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Duck Dynasty Patriarch Hands GOP Pathway to Victory

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Photo Credit: WNDDuck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson kicked off the Republican Leadership Conference at the Hilton Riverside Hotel in New Orleans on Thursday with an entertaining speech in which he mixed his faith in Jesus Christ with an admonition to the GOP to return to the Bible and the fundamental principles of freedom upon which the nation was founded.

“You lose your religion, you lose your morality, you lose your freedom,” Robertson said. “You cannot be right for America if you are not right with God.”

In an event the GOP billed as an “unofficial kickoff” of the 2016 presidential campaign, Robertson drew repeated applause and more than one standing ovation by insisting, “If the country does not turn to God at a fairly rapid clip, we are going to lose the United States of America.”

Robertson jokingly suggested, “The GOP must be desperate to call a person like me.”

Looking at the outfit that is now linked with his Duck Dynasty television persona, Robertson insisted, “These clothes are the best I own.”

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Cruz: GOP Can Empower Grassroots by Ditching Consultants, ‘Soviet-Style Campaigns’ (+video)

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Photo Credit: AP / Rick Bowmer, FileSen. Ted Cruz said Saturday that the GOP can bolster its appeal by sticking to its conservative principles and embracing a bottom-up campaign model that empowers grassroots voters.

Speaking at the Republican Leadership Conference, Mr. Cruz said the party must ditch the Washington-centric campaign model and stop listening to the political consultants.

“A lot of Republicans tend to have top-down Soviet-style campaigns,” Mr. Cruz said. “It is very odd for a party that believes in free market that they run campaigns through command and control.”

“That is disempowering and it doesn’t inspire,” Mr. Cruz said. “What is far more effective is having a race built on empowering the grassroots.”

Since being elected in 2012, Mr. Cruz has occasionally butted headed with GOP leaders in Washington, and has become a darling of the tea party and grassroots activists around the country.

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Oldest Lawmaker Kicked Out

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Photo Credit: Getty Images Rep. Ralph Hall (R-Texas), the oldest member in House history, has lost his primary to a conservative challenger.

The Associated Press has called the race for former U.S. Attorney John Ratcliffe (R), who led Hall by 52 percent to 48 percent with 68 percent of precincts reporting.

Hall is the first incumbent to lose a reelection campaign this year. Originally elected as a Democrat in 1980, he’d switched to the GOP in 2004 and hadn’t faced a serious challenge since.

Hall, 91, was caught off guard by Ratcliffe, who jumped into the race right before the filing deadline and loaned himself more than $600,000 for the race. The longtime congressman took a while to kick his campaign into gear, raising and spending very little for the first round of voting in March, when Ratcliffe and other challengers held him to 45 percent of the vote.

Ratcliffe ran a disciplined campaign focused on generational change. He also sought to position himself to Hall’s right — and received a boost on that front as the runoff began, when he received endorsements from the conservative Club for Growth, Madison Project and Senate Conservatives Fund.

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House GOP Bites Back: Bill Would Roll Back Michelle O’s School Lunch Rules

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Photo Credit: REUTERSHouse Republicans are taking on school nutritional standards championed by first lady Michelle Obama, proposing to let schools opt out of healthier lunch and breakfast programs if they’re losing money.

A GOP spending bill for agriculture and food programs — which included the provision — was released Monday.

The House Appropriations Committee said in a release that the waiver language is in response to requests from schools.

The new standards, touted by the first lady, have been phased in over the last two school years, with more changes coming in 2014. The rules set fat, calorie, sugar and sodium limits on foods in the lunch line and beyond.

The first lady was holding a call to rally supporters of the healthier food rules Monday, as a House subcommittee is expected to consider the bill on Tuesday.

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GOP Congressman Pushes for Immigration Vote

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Photo Credit: David McNewDefying House Republican leaders, a GOP congressman on Monday moved toward forcing an election-year decision on his immigration legislation.

Rep. Jeff Denham of California filed his bill, known as the ENLIST Act, as an amendment to the sweeping defense policy measure that the House will consider this week. The measure would create a path to citizenship for immigrants who were brought illegally to the U.S. as children and serve in the military.

The bill “provides an avenue for those who want to perform the ultimate act of patriotism – serving their county – to earn legal status,” Denham said in a statement. “As a veteran, I can think of no better way to demonstrate your commitment to our nation.”

His move comes three days after House GOP leaders took steps to block a vote on the immigration legislation, dealing a significant blow to efforts to overhaul a system widely disparaged as dysfunctional.

The Rules Committee will decide on Tuesday what amendments the House will consider and vote on as part of its work on the National Defense Authorization Act.

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WATCH: Dianne Feinstein Calls GOP Push for More Benghazi Probes a ‘Lynch Mob’

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Photo Credit: Washington Examiner Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein has called the demand by Capitol Hill Republicans for more Benghazi investigations a “lynch mob,” saying the matter already has received sufficient congressional oversight.

