Free Republic

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...

There are few people I do not take seriously in politics. Or to put it more specifically, there are few people I fully discount in the context of national elections. Ted Cruz is one of those people. By contrast, I think it is highly unlikely that Rand Paul can make it in the GOP primaries, let alone a national election. There are so many intra-party disputes, so many iffy stories lurking in the background for him and his father and a lot more. But there are enough unexpected and cross cutting aspects to Paul that I can't be sure. Always...

You can talk about the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire and South Carolina all you want – and those all are important – yet none of them is the most important primary on the Republican side. No, the most critical Republican primary, at least for non-establishment candidates, is the Rush Limbaugh-Drudge Report-Breitbart-Mark Levin-Sean Hannity-Glenn Beck internet message board primary. For a conservative base candidate to win the nomination, he or she must carry most of the above precincts. Now, this is not to say that all or any of the above will endorse a candidate by name during the primary...

Texas Senator Ted Cruz just made it official: He's running for president. He made the announcement in a tweet, accompanied by a video, shortly after midnight, eastern time. Ted Cruz ✔ @tedcruz I'm running for President and I hope to earn your support! (VIDEO-AT-LINK)Cruz believes he has a path to the GOP presidential nomination by winning the Tea Party vote, and doing well enough with both social conservatives and libertarians to knock out potential rivals, according to a Houston Chronicle report published over the weekend: Cruz's senior advisers, however, see a path to victory that all but ignores [the GOP...

The Texan spent the last months before his presidential campaign showing off his knack for articulating the most conservative position on numerous issues.Sen. Ted Cruz will reportedly launch his 2016 presidential campaign during a speech Monday, the Houston Chronicle wrote Saturday night. The Texas Republican has been laying the groundwork for a run for months—visiting early primary states, meeting with Republican activists, and hiring political strategists to manage his campaign—and has chosen the evangelical Liberty University in Virginia as the site of his official announcement. Though Cruz is not considered a favorite to win the GOP nomination, he will undoubtedly...

In spite of its extremism, two factors will assure a more competitive GOP in the 2016 presidential election. First is the GOP’s unified effort to appear less radical in the public’s eye. Second is the belief of Democrats, especially the Hillary crowd, of their advantage due to presidential elections which sport more young and minority voters. Related to this, Hillary’s current strength among the base puts off progressive challengers like Elizabeth Warren. The first is evidenced by the popularity of Scott Walker in New Hampshire, not a known quantity nationwide, certainly not known for his Wisconsin anti-labor, pro-business stance. He...

Category Benefits / Fundraisers Date Mar 15, 2015 Time 6:00 PM Grafton County Republicans have announced that US Senator Ted Cruz of Texas will be the keynote speaker at the Annual Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner on Sunday, March 15 at the Indian Head Resort in Lincoln. Bruce Perlo, Grafton County Republican Chairman, said that he, and fellow Republicans, are delighted that Senator Cruz accepted their invitation to speak . "This will be an incredible evening for voters to listen to one of our country's leading conservative voices." Senator Cruz is widely seen as a top-contender for the Republican nomination for President...

A new survey of conservative activists shows many in the movement see Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker as the strongest Republican to take on Hillary Clinton in 2016. The survey wasn't scientific. But conservative activist group ForAmerica surveyed almost 10,000 of its Facebook members and more than 32 percent said Walker has the "best shot at beating Hillary Clinton" in the field, according to results shared first with National Journal. Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon who has never held elected office, finished in second, with nearly 25 percent of the vote. Sen. Ted Cruz (14 percent), Sen. Rand Paul (6.6 percent) and...

Tim Pawlenty is barely an asterisk in presidential political lore, but what happened to his brief and undistinguished 2012 campaign signified a tectonic shift in contemporary campaigning. By conventional wisdom, Pawlenty did everything right. He invaded my home state of Iowa with a purpose, armed with high name ID as a border state governor who was a finalist to be John McCain’s running mate in 2008. Pawlenty spent so much time here before anyone else was organized that he could’ve qualified for residency. He also bought up a lot of top-tier talent to build an impressive organization. Yet at the...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Some weeks after delivering what many pundits believe was a “disastrous” speech at the Iowa Freedom Summit, former governor, former vice presidential candidate, and still the current most powerful female politician on the planet Sarah Palin took to the podium at CPAC on Thursday and hit it out of the park. Most of her speech concerned veterans’ issues, both heartfelt and filled with policy suggestions. She also took some swings against the Obama administration’s ISIS policy. The media, typically, reacted with irritation. Typical of the reaction from the left side of the media were the accounts in both the Daily...

