Rand Paul's Small Town Appeal

"Online fund-raising data from the first several weeks of Rand Paul’s presidential campaign suggests

that much of his initial small-dollar support has come from smaller cities and towns.

After starting his campaign on April 7 with a “Stand With Rand” online appeal, his campaign brought in its first $1 million in less than 30 hours, from more than 15,500 donations, according to data published on RandPaul.com and collected by The Upshot.

He has far to go to match the success of his father, Ron Paul, in collecting money over the Internet. The initial flurry for Rand Paul faded quickly. It took an additional 16 days for the figure to double." NYT

Carson Prays with supporter

"Republican Dr. Ben Carson says a prayer with a supporter Tuesday, May 5, 2015 outside the His Hands Free Clinic in Cedar Rapids, Iowa."  DesMoinesRegister

Draft Biden Movement in Iowa?

"Four Democratic elected officials in Iowa have endorsed an effort to draft Vice President Joe Biden

into the presidential race and intend to sign a letter urging him to run.
State Sen. Tony Bisignano of Des Moines, state Rep. Jim Lykam of Davenport, state Rep. Mary Gaskill of Ottumwa, and Scott County Auditor Roxanna Moritz are backing Biden, according to a news release Tuesday night from the super PAC Draft Biden 2016." DesMoineRegister

Huckabee In!!!

"Mike Huckabee made a strong play for social conservatives on Tuesday, launching his presidential bid by declaring that the United States has lost its moral path.
The former Arkansas governor, who finished second in the 2008 fight for the GOP presidential nomination, decried legalized abortion and gay marriage and accused federal courts of running amok.
“We’ve lost our way morally,” Huckabee told a cheering hometown crowd during his speech in Hope, Ark.
“We’ve witnessed the slaughter of over 55 million babies in the name of choice and we’re now

threatening the foundation of religious liberty by criminalizing Christianity and demanding we abandon Biblical principles in natural marriage,” the former Baptist minister said. “The Supreme Court is not the supreme being, and they cannot overturn the laws of nature or of nature’s God,” he declared.
Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses in 2008 and is poised to be considered a strong contender again when the state it holds the first nominating contest in the nation in eight months.
And a poll by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling suggested Huckabee could be within striking distance of Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in the swing state. It showed Clinton with 46 percent of the vote compared to 44 percent for Huckabee, a margin surpassed by no other GOP candidate and matched only by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)." TheHill

Romney hits Hillary over her politicizing Baltimore riots

"Mitt Romney accused Hillary Clinton of politicizing the unrest in Baltimore to curry favor with African-American voters.
“I was concerned that her comments really smacked of politicization of the terrible tragedies that are going on there,” Romney said during an interview that aired Monday on Fox News’ “Fox and

Friends.”
Romney referred to Clinton’s recent speech at Columbia University, when she said the racial bias in the justice system and law is linked to economic inequality.
“Without the mass incarceration that we currently practice, millions fewer people would be living in poverty,” Clinton had said. 
Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, pushed back on that line.
“We don’t have mass incarceration in America,” he said. “Are we not going to lock people up who commit crimes? Is that what she is suggesting?
“I thought it was a very inappropriate thing for her to do, and I think it was political in nature for her to get more support in the African-American community, and I think it was a big mistake on her part and simply wrong,” he continued." TheHill

Hillary on Guns

 "“We cannot let a minority of people–and that’s what it is," Hillary said. "It is a minority of

people, hold a viewpoint that terrorizes the majority of people.”You hear that? You’re in the minority. And your belief in the right to own firearms– for whatever reason– TERRORIZES others." ChicksOnTheRight

Carson In!!!

"Carson formally launched his campaign in his hometown of Detroit on Monday. 

"I'm Ben Carson, and I'm a candidate for president of the United States," Carson said, after being introduced with a series of musical acts. 
In his soft-spoken tone, Carson blasted big government -- and the Affordable Care Act -- while also acknowledging his history of controversial comments. He described his candor, however, as an asset. 
"I'm not politically correct," he said, to applause. "I'm probably never going to be politically correct, because I'm not a politician. I don't want to be a politician. ... Politicians do what is politically expedient. And I want to do what's right." FOX

This Weird Girl Fight

CNN's Carol Costello: Fiorina's Presidential Bid Is "Turning Into This Weird Girl Fight" With Clinton

Costello: "I Actually Wish Both Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina Would Stop Talking About Being A First Woman President" MediaMatters

Hillary's Dangerous Comments

"Hillary Clinton made one of the most important political

statements of all time –During a campaign speech, she attacked the very bedrock upon which the nation was founded. No longer will dissenting opinions be tolerated. Religious beliefs have to change. There’s a progressive agenda forming that goes much further than anything we’ve seen from the Obama administration. 

HILLARY: Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will. And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs, and structural biases have to be changed.

