Free Republic

The senator from Texas is banking on a war of attrition among the other outsider candidates.Ted Cruz's run for president has gotten off to a rough start. He's currently in sixth place in the polls. The thirst for an outsider candidate that was supposed to propel his campaign has instead been quenched by Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and now Carly Fiorina. But Cruz has a strategy for overcoming his lackluster performance thus far, one that's drawn strong reviews from some party insiders. Republican consultant Doug Heye praised his "smart" campaign to the Hill newspaper, and the conservative National Review Online...

I wouldn’t say literally every center-left pundit I know expects Marco Rubio to win the Republicans’ 2016 presidential nomination, but it’s awfully close to 100%. For most of the political observers I know, it’s practically a foregone conclusion – the pieces have already fallen into place for the far-right Floridian. Nate Silver recently said, “I sometimes feel with Rubio like he’s the contestant on a reality show where it’s totally obvious that he’s eventually going to win, but the network needs to create dramatic subplots for 17 weeks before it happens.” And all of these assumptions may very well be...

Two-term Florida governor says he's focused on finding answers, not feeding angst. INDIANOLA — Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush touted his leadership as a two-term Florida governor Thursday to prospective Iowa caucus-goers and hoped that experience would win him support over the untested “loud voices” in the expansive GOP field when they make their choices next February. “I believe that at the end of this process that people are going to want to know that you’re a proven leader,” Bush told about 100 people who packed a Pizza Ranch restaurant to hear his message. “That you’ve got a spine, that...

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign on Wednesday announced that it has named a chairman in all 171 counties that comprise the first four early states – 99 Iowa counties, 10 New Hampshire counties, 46 South Carolina counties, and 16 Nevada counties. “The only way we will turn our country around is through a grassroots uprising of the American people, and I’m grateful for the many courageous conservatives in the early states who have stepped forward to lead that grassroots movement,” Cruz said. “I’ve always known we would have a great organization, but having a leader the 171 counties that...

When Ted Cruz announced his campaign for president, I said he didn’t have a chance. The Texas senator isn’t just extreme—an ideological outlier with hard-right positions on virtually everything under the sun—but he’s unpopular with other Republican lawmakers. He stepped on the stage as a critic of national GOP leadership and has used his influence with grassroots conservatives to force confrontations like the 2013 government shutdown. Cruz has burned his bridges with powerful party figures like Majority Leader Mitch McConnell—on one occasion, Cruz called McConnell a “liar” on the Senate floor—and is toxic to many of his Senate Republican colleagues....

MOUNT VERNON, Iowa (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton says that jail was the "right thing" for a Kentucky clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Speaking in Iowa Wednesday, the Democratic presidential hopeful said Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis was "treated as she should have been treated." Davis spent five days in jail for defying a court order and refusing to license gay marriages. Several Republican presidential candidates have vocally defended Davis, including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz....

Political hard-liners do better in runoffs than in party primaries. Runoff voters in both parties are the most enthusiastic voters — more likely to show up for every election. Primary elections do a pretty good job of sorting the partisans from the semi-partisans: Most Republicans and most Democrats who vote in general elections do not vote in their own primaries. But the drop in turnout from those anemic primaries to the primary runoffs also is significant, leaving the most ardent voters from the two parties in charge. So it should come as no surprise when political plotters and schemers try...

In the movie, "Swing Vote," the presidential election literally comes down to the vote of one American, Kevin Costner's everyman character, Bud Johnson. It's the stuff of pure, indulgent political fantasy. But the crowded and unpredictable Republican 2016 primary does offer the prospect of an extended battle that could become a very personal, one-on-one campaign for individual delegates, GOP insiders say. Party rules bind most delegates to the winners of each state's nominating contest. But should candidates lose support down the line and suspend their campaigns, the delegates they won immediately become free agents who are permitted to of support...

Many Republicans have tried and failed to win the presidential nomination without support from the party establishment. Donald Trump argues he is different from those hopefuls because his wealth enables him to fund an insurgent campaign all by himself. But for all the talk about his money, so far, Trump isn’t using it. Trump campaign officials say he has only spent about $2 million – far less than fellow GOP candidates Dr. Ben Carson and Sen. Ted Cruz, for instance. each spent $5.5 million just through July, according to the latest FEC reports. Hillary Clinton’s campaign, meanwhile, spent $18 million...

On the last Tuesday in September, an important deadline loomed for the men and women who would be president. The Federal Election Commission requires those running for office to report how much their campaigns have raised each quarter, and the last-minute fundraising appeals that ensue often reach a dramatic pitch as politicians seek to raise a figure that proves they have staying power. Starting at about 9:30 p.m. that evening, online donations through Sen. Bernie Sanders’s website, store and the ActBlue fundraising site reached the phenomenal clip of about two contributions per second. They stayed at that high and steady...

Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2015/10/07/cruz-names-chairs-99-iowa-counties/73522118/

WASHINGTON–Most of the early action in presidential primaries happens in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. But Sen. Ted Cruz is keying in on far-off territories to help meet a Republican Party rule for the nomination. While Cruz has spent plenty of time and money in the early primary states, he’s also dispatched advisers and put in calls to leaders in Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, according to Politico. The Republican party requires its presidential candidate to have won a majority of delegates in eight states or territories. Since those three territories cast delegates in the primary,...

CARSON CITY, Nevada — Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is picking up an endorsement from a former member of Scott Walker's Nevada campaign team. The Texas senator's campaign announced this week that Republican Nevada Assemblyman Jim Wheeler is backing him. Wheeler had served as co-chair of Walker's campaign until the Wisconsin governor dropped out of the race two weeks ago....

For how long, though? The Paul campaign was supposed to energize younger voters with more libertarian leanings, and provide Rand Paul with his father’s constituency married to a higher level of respectability. So far, though, the results in terms of fundraising have been disappointing. Over the last three months, Team Paul only collected $2.5 million — less than one million dollars a month, far behind Paul’s competitors, and a decline of almost two-thirds from the previous quarter. Even so, the Kentucky Senator insists he’s staying in the race, and that his prospects have improved of late: Rand Paul raised just...

Ted Cruz will have a chance to win over some of the Republican Party's top donors at a beachside conference later this month. The Texas senator is the sole presidential candidate confirmed to attend the Club for Growth's economic conference in San Diego on Oct. 15, according to an invitation, giving Cruz a platform to court the deep-pocketed donors part of the Club's network. Cruz has been surprisingly effective at landing top GOP moneymen, collecting more than $50 million for his campaign and super PACs. The Club, which is one of the most conservative spending groups in elections, is helping...

In the wake of Scott Walker's exit from the 2016 race last week, Chart Westcott — a major donor and fundraiser for the Wisconsin governor — heard personally from four GOP presidential candidates. He spoke to the finance chairs for nearly every campaign and super PAC. And he got lobbied by local supporters of the various candidates. "It was intense," said Westcott, a Dallas-based biotech investor who bundled money for Walker and gave $200,000 to a super PAC supporting him. In the end, he decided to go with Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. "I wanted somebody who would completely shake...

Presidential candidate U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today announced the endorsement of former Scott Walker supporter, Iowa State Senator Randy Feenstra (R-Hull). The endorsement follows Cruz’s earlier announcement that all three of Walker’s former grassroots co-chairs in Georgia are also now organizing for the Cruz campaign. “It is an honor to earn Randy’s support and I look forward to working with him as we compete to win Iowa and the entire GOP primary,” Sen. Cruz said. “I am very proud of the network of courageous conservatives we’ve built across Iowa. Their hard work will be crucial to restore jobs, growth...

The Libertarian Party conducted a poll a few months back in order to better understand the religious demographic of party members. A result which surely shocked many was the stereotype-shattering data the Libertarian Party got back. Of the 19,428 votes caste, around 50% of those who participated came back as Christian. ArenÂ’t libertarians just a bunch of atheist? Well, only 42% of Libertarian voters identified as Atheists. This is incredibly exciting! This is an opportunity to not only expand the message of limited government, free markets, and individual liberty, but on a personal level, to expand the Gospel of Christ...

Just weeks after the leader of a Super PAC supporting Rand Paul was indicted, it was revealed that another Super PAC supporting the Kentucky senator and presidential hopeful has been dormant since June. Politico first reported today that Purple PAC, a Super PAC founded by Ed Crane, has not been actively fundraising for Paul. “We haven’t really been actively soliciting money until we feel the Purple PAC and Rand are on the same page,” Purple PAC leader Ed Crane told ABC News. Crane said that the Super PAC hasn’t shut down, but other than a $10,000 contest, the PAC hasn’t...

Sen. Ted Cruz has snatched away endorsements for his GOP presidential bid that would appear to be a natural fit for rival Sen. Rand Paul – landing the nod from libertarians who've been supporters of Paul's father, Ron Paul. The backing comes from the Liberty Leaders for Cruz coalition, headed by former Georgia Republican Rep. Bob Barr, who ran for president in 2008 and now heads the nonprofit Liberty Guard, Bloomberg reports. "More than any other candidate for President in 2016, Cruz understands that the oath the president takes is a solemn commitment to always act in accordance with the...