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Paul Ryan is not Running in 2016

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By NBC News. Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, the Republican Party’s vice presidential nominee in 2012, told NBC News in an interview Monday that he will not seek the presidency in 2016.

“I have decided that I am not going to run for president in 2016,” Ryan said in a phone interview, noting that he is “at peace” with the decision he made “weeks ago” to forgo a bid for the White House.

“It is amazing the amount of encouragement I have gotten from people – from friends and supporters – but I feel like I am in a position to make a big difference where I am and I want to do that,” he said.

The nine-term congressman believes he can make that “big difference” in his new role as chairman of the influential House Ways and Means Committee rather than as a presidential contender. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Campaigns are now Courting Teenagers

By Darren Samuelsohn. Coming soon to a battleground state near you: White House campaigns combining census reports with Instagram and Twitter posts to target teenagers who aren’t yet 18 but will be by Election Day 2016.

It’s an aggressive strategy with an obvious reward. More than eight million people will become legal adults eligible to vote for the first time by the next general election. Campaigns are eager to find ways to get through to these 16- and 17-year-olds who are still minors and, in most cases, more likely to be concerned with making it to class on time than who should be elected president.

“It’s got to be the right candidate with the right message to excite and motivate that age demographic, with so many distractions in their life, to register, and then turn out,” said Vincent Harris, digital director for Rand Paul’s political operation. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Zuckerman Predicts Jeb Bush will be GOP 2016 Nominee (+video)

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By Ian Hanchett. US News and World Report Chairman and Editor-in-Chief and publisher of The New York Daily News, Mort Zuckerman predicted that Jeb Bush will win the 2016 GOP nomination on Friday’s “McLaughlin Group.”

(Read more on what Zuckerman predicts HERE)
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The Last Tempation of Mitt

By McKay Coppins. It wasn’t long after Mitt Romney tottered off the national stage in November, 2012, bringing an end — it seemed — to the long, tragic story of his political career, when Spencer Zwick started getting phone calls from conservative millionaires who were clamoring for one last sequel.

Zwick, the square-jawed finance wunderkind who masterminded the candidate’s phenomenally successful fundraising operation in 2012, had returned after the election to the private equity firm he co-founded with Romney’s son, Tagg — but Mitt’s network of GOP money men wouldn’t stop hounding him. Inside Solamere Capital’s pristine, white-walled offices on Boston’s trendy Newbury Street, Zwick often found himself on the phone with major Republican fundraisers, bundlers, and donors putting the same questions to him.

“I got calls from people every day asking, ‘Do you think he’ll do it? How can we convince him to do it?’” Zwick said in an interview with BuzzFeed News.

With Friday’s news that Romney told a group of donors he was now actively considering a third presidential bid in 2016, it appears the boosters have gotten through. “Everybody in here can go tell your friends that I’m considering a run,” the former candidate told the gathering in midtown Manhattan, according to Politico. But insiders who spoke to BuzzFeed News about Romney’s evolution on the 2016 question said he only began to entertain the possibility recently, and that he still needs to weigh a number of factors — including Jeb Bush’s electability — before he decides to take the plunge. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Jeb Bush: Shut-Up and Accept Homosexual Marriage (and Pretend the Courts Follow the Constitution)

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By Philip Rucker. Has Jeb Bush offered the Republican Party a new way to talk about same-sex marriage? . .

In 1994, Jeb Bush argued that gay men and lesbians did not deserve special legal protection and said that “sodomy” should not be “elevated to the same constitutional status as race and religion.” But this week, Bush said people should accept court rulings that legalize same-sex marriage and “show respect” for gays in committed relationships, while reiterating his long-held belief that “marriage is a sacrament.”

Bush is trying to shift the Republican Party’s rhetoric on an issue on which the public has been evolving much faster than the GOP. A party that not long ago championed its opposition to same-sex marriage now finds itself on the defensive — even within its own ranks, where social conservatives are at odds with business leaders and young people who openly support gay rights.