“I think it’s ridiculous. I think it’s a hunting mission for a lynch mob,” said the California Democrat during an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union” that aired Sunday.

Feinstein said several congressional committees, including her own, already have investigated the 2012 attacks that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. And despite Republican accusations that the Obama administration has lied about its response to the attacks, she suggested those reports showed no maleficence by the White House.

When asked by show host Candy Crowley if those reports answered all pertinent questions regarding the attacks, Feinstein responded; “I believe they have.”

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Marco Rubio, GOP Leaders: We’ll ‘Absolutely’ Try Again on Amnesty if We Gain Control of Senate

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Photo Credit: AFPConservatives who believe that winning back control of the Senate will destroy any chance of amnesty legislation passing are sorely mistaken. In fact, a Republican-controlled Congress may make it easier to provide a path to citizenship for all of the country’s illegal immigrants if this Congress fails to do so.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who has his eye on the GOP presidential nomination and was the central figure who backed the Senate’s amnesty bill that passed last year, said that Republicans in the Senate would “absolutely” take up amnesty legislation again if they gain a net of six seats to take back the upper chamber. He indicated that piecemeal or bite-sized bills would be better than his Gang of Eight amnesty bill that he championed and which faced stiff resistance from House conservatives.

If Republicans retain the House, that would mean GOP leaders like Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who would become Majority Leader, and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) may promptly abandon the conservative base to strike a deal on amnesty legislation.

Rubio conceded that he did not “think a comprehensive bill can pass,” but emphasized that he did not “want us to waste another two years on an approach that has no chance of passing.”

“I certainly think we can make progress on immigration, particularly on topics like modernizing our legal immigration system [and] improving our mechanisms for enforcing the law, and I think if you did those things you could actually make some progress on addressing those who are illegally,” Rubio said on Wednesday, according to The Hill.

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Poll: Trust in Government Down 44 Percent Among GOP in Last Decade

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Photo Credit: REUTERSWhen it comes to Washington controversies, most American voters think Benghazi, the IRS and the government’s electronic surveillance program are serious matters. A Fox News poll also finds that less than four in 10 voters trust the federal government.

The new poll, released Thursday, finds 37 percent of voters answer “yes” when asked: “would you say you generally trust the federal government?” Six in 10 say they don’t trust the government, down a touch from a high of 62 percent (June 2013 and July 2011).

One thing that is sure to erode trust is a scandal, and 78 percent of voters consider the Obama administration’s handling of the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi a serious matter, including 52 percent who say “very serious.” Just over half (53 percent) see government surveillance of everyday Americans as “very serious” and 44 percent feel that way about the IRS targeting conservative groups.

Partisanship also shapes views on trustworthiness. In 2002, the first time this question was asked on a Fox News poll, 47 percent of Democrats said yes, they trust the government. That increased to 53 percent in February 2009, about a month after President Obama was inaugurated, and it stands at 55 percent in the new poll. The trend is reversed and more dramatic among Republicans: 63 percent trusted the government in 2002, while 32 percent felt that way in 2009 and just 19 percent trust Uncle Sam today.

For independents, trust was 53 percent in 2002, 35 percent in 2009 and 31 percent now.

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Senate GOP Anger at Reid Boiling Over

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Photo Credit: Susan Walsh / APSenate Republicans on Thursday, angered after Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) blocked amendment votes on a bill, threatened to torpedo legislation they support on extending tax breaks.

If Republicans follow through, it would be the second time this week that a bipartisan bill was stopped in its tracks because of a broader fight over Senate floor procedure.

Reid has refused to allow amendments on a bill that hit the chamber floor that would revive more than 50 tax breaks, commonly known as “extenders,” that lapsed at the end of 2013.

Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, who crafted the tax extenders plan with Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), offered to work with the GOP on amendments after the measure cleared another procedural hurdle on Thursday.

But Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wasn’t interested.

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Tea Party-Backed Candidate Sasse Wins GOP Senate Primary in Nebraska

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Tea Party favorite Ben Sasse won the Republican nomination for an open Senate seat in Nebraska Tuesday night, after a heated and costly primary battle that drew heavy national attention.

Sasse, a university president, was able to hold off former state treasurer Shane Osborn, and dark horse candidate Sid Dinsdale who had begun to surge in recent weeks. Sasse grabbed 48 percent of the vote with Dinsdale finishing second and Osborn finishing third, according to preliminary returns.

“We were never doing this because we need another job,” said Sasse. “We were only going to do this if we were going to talk about big bold conservative ideas.”

The win makes Sasse a huge favorite in November’s general election, where he’ll face Democrat Dave Domina, an Omaha attorney. The winner will replace Republican Mike Johanns, who didn’t seek a second term.

Sasse, the president of Midland University, had steadily gained the backing of some of the most influential conservative groups and figures. His victory is a huge win for the Tea Party as the movement has struggled to gain traction this year in the primaries.

Read more from this story HERE.