Hillary Clinton’s Democratic primary lead over Vice President Joe Biden is measured at 50 points while Rand Paul hangs tough in the muddled slog on the Republican side. Here are 4 quick takeaways summarizing what you need to know from the latest national 2016 Quinnipiac University poll: The Cruz Boom Is Real – At least for the moment. […]

Matt Lewis, who regularly conjures up insightful thoughts on the 2016 scramble, crowns Gov. Chris Christie as the winner of the shutdown frenzy. From Lewis’ column in The Week: Several of his potential 2016 rivals, like Sens. Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Rand Paul, were all — to varying degrees — backing the quixotic “defund ObamaCare” […]

Robert Costa has outlined how Rafael Cruz, the father of Ted Cruz, could be a force on the campaign trail for his son. But his unfiltered passion and red hot rhetoric also have the potential to knock a future campaign off message. New audio from an appearance at a Lincoln Day dinner in Colorado catches Rafael […]

Left off the list of invites to the 2013 Value Voters Summit in Washington next month:  New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie & New York Rep. Peter King. Newsday: A Value Voters Summit spokesman confirmed the group did not invite King, but didn’t say why.  At least King has company: Gov. Chris Christie did not appear […]

On the eve of an increasingly likely government shutdown, here’s a look at how the potential Republican 2016ers have calibrated their positioning, in order from the most staunchly opposed to the most willing to flirt with closing down Capitol Hill. Chris Christie: “I don’t think you hear responsible Republican leaders advocating a shutdown of the government,” Christie […]

Well, that didn’t take long. Ted Cruz’s 21-hour “filibuster” has vaulted the Texan to the top of the heap nationally in the 2016 GOP presidential primary, according to Public Policy Polling. Cruz captured a field-leading 20 percent of the vote in a poll of Republican primary voters taken Wednesday and Thursday, in the wake of his […]

Iowa Democrats are wrestling with a conundrum:  They’re on board with Hillary Clinton this time, but are simultaneously drawn to the idea of a fresh face representing a new generation. A new poll, commissioned by the Des Moines Register, finds likely caucus-goers divided over their preferred trait of a 2016 contender. Whereas 49 percent chose “a […]

There’s new evidence Ted Cruz may be more in sync with the roots of his party than Mitch McConnell. A survey of Republican National Committee members from key presidential primary states found overwhelming support for Cruz’s 21-hour Senate floor talkathon. And even the few who didn’t think Cruz’s speech was necessarily politically helpful to the […]

Lost amid the avalanche of coverage over Ted Cruz’s 21-hour filibuster protesting Obamacare was the delicate positioning of his colleague and potential future rival, Rand Paul. While the Kentucky senator had plainly stated over the weekend that defunding the health care law was a lost cause, he joined Cruz on the floor Wednesday morning to lend the Texan […]

CHARLESTON, S.C. — The South Carolina Republican Party will consider a resolution saluting Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for his marathon speech excoriating President Obama’s health care law, the latest signal of disconnect between GOP leaders in Washington and those in the states. The resolution, which could be voted on by the state party’s executive committee […]

Former Mississippi governor and Republican National Committee chairman Haley Barbour said there isn’t any doubt in his mind that Rick Perry is running for president again. “Perry will run again,” Barbour told Yellowhammer in a recent interview.   ”I don’t think there’s any question about it.” Of all the potential 2016 presidential candidates that Barbour name-checked, […]

In Greenville, South Carolina last month, I noticed that Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal — who famously lamented Republicans for being “the stupid party” — ratcheted up his dry, brainy persona with a pointedly partisan speech that excoriated President Obama. Compared to Govs. Scott Walker and Rick Perry, it was Jindal who served up the most attack-laden speech. […]

Sen. Rand Paul wins the Mackinac Straw poll in Michigan, after conceding that Republicans have lost the battle on repealing Obamacare. The results of the Mackinac Straw poll, of which 526 conference attendees participated in: Rand Paul 36% (188 votes) Chris Christie 16% (82 votes) Jeb Bush 8% (42 votes) Scott Walker 7% (39 votes) Ted Cruz 7% […]

This is the week when Republicans of all shades got the nerve to take Ted Cruz to the woodshed for his insistence on trying to repeal Obamacare. But perhaps no GOPer has been more pugilistic than New York Rep. Peter King, who is adeclared candidate for president in 2016. King amped up his rhetorical firebombs Friday. The […]

Texas Republicans have moved on to the next big thing. And there’s fresh evidence, that’s Ted Cruz. A new poll of Lone Star State Republicans shows the freshman senator crushing outgoing Gov. Rick Perry in a hypothetical 2016 primary match-up. Cruz leads the nine-person field with 38 percent compared to Perry’s 9 percent, according to […]

If only this Rick Perry had shown up in 2012. The Texas governor and former presidential candidate turned in a sterling performance Wednesday evening in his face-off with Maryland Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley on CNN’s Crossfire, shelling out a slew of impressive statistics touting his state’s economic progress and landing a couple punches on his […]

The most important number in the new Public Policy Polling survey out of New Hampshire is 18. That’s the amount of points Sen. Marco Rubio has hemorrhaged in the GOP primary field in a span of five months. In April, the Florida senator registered 25 percent in the PPP poll, which was good enough for a strong second place in […]

Jeb Bush vs. Bobby Jindal, representing the two predominant mindsets in the party on whether Republicans should push to repeal Obamacare: Bush: “Politically it’s quite dicey for the Republican Party.” Jindal: “Repeal and defund is certainly a fight worth having.” Through the 2016 lens, these statements reveal something about both men.  It shows Bush isn’t willing […]

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, long assumed to be a strong favorite for reelection next year, is polling under 50 percent and clinging to a single digit lead over a slate of Democratic opponents according to a new survey by Public Policy Polling. The Democratic-aligned firm’s numbers are surprising because they undercut the widely held notion that […]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Rick Santorum suggested Saturday the Republican National Committee shouldn’t be involved in 2016 presidential primary debates altogether, rapping the Washington-based committee as its chairman addressed attendees at a conference here. “Look I’m not particularly excited about the RNC sanctioning anything.  I don’t see anything out of the RNC that makes me […]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin dubbed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie “a great conservative,” but carefully avoided a question about his possible presidential aspirations during a brief interview with Yellowhammer Wednesday. “He’s a great conservative. I think he’s also a man who likes to work both sides of the aisle too and that’s […]

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz clarified his own foreign policy doctrine Wednesday, distancing himself from the more anti-interventionist posture of his tea party colleague, Sen. Rand Paul, despite their shared opposition to military action in Syria. Asked by a questioner at The Heritage Foundation whether he falls more in line with Paul’s worldview or that of […]

World events have swept immigration off the legislative table. Mitt Romney’s donors are hinting they’re still with him. And the home state press corps is calling his past week a “public relations coup.” Is this the moment when Marco Rubio began to get his groove back? It’s indisputable the freshman Florida senator has had a rough and […]

There aren’t many Democratic operatives making an open case against a Hillary Clinton nomination in 2016, but Carter Eskew takes a stab in a piece for The Washington Post, where he outlines the impact Elizabeth Warren’s populist-liberal approach could have on the contest. Eskew, the chief strategist for Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign, ponders an anti-establishment […]