Free Republic

Ex-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin launched her political action fund, Sarah PAC, in 2009 with the stated purpose "to help elect principled conservative leaders" across the country. But the latest Federal Election Commission filing indicates that money raised in small contributions by Sarah PAC is going to consultants, speech-writing services, direct-mail appeals, as well as stays by Palin in fancy hotels. Sarah PAC raised $950,000 in 2015, spent a total of $1.4 million, and donated just 23,500 to 45 campaigns. It also...

George Soros in December donated $6 million to the leading super PAC supporting Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, marking the return of the billionaire financier as among the biggest givers in all of American politics. The massive check brings to $8 million the Hungarian-born investor's total 2015 giving to pro-Clinton groups. The super PAC that received the $6-million check, Priorities USA Action, raised $25 million in the second half of 2015, according to a report it filed Sunday evening with the Federal Election Commission. The haul brings the PAC’s tally to $41 million for the year, and left it with a...

Sunday is the first time in six months that the public has learned the names of the biggest donors in presidential politics. These contributors give to super political action committees that can accept unlimited amounts of money and are aligned with specific candidates. The 15 major party candidates in the race also are due to file year-end fundraising reports on Sunday. They have until midnight. ...

Four of America’s wealthiest businessmen laid the foundation for Ted Cruz’s now-surging Republican presidential campaign and have redefined the role of political donors. With just over a week until voters get their first say, the 45-year-old Texas senator known as a conservative warrior has been ascendant. The $36 million committed last year by these donor families is now going toward television, radio and online advertisements, along with direct mailings and get-out-the-vote efforts in early primary states. The donors’ super political action committees sponsored rallies Saturday in Iowa featuring Cruz and conservative personality Glenn Beck. The state holds the leadoff caucuses...

Major GOP donors and fundraisers are wondering whether they’re wasting their money on super-PACs. They say they’re not ready to abandon the super-PACs, but they’re starting to look for ways to make them more effective during a presidential cycle that has challenged conventions about how to spend political donations. GOP front-runner Donald Trump’s relatively cheap campaign — contrasted with the millions of dollars spent on behalf of Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Scott Walker and Rick Perry — has left donors, fundraisers and conservative leaders questioning the value of super-PACs, which got a boost from the 2010 Supreme Court decision that...

A pro-Ted Cruz super PAC is out with a searing new TV ad invoking ISIS and the San Bernardino terrorist attacks and suggesting that Marco Rubio's efforts to pass an immigration reform bill are imperiling national security. The commercial, from the group Stand for Truth, is the latest in a series of anti-Rubio ads that have homed in on the Florida senator's work on the so-called Gang of Eight bill, a bipartisan 2013 effort to pass immigration legislation through the Senate. "We are at war - not just abroad, but here at home. With the clear and present threat of...

Texas billionaire Darwin Deason and his son Doug are contemplating giving millions to help Ted Cruz win the White House. But first the Dallas investors need to sort out which super PAC should get their money. At least eight independent political groups are jockeying to support Cruz now that he has risen in the polls as perhaps the strongest challenger to front­runner Donald Trump. The dynamic has confused wealthy donors and brought disarray to the otherwise orderly political operation that surrounds the freshman senator from Texas. “We’re trying to figure out who has the best management team, the most efficient...

'Five paid staffers' last day was Sunday, call Cruz a 'conservative who can win'MANCHESTER, N.H. - All five paid New Hampshire staffers at the pro-Ben Carson 2016 Committee super PAC quit their posts on Sunday to become volunteers for U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, WMUR.com has learned.Jerry Sickles of Keene, the spokesman for the staff, said he and the other four staffers recently came to the conclusion that Cruz is the conservative most able to win the GOP presidential nomination and the presidency. He also noted that Carson has spent very little time campaigning in New Hampshire, which became...

A super PAC supporting Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's presidential campaign is blasting Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's attitude toward foreign policy in a new ad appearing on Snapchat.The 10-second spot by Keep the Promise I, one of a network of similarly named outside groups backing Cruz, juxtaposes the fight against ISIS and the need to stand up to Iran with a humorous video spot released by Rubio's campaign before one of last year's debates in which he was discussing his fantasy football picks.“Yeah, I know I have a debate, but I've got to get this fantasy football thing right,” Rubio says...

A string of allied “super PACs” supporting the presidential campaign of Senator Ted Cruz of Texas is planning a $1 million television, digital and radio advertising buy in the early voting states, with the heaviest spending in Iowa, a spokeswoman for the group said. The super PACs, both collectively and individually called Keep the Promise, are flush with cash, and this spending is the biggest investment in television advertising that any of them have made this year. The ad buy includes television advertising in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. By midday Thursday, $700,000 was reserved for television time...

