Free Republic

While he survived a brutal and controversial Senate primary in 2014, Thad Cochran of Mississippi, citing his failing health, is resigning effective April 1. A special election will be held to finish the remainder of his term that ends in 2020. If no one gets above 50 percent, a runoff will be held. For now, Gov. Phil Bryant will appoint an interim senator to fill the vacancy until the election. Cochran’s colleague, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MI), is up for re-election this year and is facing a challenge by state Sen. Chris McDaniel. McDaniel challenged Cochran in 2014 (via NPR): I...

Making sense of the 2016 Republican primary is a task best left to future historians, but here’s one rough measure of how crazy things have become: Results of one hotly contested primary in March are still being disputed. And the fight has gotten so bitter that negative campaign ads are being run on the radio—not against one of the GOP candidates but against one of the lowly 2,472 elected delegates tasked with going to the Republican convention and voting for the party nominee. The story involves a multigenerational rivalry between two Republican powerbrokers from Michigan, and at stake are six...

MACKINAC ISLAND, MI — Rand Paul won the presidential preference straw poll this weekend at the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference, a biennial gather of more than 2,000 Michigan Republicans. With 785 attendees voting, the U.S. Senator from Kentucky received 22 percent of the vote in the MIRS/Detroit News straw poll. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina finished second at 15 percent. Each of the top five vote-getters spoke at the island event, including Ohio Gov. John Kasich (13.7 percent), Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas (13 percent) and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (9.7 percent). John Yob, national political director and Michigan...

LANSING, MI - While Michigan Republicans are still debating when to hold their 2016 presidential primary, some of the party’s top political strategists are making the case for potential candidates. Welcome to Michigan Political Points, my weekly roundup of news, views and YouTubes from the state Capitol and beyond. CRUZ NEWS: Former Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis, now working as a political consultant, penned a column this week making the case for a Ted Cruz presidential nomination in 2016. “He’s the candidate many in the mainstream media and Washington chattering class love to hate,” Anuzis wrote. “He is demonized...