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2016 Republican Primary Tag

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on October 24, 2015 7 Comments
Rand Paul's disappointing poll numbers and fundraising for his presidential campaign are reportedly a cause for concern among the GOP both in his home state of Kentucky and in Washington. Last week, reports indicated that donors and the Kentucky GOP were urging Rand to focus on his senate reelection bid rather than on his flailing presidential campaign. The AP reported:
A defiant Rand Paul is brushing off weak fundraising and weaker poll numbers as would-be donors and home state Republicans push him to abandon an uphill presidential bid to focus on his Senate re-election. . . . . But back in Kentucky, a growing chorus of Republicans suggested that Paul's Senate re-election was by no means guaranteed, despite the state's strong GOP leanings and the lack of a clear Democratic challenger. "He could lose both positions," said Patricia Vincent, chairwoman of the Graves County Republican Party. "He just needs to work a little bit more to make sure he still has a seat in the Senate."

Posted by Amy Miller on October 24, 2015 35 Comments
In response to pressure from donors, Jeb Bush's 2016 campaign is downsizing, starting with a whopping 45% budget cut (exclusive of cash earmarked for TV buys and voter contact via phone calls, mailers, and other avenues.) The campaign has also cut its payroll by 40%; some senior staff will stay on on a volunteer basis, while some junior staffers and consultants will be let go entirely. Bush has also opted to downsize his Miami headquarters and shift more resources into New Hampshire, where he is currently polling in third place. More from Bloomberg:
One Bush adviser told Bloomberg Politics in an interview Friday morning that the team was “unapologetic” about the changes, saying the moves were from a “position of strength.” “This is about winning the race,” the adviser said. “We’re doing it now and making the shifts with confidence. We expect to win.”

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on October 22, 2015 62 Comments
The latest from Quinnipiac has Ben Carson leading Donald Trump in Iowa by eight points. Trump's average Iowa lead has shrunk to a meager .7. Rubio and Cruz are the only other candidates in the double digits. According to the release:
This compares to the results of a September 11 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University showing Trump at 27 percent with Carson at 21 percent. Today, Sen. Rand Paul is at 6 percent, with Carly Fiorina and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 5 percent each. No other candidate tops 3 percent, with 3 percent undecided.
Even more interesting how poorly Trump polls among women and that he's earned 30% of the "no way" vote.

Posted by Amy Miller on October 21, 2015 11 Comments
CNBC has released the final lineup for next week's GOP debate in Boulder, Colorado---and there are absolutely no surprises to be had. The main stage will look very familiar: Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, Carly Fiorina, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, John Kasich, Chris Christie, and Rand Paul. The top tier is missing Scott Walker, who appeared in last month's CNN debate but has since withdrawn from the race. Bobby Jindal, Rick Santorum, George Pataki, and Lindsey Graham will hold down their usual places in the pre-primetime debate. Jim Gilmore did not qualify for either debate. CNBC's John Harwood has the details:

Posted by Mike LaChance on October 21, 2015 207 Comments
Through the spring and summer, many pundits and politicians dismissed Donald Trump's campaign for president as a flash in the pan. Large crowds at his events were explained away by dissatisfaction with the establishment. Now that his lead in the polls has held for so long, people are singing a different tune. Howard Kurtz of FOX News:
The media establishment finally admits Trump could win this thing I remember shaking my head, on the day that Donald Trump announced, when NPR’s Mara Liasson declared that this would be the best day of his campaign and it was downhill from there. Liasson cheerfully admitted she was wrong on my show, but she had plenty of company. Most of the media establishment seemed to fall into two camps: those who were skeptical that Trump was anything more than a sideshow, and those who attacked him as a clown and a charlatan. Fast-forward to this past weekend when Chris Wallace, having just interviewed Trump for “Fox News Sunday,” said: “I know all of us dismissed Trump, early on, all of the so-called experts.” But after their sitdown, Wallace said, “I am beginning to believe he could be elected president of the United States.”

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on October 19, 2015 13 Comments
Marco Rubio's presidential campaign is a lean machine. You'd be hard pressed to a Rubio staffer living the high life in lavash accommodations, courtesy of campaign donations. How does Sen. Rubio's campaign spend its money?