...Senator Ted Cruz, already under attack in Iowa for opposing government support for ethanol, has won the support of an out-of-state conservative leader, Ken Cuccinelli II, who on Tuesday aimed an unusually blistering attack on "Big Corn"......"The Governor of Iowa is a Big Corn cheerleader, and his son is running a super PAC hitting Cruz for not bowing to worship Big Corn..." wrote Mr. Cucinelli, the former attorney general of Virginia.He described an agricultural forum in Iowa early in the year attended by presidential hopefuls as a "Big corn kiss up confab."Mr. Cruz is leading Iowa polls of likely Republican...

A super PAC backing Ted Cruz is going up with a new, six-figure digital ad buy targeting voters in the four early-voting primary states, as well as in Mississippi, Georgia and in Alabama, where Cruz just finished a weekend campaign swing.The minute-long spot, called "Trust," was produced by Keep the Promise I, in collaboration with Keep the Promise PAC, part of a cluster of super PACs supporting the Texas senator's presidential bid. The ad, which features voter testimonials, also takes an oblique swipe at Marco Rubio, a rival Republican presidential candidate with whom Cruz has been increasingly sparring over immigration...

This new video from GotNews comes one of the super PACs supporting Ted Cruz for president. If you haven't read Ted Cruz's book "A Time For Truth" or otherwise gotten to know the most conservative presidential candidate running in 2016, this is a good introduction. It starts out with Ted's father, Pastor Rafael Cruz, talking about growing up in Cuba and watching that country sink into Marxism. Like our current Marxist-in-Chief, Fidel Castro came to power talking of hope and change, only to declare war on liberty and oppress his own people.Ted's Aunt Sonia suffered under the heel of despotism...

Ted Cruz speaks during his presidential campaign rally at the Fort Worth Stockyards on Sept. 3, 2015. (Photo by Laura Buckman) A super PAC supporting Ted Cruz is seeking to capitalize on his recent gains in polling with a new online ad and mail pieces introducing the Republican presidential candidate to voters in Iowa as well as South Carolina. Keep the Promise I, one of four main super PACs backing the Texas senator, announced Tuesday the groups are spending over $600,000 on the new push, which comes as Cruz looks more and more like a top-tier candidate nationally and in...

Yesterday we reported on how a Super PAC that has apparently supports Senator Marco Rubio has taken up Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)'s attack line against Senator Ted Cruz. Back in July, Ted Cruz was one of a super-majority of senators who voted to curtail the ability of the NSA to bulk collect the phone use data of Americans. In the wake of the Paris attack, Rubio perceives there is a) a disadvantage to Cruz in his vote and b) highlight that vote and painting Cruz as “weak on terrorism” will work to Rubio’s advantage. I suppose there are GOP...

A super-PAC supporting Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is making its biggest investment to date, installing a data-driven grassroots operation in early-voting South Carolina.Keep the Promise PAC has hired 14 full-time field directors and county organizers in the state, which holds one of the nation's first primary contests, the group said in a statement. Recruited to lead the South Carolina team is former state Rep. Dan Tripp (R), who had spearheaded efforts there for the now-defunct presidential campaign of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. "This significant investment in South Carolina is indicative of the growing national support for Sen. Cruz," Tripp...

Polls can be deceiving, but money talks. According to fundraising, Texas Senator Ted Cruz is the frontrunner in the GOP presidential race. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson have raked in the cash from big and small donors, respectively, but only Ted Cruz has both a strong and balanced appeal. At this point in the presidential race, the money a candidate has raised, and from whom, may be a stronger indicator of longevity than his or her position in the “horse race” polls. Former Texas Governor Rick Perry had a rich super PAC, but his lack...

"As revenge for their 'boy' becoming his own man, Mike Murphy intends to destroy Sen. Marco Rubio." Here is something you need to know to this morning - Jeb Bush's Super PAC ads have been terrible. They have not helped Jeb Bush at all. In fact, more Republican primary voters say they would never vote for Jeb Bush than say the same about Donald Trump. Here is something else you should know - Team Bush premised his strategy on keeping Sen. Marco Rubio out of the race. Bush announced early that he intended to run, then stockpiled his Super PAC...

Ted Cruz enjoys millions of dollars in super PAC money but he may have to wait until after the first round of primaries before he can reap the benefits of that unlimited cash. The Keep the Promise set -- four super PACs which have collected more than $38 million to independently support Cruz's surging bid -- is struggling to show signs of life that can satisfy budding external pressure from both the official campaign and other Cruz allies. Keep the Promise II, the group funded with $10 million from Houston investor Toby Neugebauer, has not reserved any television time and...

Rubio or Cruz, which one do you trust? (Watch the ad video) A super PAC allied with Ted Cruz is calling into question Marco Rubio's credentials as a conservative with a new ad that reminds viewers that Rubio was once an advocate of comprehensive immigration reform. The Courageous Conservatives PAC lauds Rubio's deft handling of rival Jeb Bush, but says other than that and his support for immigration reform, there's not much else to the Florida senator. "What's Rubio ever done? Anything at all? Anything at all besides amnesty?" the voiceover for the ad asks. "After Sandy Hook, Ted Cruz...