“The Republican Party as we know it cannot survive,” according to Emory University political scientist Alan Abramowitz. Note the caveat: “as we know it.” The Republican Party we know today can barely get 20 percent of the non-white vote in presidential elections. That kind of political party can’t survive precisely because it is the non-white population that is growing, much faster than the white population. By 2044, the United States will be a majority-minority country; there will be more non-whites than whites. The word “minority” will probably be mothballed by then. Unless the GOP can figure out how to stop...

Gay Group Wins Formal Recognition From State Republican Party By SEEMA MEHTA The Log Cabin Republicans, a 38-year-old organization that had unsuccessfully sought a charter from the state party several times in the past, received the formal imprimatur on a 861-293 vote at the party’s biannual convention in Sacramento. Brandon Gesecki, a delegate from Carmel who supported the effort, said the vote showed how much the party in California has changed in recent years. “It would have been the complete opposite 15 years ago,” said Gesecki, who also turned in a proxy vote from former Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado supporting...

The battle for the Republican presidential nomination is beginning to really heat up. The latest log on the fire? Texas has decided to move its 2016 primary to March 1, making it the fifth state to cast votes. Traditionally, small states hold their primaries before the larger ones. This allows candidates to focus on persuading target groups of voters and gain momentum before facing the daunting challenge of wooing the masses. Texas is huge. At 270,000 square miles, a campaign will need a treasure trove of cash to finance television ads across 20 media markets. The presidential candidates are now...

Cruz channels his inner televangelist.If the Conservative Political Action Conference meeting is a sort of “American Idol” for would-be GOP presidential candidates, the contenders aren’t learning from the mistakes of previous losers. After the 2012 elections – when Republicans lost the White House to an incumbent under fire for the still-struggling economy – some sensible people in the party (South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham is one of them) uttered an important truth: The Republicans, to be successful, can’t just be against things. They have to be for something, have to present a positive and innovative vision for America. We’re not...

Josh DiNatale (left) and Zachary Burns, St. Joseph's University students and members of their College Republicans chapter, get ready to pose for a photo with a cutout of Sen. Rand Paul at CPAC 2015. The Conservative Political Action Conference, held this week in Washington D.C., is prime time for 2016 Republican presidential hopefuls trying — yes, already — to win over a key part of their base. Former Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, Gov. Scott Walker and others paraded on and off the main stage, trying to fire up the crowd with their ideas for America's next,...

The UKIP leader will share a stage with high-profile US conservatives including Sarah Palin and NRA gun lobbyists.UKIP leader Nigel Farage is expected to get a celebrity reception in Washington when he addresses America's most high-profile right-wing conference this week. Sarah Palin, Rand Paul, Jeb Bush and the National Rifle Association (NRA) gun lobby will be sharing a stage with the British politician after he was invited to address the Conservative Political Action Committee in the US capital. Aides told Sky News his philosophy has much in common with his republican hosts, who also focus on "the battle for smaller...

It’s an industry trade show like Comic-Con, but also a feel-good festival à la Burning Man. It’s got Super Bowlesque hoopla, and for activists on the right, the annual meeting is the get-together in Washington. Thousands of conservatives will gather Wednesday for the weeklong Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), where presidential hopefuls Jeb Bush, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and others will try to woo their base in the lead-up to 2016. The event, long held at Washington’s Omni Shoreham Hotel, was moved by organizers to the recently built Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland—a Democratic stronghold,...

The party chair calls a new report "tough love" The Democratic Party’s autopsy of its devastating defeat in 2014 calls for a renewed focus on the party’s message and winning back white Southern voters. In preliminary findings unveiled Saturday at a meeting of the Democratic National Committee, a task force studied the party’s defeats in 2010 and 2014—despite its victories in the 2008 and 2012 presidential years. It called for the creation of a “National Narrative Project” to help the party develop a message that can survive in midterm election years. It called for the creation of a “National Narrative...

Dinesh D’Souza is no one’s idea of a thoughtful participant in the nation’s public conversation. Still, his tweet on Wednesday morning may have set a new low for the right-wing rabble-rouser. Commenting on a widely circulated image of President Obama taking a picture of himself with selfie stick, D’Souza tweeted the following message: “YOU CAN TAKE THE BOY OUT OF THE GHETTO... Watch this vulgar man show his stuff, while America cowers in embarrassment.” The tweet has created quite a stir, especially among people who think it demonstrates D’Souza’s racism. But I think it reveals something that might actually be...

A crop of 2016 Republican White House hopefuls and stars of the conservative media firmament are on the list as organizers of the Conservative Political Action Conference put the finishing touches on the speakers list for this year’s gathering. The four-day event, considered one of the prime political dates on the calendar for conservative officeholders and activists, kicks off with a daylong activist “boot camp” Wednesday and concludes the evening of Feb. 28 at the Maryland’s National Harbor just outside of Washington. Republican presidential contenders now scheduled to speak include former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Texas...