syria and will carry out future violence...

This makes two major endorsements for Cruz in Iowa, the first being talk-radio host Steve Deace back in August. Probably the biggest among Iowa social cons is Bob Vander Plaats, head of the Family Leader, which is hosting its presidential forum this Friday. Vander Plaats endorsed Huckabee in 2008 and Huckabee won the caucuses; he endorsed Santorum in 2012 and Santorum won that year. (King, by contrast, endorsed Fred Thompson in 2008 and made no endorsement in 2012.) Vander Plaats, discussing the Christian conservative vote, also told NRO last month, “Our destruction in the past has been division we divide...

Congressman Steve King has endorsed Ted Cruz for President - saying Cruz is the "answer to my prayers" and that Ben Carson and Donald Trump's lack of Washington, D.C., experience makes the job "harder" for them. "I do believe that Ted Cruz is the full package, the constitutional conservative that can restore the soul of America," King told reporters in a conference room at the Des Moines Marriott. ... King is an influential voice in Iowa politics who was courted by many conservative Republicans including Bobby Jindal, Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee. He said he made his decision Friday following...

Congressman Steve King Endorses Ted Cruz for President (video) Influential Iowa Rep. Steve King has officially endorsed Ted Cruz for president, giving the GOP Texas senator a boost ahead of February's Iowa caucuses."Cruz has a proven record of standing up to both Democrats and Republicans to put the American people first, and I believe he is the only one who can unite conservatives around his campaign and build the organization needed to beat Hillary Clinton," King said in a statement put out by the Cruz campaign."With Ted Cruz, conservatives no longer have to accept a Republican nominee who doesn't truly...

'I believe Ted Cruz is the candidate that's the answer to my prayers,' King said. Iowa Rep. Steve King on Monday endorsed Ted Cruz, a coup for the Texas senator who is seeking to gain ground with the first-in-the-nation caucus state's conservative activists, with whom King is deeply influential.He made the announcement at a press conference in Iowa and in a video released on Twitter."I believe Ted Cruz is the candidate that's the answer to my prayers," King said. "A candidate whom God will use to restore the soul of America." Cruz beat King to his own announcement, tweeting out...

Iowa representative Steve King will back Ted Cruz in the 2016 caucuses, handing Cruz an influential conservative endorsement in the crucial early-voting state. King, a firebrand who holds sway in social-conservative circles and in his western Iowa district, made the announcement Monday morning in Des Moines. "I believe Ted Cruz is the answer to my prayers: the candidate that god will use to restore the soul of America," he said at his press conference. The optics and organization of the press conference, announced late Sunday afternoon, were odd for King and Cruz, two politicians who have never shied away from...

In a speech on Senate floor last week, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer said Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King was controlling the party’s position on immigration and derailing immigration reform. (SNIP) Thursday, King responded to Schumer’s comment on the House floor saying it was Schumer not him who represented the fringe. Specifically King said Schumer represented “socialists, marxists, progressives, liberal Democrats.”

Iowa representative Steve King, one of the loudest opponents of comprehensive immigration reform in Congress, says he is not troubled by an amendment Ted Cruz proposed during the 2013 debate over the Gang of Eight reform bill, which has been used this week by Cruz’s opponents to portray him as soft on the issue. Cruz, who has long painted himself as the ideological purist in the race, found himself in an odd position this week: under fire from Marco Rubio, a co-sponsor of the failed Gang of Eight bill, for being in favor of expanded immigration. The attack stems from...

FORT DODGE, IOWA – Billionaire candidate Donald Trump raised further questions about Dr. Ben Carson's biography and character, questioning the story about the doctor attempting to stab one of his friends when he was young. In the course of a rally here, Trump questioned Carson's story that his friend's belt buckle stopped the knife, causing it to break.

This is the smartest possible response from a man who's admired by voters for his piety and service as a healer. He turned the other cheek: "It's so sad watching and listening to him," Armstrong Williams said on CNN's "New Day." "I mean, a man who is so accomplished, who has been so blessed, but yet cannot fathom why Dr. Carson or anyone else would be doing better than he in the presidential race right now.""He just cannot accept leading from behind," Mr. Williams said. "He cannot accept being challenged. He cannot reconcile how this is happening. Obviously, he only...

FORT DODGE, IOWA – Billionaire presidential candidate Donald Trump thrilled a crowd of over 13,000 supporters here during a speech that lasted over 90 minutes.Trump spent time criticizing some of his fellow Republican candidates such as Ben Carson, Gov. John Kasich, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and even former New York Governor George Pataki.His most dramatic criticism, however, was saved for the mainstream media and the political pundits.“The media is very dishonest, unbelievably dishonest, they’re terrible,” he said, just days after finishing his debate performance.He said he thought he did well during the debate, but mocked pundits...