GLENN: This is amazing. What Hillary is saying here is, it’s no longer acceptable to believe something that the government doesn’t believe. For instance, Christians. I would assume this applies here. If the government says abortion is fine, you can no longer believe that it’s akin to murder. If that marriage is between a man and a woman, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. You don’t have the right — you have to change. Quote: You’ve got to change our religious beliefs." GlennBeck

Fiorina In!!!

"Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, became the second woman to enter the 2016 presidential race, joining a Republican field that could include more than a dozen contenders for the White House.
Speaking on ABC television, Ms Fiorina said she was running for president because she was “the best person for the job because I understand how the economy actually works”.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Ms Fiorina said her foreign policy priorities would include taking a tougher stance on Russia, China and Iran. On Russia, she said the US should rebuild the navy’s Sixth Fleet — which operates in waters around Europe — and should provide arms to Ukraine.

Ms Fiorina said China was an “increasing concern” due to its refusal to live up to World Trade Organization commitments on issues such as intellectual property, and its behavior in the South China Sea.

“They are . . . extremely assertive in their territory, particularly from a maritime point of view, as well as in the air. That is grave concern,” said Ms Fiorina. “We need to be working with our allies in that region to bolster them as a way of sending a clear message to China that their assertiveness will not go unchecked.”" FinancialTimes

Primary Voters Top Issues

"When asked in the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll which issue should be the top priority

for the federal government to address, Republican primary voters' leading response was national security and terrorism (27 percent said it was their first choice).


That's followed by the deficit and government spending (24 percent), job creation and economic growth (21 percent) and religious and moral values (12 percent).


By comparison, the top priority for Democrats in the poll was job creation and economic growth (37 percent) — followed by health care (17 percent), climate change (15 percent) and national security and terrorism (13 percent)." CNBC

Democrat Govenor swipes at Hillary & Sander's Populism

 Americans Need Jobs, Not Populism

Instead of raging against a "rigged" system, Democrats should work together with business to build an economy that distributes its benefits more broadly.

"In 2008, I was elected governor of Delaware. In politics, timing is everything. You can be a fantastic candidate and run in a bad year for your party and get clobbered. You can be an absolute dud and run in the right year and get the brass ring.

I could have railed against the CEOs of Chrysler, GM, and Valero for pocketing bloated salaries while handing out pink slips to desperate families. I could have said that the economic system is rigged, with the deck stacked against the middle class. Certainly there were many in my party who would eagerly and loudly make such a case. It would have made for great headlines; people may have cheered. But it would’ve been a dodge. Those salaries, generous as they may have been, had nothing to do with plants closing in my state.

The real problem doesn’t fit on a placard. It doesn’t lead people to protest or “occupy” an industry. It won’t get full-throated cheers or point the way to ready made solutions. Because the economic system isn’t so much fundamentally rigged as the populists contend, as it is fundamentally, unalterably, never-to-be-the-same-again changed. And long before the financial crisis hit, Americans shrugged off this changing world." Atlantic

ISIS hit in Texas....

Former terror suspect well known to the FBI is named as one of two gunmen shot dead by cops after attack on anti-Islam 'draw Muhammad' art contest near Dallas

• Two suspects were gunned down after shooting a guard in the leg outside the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland
• The FBI has named one of the gunmen as Elton Simpson, who was convicted of lying to federal agents about traveling to Africa five years ago - but a judge ruled it could not be proved that he was going to join a terror group
  
• Simpson's Phoenix, Arizona home has been surrounded and a bomb squad is carrying out a search
• Reports suggest the pair were carrying explosives as they approached the building in the Dallas suburb 
• The American Freedom Defense Initiative event had offered a $10,000 prize for the best caricature of the prophet; local residents had expressed their concerns about the event but organizers said they were exercising free speech
• The security guard who was shot, Bruce Joiner, was taken to hospital in stable condition and has been released  
• ISIS fighter claimed on Twitter that the shooting was carried out by two pro-ISIS individuals DailyMail

Clinton's Dishonest $$$Gain$$$

"There are numerous stories about the Clinton Crime Family Foundation raking in millions in taxpayer dollars, and further review indicates that it's not just 15% of money donated to the foundation that has been given to charity; it's only 10%.  Ninety percent of what was donated went to salaries, expenses, condoms, hotels, you name it." RUSH

Snyder Too???

"Snyder recently began his first national tour since allies created a nonprofit organization to broaden

his profile. Almost unknown outside Michigan, the former business executive made two private appearances at an April gathering of the Republican Jewish Coalition, attended the White House Correspondents' Association dinner and appeared in Southern California this past week.

"Could he be a presidential candidate?" asked former Michigan GOP chairman Bobby Schostak, who's leading the pro-Snyder nonprofit group. "That's something time will tell — although obviously not a lot of time." He said "there's room for a candidate like him, notwithstanding the size of the field."