In recent presidential cycles, Republican candidates have proudly carried the conservative evangelical banner on same-sex marriage, asserting as Mitt Romney did in 2012 that marriage should be between a man and a woman. But the 2016 GOP field divides into two camps, according to gay rights activists. Most potential candidates have said they oppose same-sex marriage, but some — including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.), Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence — have suggested that it is not a motivating concern and that they would focus on other issues. (Read more about Jeb Bush urging the GOP to accept homosexual marriage HERE)

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Children Raised by Homosexuals Recount “Unpleasant Upbringings,” Oppose Same-Sex Marriage

By Cheryl Wetzstein. [F]our adult children of gay parents — acting as a “quartet of truth” — have submitted briefs to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals opposing same-sex marriages, with several saying that growing up under the rainbow was neither normal nor pleasant. The court, which is considering whether to uphold the man-woman marriage laws in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, will hear arguments in New Orleans on Friday.

There are “two rights” that every child shares when they arrive in this world, Katy Faust wrote in her brief. “First, the right to live. Second, the right to have a relationship with his/her father and mother.”

Dawn Stefanowicz said her gay father was so preoccupied with sex that when she was in high school and brought home a male classmate, both her father and his lover propositioned him for sex.

B.N. Klein said her mother and lesbian partner disdained heterosexual families completely, and she didn’t have a clue about the daily interactions of a husband and wife until she went into foster care.

Robert Oscar Lopez said his two lesbian mothers were conscientious about his upbringing, but he became so emotionally confused that he turned to gay prostitution as a teen and gay and bisexual relationships as an adult. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Hillary Clinton is Enlisting People for 2016 Run

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Photo Credit: Frederic J. Brown, AFP/Getty ImagesHillary Clinton is beginning to put together the pieces for a likely campaign, tapping two top strategists — including President Barack Obama’s pollster — to work with her in the lead-up toward an ultimate decision.

Robby Mook, who worked on Clinton’s 2008 campaign and is widely expected to be Clinton’s campaign manager, and Joel Benenson, Obama’s pollster who had for months been eyed for a role on her team, have been working with her as she makes a final decision and begins to put together a framework for a staff, according to people close to the former Secretary of State.

But, if he is hired, Benenson’s presence in the campaign would mark a major departure for Clinton, who stayed in her comfort zone in her previous campaigns using Mark Penn, the pollster and message guru who had worked for her husband. After she shook up her campaign in the second half of the 2008 primaries, Clinton made Geoff Garin her main pollster.

Obama’s campaign used Benenson as part of a team of pollsters, an approach Clinton is said to be considering for her next effort. And he would come to her off two successful presidential races.

Mook, who won Obama aides’ respect for the job her did out-organizing them in a string of states in the 2008 primaries, has been holding meetings with people, according to multiple sources, to begin planning for a likely campaign. (Read more on Hillary Clinton enlisting people HERE)

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The Establishment is Now Attempting to Make Jeb Bush Seem Inevitable

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Photo Credit: APThis time it’s the media’s attempt to get Jeb Bush the Republican nomination for President in 2016. Articles that fawn over Jeb, either from a formidability standpoint or in the vein that he’s a “reasonable” conservative are everywhere. There has also been a release of meaningless polls touting Jeb’s strength atop the potential Republican field. These have all surfaced from many of the same quarters that tried to sell the country similar notions about John McCain in 2007-08, Mitt Romney in 2011-12, and to some extent even Jon Huntsman.

Naturally, the GOP establishment was all in for McCain in ’08 and Mitt in 2012 as the two “most electable” Republicans, because they would appeal to the independents. They were not and did not. The establishment was wrong again. They always are.

From the Jurassic media standpoint, this is a fairly transparent attempt to soften the battlefield of ideas with shallow psy-ops by warning Republicans and conservatives what they must do to keep their party from becoming extinct. Consider some history: this is the same media that told us Romney was actually “too Republican and too conservative” in 2007-08. Some tried to assure us the Democrats really feared Huntsman more than anyone else in 2011-12. Later, we were told Romney was inevitable and that Newt Gingrich only appealed to “fans of cock fights,” racists, and “Tea Party extremists.” We were told soccer moms in Ohio didn’t want us to criticize Obama because he was so personally popular.

The establishment agreed with all of it. They savaged Newt, Sarah Palin’s pick, as the devil for six months—and then turned around and assured us “Obama is a nice guy who is just over his head.” Setting your opinion of Newt aside for a second, how well did this strategy work out? The establishment is so out of touch they failed to realize that Obama was “personally popular” because they were too frightened of the charge of racism to criticize him.