"Please Put Your Tray Tables in the Upright and Locked Position"

 They stand in number-ordered line at the Southwest gate just like the rest of us.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 18, 2015 202 Comments
This election season has had so many surprises, I'm staying away from making predictions. But one thing is clear -- Donald Trump has done Republicans a favor by exposing weaknesses in other candidates, in many cases such fatal flaws that they could never survive a Clinton-Media onslaught. That weeding out process is not over, but already it has dispatched Rick Perry and Scott Walker. I wasn't surprised with Perry, but the Trump phenomenon exposed weaknesses in Walker as a national candidate. While it ain't over until it is over, Jeb Bush has been damaged more than anyone by Trump. From day one, Trump has been humiliating and emasculating Jeb with taunts. That would not have had much effect unless those taunts exposed Jeb's inherent weaknesses as a candidate. When Trump taunted Jeb as being low energy, it rang true and Jeb didn't know how to react. When Trump raised the issue of Jeb being soft on immigration because his wife is an immigrant, Jeb on stage at a debate demanded an apology to Jeb's wife, who was in the audience. Trump refused, and Jeb had nowhere to go with it -- Jeb looked weak. Now Trump is zeroing in on Jeb's biggest problem -- George W. Bush.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on October 18, 2015 9 Comments
Ahead of and with the release of the quarterly campaign fundraising totals, Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio are jostling for the top spot among establishment candidates.  Rubio has jumped to the fourth spot (below Trump, Carson, and Cruz), and Jeb, once considered an "unstoppable juggernaut," has slipped into single digits and is slashing campaign staff salaries. Brett LoGiurato reports:
A long-simmering feud between two Florida Republican presidential heavyweights has erupted out into the open over the past day, prompted in part by the release of federal campaign-finance disclosures. The campaigns of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) publicly traded barbs Thursday over the reports, each trying to outdo the other over which campaign was thriftier and in better position going forward.
Both are from Florida and both are counting on the same donors and the same support, so the competition is fierce as Florida voters' shift from Jeb to Rubio.  This gets even more dicey because Rubio was Jeb's protégé, and apparently, Trump isn't the only one who sees him as "disloyal" in attempting to further his own presidential ambitions in a race that many thought Jeb would win handily.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on October 18, 2015 37 Comments
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz has a history of pushing back against GOP leadership and arguing that too many Republicans in Congress are "election conservatives." Earlier this week, Cruz appeared on Hannity to discuss a new Fox poll that has him as third in the GOP presidential race (behind Trump and Carson), and during the course of the interview, he noted that the GOP establishment "looks down on the voters who elected" them. Watch:

Posted by Amy Miller on October 15, 2015 33 Comments
GOP Presidential hopeful Dr. Ben Carson raised more money than any other Republican candidate between July and October of this year. His 3Q fundraising hit $20 million; Jeb Bush skidded in at second place with a respectable $13.4 million, narrowly edging out Ted Cruz, who boasted a $12.2 million take. The rest of the candidates came in below the $10 million mark, but still managed to pad their war chests: Q3 GOP fundraising october 2015 Who does Carson thank for all these donations? The average American voter:

Posted by Amy Miller on October 15, 2015 22 Comments
When Donald Trump first launched his presidential campaign, he looked like a man who was on a mission to become King of the Media Circus. He was boisterous, bold, and didn't hesitate to take his opponents and detractors to the cleaners on a daily basis. Surely, this was some sort of stunt or vanity campaign, right? Then, of course, the poll numbers started hitting the airwaves, proving that what he was saying and doing was resonating with voters and the American people at large. Now, a new report from NBC News shows that the Trump campaign has decided to put its money where its candidate's mouth is, and launch a "formidable" ground game in the cycle's most crucial primary state. Other candidates shied away from Iowa, not wanting to peak too early; Trump, on the other hand, made multiple, high-profile and highly-attended appearances in the state, and has now embedded 12 paid staffers---more than any other candidate currently campaigning in Iowa---to put boots on the ground and start doing the grunt work that actually wins elections.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on October 15, 2015 14 Comments
Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson has temporarily suspended his campaign to spend two weeks selling books. National Review's Jim Geraghty pointed to an ABC News article explaining Dr. Carson's decision:
Republican presidential contender Dr. Ben Carson has put his public campaign events on hold for two more weeks to go on book tour for his new tome “A More Perfect Union” and catch up on fundraising events. The campaign has been careful to separate campaign events and the book tour, and doesn’t want to classify the tour as related to the campaign in any way. This week he is catching up on fundraising events and will be back on his book tour next week making stops in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. So for the next two weeks, Carson won't be appearing at any public "campaign events." Carson will be going back and forth between campaign fundraising events and book tour events over the next two weeks. His campaign says he has over 20 campaign fundraising events scheduled over that time period. The campaign says the next time they will appear publicly with Carson will be the day of the next GOP debate on Oct. 28. His last public campaign event was Oct. 2. Carson's campaign staff will not travel with him while on tour, noting that it’s better to stay off the trail for fear of being accused of using campaign assets to sell books.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on October 14, 2015 16 Comments
Wednesday morning, Senator Rubio joined Fox and Friends to discuss Tuesday night's Democratic presidential debate. Bold, fresh ideas? Not so much. The debate was more like an 80's flashback, according to Rubio. "The biggest threat to her [Hillary Clinton‘s] candidacy is her outdated ideas. If you watched that debate last night it looked like something from the early ’80s. It was basically a liberal vs. liberal debate about who was going to give away the most free stuff,” said Rubio.

Posted by Amy Miller on October 13, 2015 51 Comments
Legal Insurrection will be covering tonight's Democratic debate...but I'm willing to bet we won't have nearly as much fun as this guy: Achievement unlocked: Master Troll.

Posted by Amy Miller on October 13, 2015 17 Comments
Rand Paul's star has faded within the crowded Republican field, but his team is hoping that a novel digital effort will draw enough attention to Paul (and his policies) to turn things back in the right direction. Today, Rand Paul is livestreaming...everything. The stream will be available on Paul's Facebook page and Ustream channel, offering what the campaign has touted as unprecedented access into life on the campaign trail. Via Rare:
The Paul campaign’s Chief Digital Strategist Vincent Harris told Rare, “In an effort to continue his efforts to run the most digital savvy and transparent campaign on either side of the aisle, Senator Paul will be the first Presidential candidate to live-stream an entire day on the campaign trail.” The live stream, which will be viewable through the campaign’s Facebook and UStream.tv pages, will begin with Paul’s morning in Iowa and will last throughout the entire day. The coverage will wrap up Tuesday night with Paul reacting live to the Democratic debate—the first time Hillary Clinton will have to face Bernie Sanders and the rest of her competitors. Now that could be fun.
Paul announced the decision yesterday on Twitter:

Posted by Amy Miller on October 11, 2015 15 Comments
Has anyone noticed that our candidates are a little...sassier...this time around? Maybe we have Donald Trump to thank for this; perhaps it's the advent of social media and the unfiltered nature of digital campaigns. Either way, it's something to be thankful for, if only for its entertainment value. Last week, Hillary Clinton sent copies of her book, Hard Choices, to all of the Republican candidates: Her campaign attempted to play this off as a big PR clown on the GOP---but it didn't work out as well as she thought it would. Ben Carson responded to Hillary's generosity in kind:
Thanks Hillary. Posted by Dr. Ben Carson on Friday, October 9, 2015
Coaster? Door stop? Step stool? Sounds about right. I can't think of a better use for it, at any rate.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on October 07, 2015 101 Comments
During an interview with Special Report's Brett Baier Tuesday night, Republican presidential contender Donald Trump said eminent domain is a "wonderful thing."
"I think eminent domain is wonderful if you're building a highway and you need to build, as an example, a highway, and you're going to be blocked by a hold-out or, in some cases, it's a hold-out. Just so you understand, nobody knows this better than I do, because I built a lot of buildings in Manhattan and you'll have 12 sites and you'll get 11 and you'll have the one hold-out and you end up building around them and everything else, OK. So I know it better than anybody."
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