The 56-year-old Snyder cast himself as "one tough nerd" in his rise to political prominence in Michigan.
Snyder also expanded Medicaid, largely avoids attacking rivals, and is in the midst of a fight to increase Michigan's sales tax to help upgrade the state's infrastructure." Yahoo

Supreme Court comments on Gay Marriage

A rainbow-colored flag flies in front of the Supreme Court on Monday, the day before the court heard arguments on the constitutionality of state bans on same-sex marriage.

2016 Battleground Map

Kasich on Police-Community Unity

"Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio) on Sunday called on law enforcement and the communities they serve

to seek common ground for America’s greater good.
“The whole goal is to integrate police into the community,” Kasich argued on “Fox News Sunday.”
“At the end of the day, everyone has the same goals,” he told host Chris Wallace, citing freedom from crime, drugs and violence.
Kasich added that closer ties between police and citizens creates a better nation overall. Well-established civil order, he claimed, allowed for higher economic growth.
“America’s strongest when we’re united rather than when we’re divided,” Kasich said." TheHill

Sanders: America should be more like Scandinavia?

"Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Sunday that if he becomes president in 2016, he will bring "a real political shake-up" that lifts the nation's poorest while stemming the proliferation of millionaires and billionaires.
In other words, he said he wants to make America look more like Scandinavia.
During an interview on ABC's "This Week," host George Stephanopoulos asked the 73-year-old Vermont senator if it's really possible for someone like him to be elected president. Sanders, who identifies as a democratic socialist, announced his White House run last week." HP

Sander's Fundraising

"The independent senator from Vermont, who announced Thursday that he is running as a Democrat, said Friday that he had raised $1.5 million online in less than a full day as a candidate. The support came from 35,000 donors who contributed an average of $43.

Mr. Sanders has said that small donations will be his only chance of defeating Hillary Rodham Clinton for the nomination, because he has no “billionaire and millionaire” friends and does not intend to depend on the backing of a “Super PAC.”" NYT

Santorum on Bruce Jenner

"Bruce Jenner got support from a surprising quarter on Saturday: Rick Santorum. 

“If he says he’s a woman, then he’s a woman,” Santorum, the former GOP senator from Pennsylvania, said about Jenner in South Carolina, according to BuzzFeed.

Jenner, the former Olympic gold medalist and reality television star, announced last week that he identified as and was transitioning to a woman.

Santorum, who is considering a second straight bid for the Republican nomination, has long had a reputation as a staunch social conservative.

“My responsibility as a human being is to love and accept everybody. Not to criticize people for who they are. I can criticize, and I do, for what people do, for their behavior. But as far as for who they are, you have to respect everybody,” Santorum said." TheHill

Rubio on gay marriage & Constitution

"In a one-on-one interview with The Brody File in Des Moines Iowa this weekend, GOP presidential

candidate Marco Rubio says there is NO constitutional right to gay marriage. “It doesn’t exist. There is no federal constitutional right to same sex marriage. There isn’t such a right. You have to have a ridiculous reading of the U.S. constitution to reach the conclusion that people have a right to marry someone of the same sex.”" CBN

Christie aide pleads GUILTY

"David Wildstein, right, arrives with his attorney Alan Zegas at federal court for a hearing Friday, May 1, 2015, in Newark, N.J. Wildstein, a former Port Authority appointee of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, is set to plead guilty on charges arising from a federal probe into traffic jams he ordered on the George Washington Bridge, allegedly on behalf of Christie." WashingtonTimes

Bush on LGBT & Supreme Court

"Likely Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush echoed fears on Thursday ministers would have

to perform same-sex weddings if the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality — despite assertions from LGBT advocates such a ruling would have no bearing on the clergy. The former Florida governor made the remarks during a National Review Institute summit in D.C. in an exchange with National Review editor Rich Lowry. The moderator asked Bush if press reports were accurate he wanted a fix to the Indiana religious freedom law signed by Gov. Mike Pence seen to enable anti-LGBT discrimination. “I didn’t say that,” Bush said. “I supported Pence. I think he needed to create clarity the law was not an attempt to discriminate against people, it was an effort to provide some space for people to act on their religious conscience.”" WashingtonBlade

Iran seizes cargo ship

"U.S. Navy ships will begin to accompany U.S. flagged commercial ships as they travel the Strait of Hormuz, a defense official confirmed to Fox News, on the heels of Iran seizing a cargo ship. 
The Obama administration is closely monitoring Iran's takeover of the ship, as it involved a Marshall Islands-flagged vessel. The Marshall Islands and the U.S. have a longstanding security agreement, and officials said Thursday the two nations are in contact. 
But, in a clear response to that incident, a defense official said the U.S. Navy will now accompany all U.S.-flagged ships going through the area. The move is the latest development in a high-stakes chess match in the region, with the Iran nuclear talks continuing to play out in the background." FOX