We’ve also been warned not to oppose amnesty, not to repeal ObamaCare, not to read anything into the 2010 election results, that the 2014 election means only that Republicans had better work with Obama to get things done, and that we better not support Ted Cruz and any more government shutdowns. Taking a look further back, this is the same media that warned Republicans not to nominate Reagan in 1980 and not to push the Contract with America in 1994. All of this based on the idea that Republicans must moderate to survive. (Read more about the attempt to make Bush seem inevitable HERE)

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Jeb Bush (Thankfully) has Only a 25 Percent Chance of Winning the Nomination

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Photo Credit: APBy Matt Vespa. As Jeb Bush makes moves that could signal a 2016 presidential run, he has the conservative wing of the Republican Party either rolling their eyes or seething in anger. Besides policy, I can see why some voters think that it’s getting a bit old that only a Bush or a Clinton are seen as the only options to win the presidency. Moreover, both of their respective political parties have moved either more conservative or progressive since the last time a member of their families occupied the White House. Right now, Bush has a 25 percent chance of winning the GOP nomination.

Nate Silver asked if Bush was too liberal to win. In short, he found that Jeb’s more conservative than Jon Huntsman, but not as conservative as his brother, former President George W. Bush; he’s more like Bush 41. (Read more about Jeb Bush’s chances of winning the nomination HERE)

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A Tricky Problem for Jeb Bush

By Philip Klein. In 2007, during a Democratic presidential debate in Iowa, candidate Barack Obama was asked how he would be able to deliver change when so many of his former advisers came from the Clinton administration. The moment became famous because the question prompted a loud and sustained cackle from his rival for the nomination, Hillary Clinton, who teased, “I wanna hear that.”

In the end, Obama got the best of the exchange, by quickly shooting back, “Hillary, I’m looking forward to you advising me as well.” The clip, which went viral at the time, enjoyed new life when Clinton was named as Obama’s secretary of state.

I was reminded of the moment when reflecting on how former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush could confront a tricky problem should he run for president (which is looking increasingly likely).

The issue that Obama faced when he was running for president was that if he wanted experienced advisers, especially on foreign policy, it was only natural that he’d have to dip into the talent pool of seasoned veterans who served in a prior Democratic administration — and Bill Clinton was the only Democratic president since Jimmy Carter left office in 1981.

Similarly, on the Republican side heading into the next presidential election, candidates will look to former staffers in the George W. Bush administration to fill out their teams. But this creates an especially thorny issue for Jeb. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Ben Carson says He’ll have a ‘Big Surprise’ for 2016

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Photo Credit: Getty ImagesBen Carson plans to announce his presidential intentions this spring.

“I will announce before March, before May 1,” Carson said in an interview on NewsMaxTV’s America’s Forum on Friday. “I would just say that I am listening extremely carefully. I don’t want to do something that the American people do not want me to do.”

Cason, a retired neurosurgeon and Tea Party darling who has never held political office, said he is studying the issues plaguing the country — much like he does with medicine.

“You have to know a lot of stuff,” he said. “I’m rapidly acquiring that knowledge, listening to people and really finding a tremendous amount of frustration with the status quo, politics as usual, be it Republican or Democrat. Our system was designed for the people. It wasn’t designed for professional politicians. I’m thinking very seriously, listening to people and we’ll make a decision in a few months.” (Read more about what Ben Carson says HERE)

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GOP Won't be Happy About These Presidential Straw Poll Results

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Photo Credit: TPNN

Photo Credit: TPNN

By Matthew Burke. While the leftstream media, the GOP establishment, and the RINO political consultant class are busy pushing the narrative that squishy moderates like Bob Dole, John McCain, Mitt Romney, and now Jeb Bush are the most “electable,” a new 2016 presidential straw poll shows that the grassroots, as they did in the Reagan years, have a completely different preference.

Out of 16 potential Republican 2016 presidential candidates, Texas Senator Ted Cruz easily took first place, with over 26% of the vote, while Kentucky Senator Rand Paul came in second place, with 22%.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker also fared well in the straw poll, coming in third place while garnering just under 16% of the votes.

Considerably back in the field were Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, Ben Carson, Rick Perry, and Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican loser, all in the 5-6% range.

Pro-Common Core and Pro-Amnesty Jeb Bush received less than three percent, while Marco Rubio, perhaps still hurt by his earlier soft immigration position, received less than two percent.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie received little more than a rounding error, obtaining less than one percent of votes. (Read more from this story HERE)

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McCain’s big purge

By Alex Isenstadt. Nearly a year ago, tea party agitators in Arizona managed to get John McCain censured by his own state party. Now, he’s getting his revenge.

As the longtime Republican senator lays the groundwork for a likely 2016 reelection bid, his political team is engaging in an aggressive and systematic campaign to reshape the state GOP apparatus by ridding it of conservative firebrands and replacing them with steadfast allies.

The ambitious effort — detailed to POLITICO by nearly a dozen McCain operatives, donors, and friends — has stretched from office buildings in Alexandria, Virginia, where strategists plotted and fundraisers collected cash for a super PAC, to Vietnamese-American communities across Arizona, where recruiters sought out supporters eager to help the incumbent defeat the tea party.

Team McCain’s goal? Unseat conservative activists who hold obscure, but influential, local party offices. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Cruz's 2016 Strategy for Victory

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Credit - Getty Images

Credit – Getty Images

To hell with the independents. That’s not usually the animating principle of a presidential campaign, but for Ted Cruz’s, it just might be.

His strategists aren’t planning to make a big play for so-called independent voters in the general election if Cruz wins the Republican nomination. According to several of the senator’s top advisers, Cruz sees a path to victory that relies instead on increasing conservative turnout; attracting votes from groups — including Jews, Hispanics, and Millennials — that have tended to favor Democrats; and, in the words of one Cruz strategist, “not getting killed with independents.”

Twenty-three months from the presidential election, it seems all but a given that the freshman senator, who has been in Congress just two years, will mount a bid for the White House. “He’s looking at the race very seriously,” says a senior adviser, who confirms that Cruz’s campaign headquarters would be based in Houston. Cruz strategists see a way to win both the nomination and the general election. They are assiduously cultivating the party’s top-dollar donors, almost all of whom remain uncommitted. Internally, the senator has shaken up his staff to address problems and to set the stage for a presidential bid. All that’s left, it seems, is an official announcement.

It’s almost conventional wisdom now that presidential candidates woo the party faithful in primary contests and tack to the middle in the general election to attract more-moderate voters. Not Cruz. As one of his advisers puts it, “winning independents has meant not winning.” The adviser says the moderate fiscal- and social-policy positions that candidates need to adopt to win independent voters have dampened base turnout.

He points to the examples of George W. Bush and Mitt Romney. Bush won independents in 2000 but lost the popular vote, while both John Kerry in 2004 and Mitt Romney in 2012 won them and, of course, still lost. Beyond that, the strategist explains, conservative turnout peaked in 2004, declined in 2008, and declined again in 2012. Recapturing those votes, he says, is the key to a potential Cruz victory. The senator’s advisers believe they can increase turnout to between 2004 and 2008 levels, at least, by energizing the grassroots and recapturing Reagan Democrats.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama: American People Want 'New Car Smell'

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Photo Credit: TownHall

Photo Credit: TownHall

President Barack Obama says voters want a “new car smell” in the 2016 White House race and that Hillary Rodham Clinton would be “a great president.”

But would Clinton pass that particular smell test?

In a nationally televised interview broadcast Sunday, Obama seemed to suggest that any Democrat other than him would provide the turn of the page that he says voters are interested in. He acknowledged the “dings” to his own political standing during nearly six years of sometimes bruising battles with Congress and said Americans will want something new.

“They want to drive something off the lot that doesn’t have as much mileage as me,” Obama said in the interview with ABC’s “This Week,” which was taped Friday in Las Vegas following a public appearance there by the president.

He said a number of possible Democratic candidates would make “terrific presidents,” but Hillary Clinton is the only one he mentioned by name. He said she would be a “formidable candidate” and make “a great president” if she decides to run a second time.

Read more from this story HERE.