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Pollster: Ken Buck Leads ‘Thin’ GOP Field to Unseat Mark Udall

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller

Photo Credit: Daily Caller

Republican Ken Buck holds the early lead over what a Denver pollster called a “strange” field of GOP contenders hoping to unseat Colorado Democratic Sen. Mark Udall.

But in order to stay there the pollster said,, he must avoid a repeat of his “mistake-prone 2010 race” against Sen. Michael Bennet.

Floyd Ciruli, a respected Colorado pollster with Ciruli Associates, wrote in a recent blog that Buck is the “least controversial and most competent” of those vying for the GOP nomination.

“Unless someone else gets into the race, neither State Senators Owen Hill nor Randy Baumgardner have the resources or network, at least at this stage, to be competitive,” he wrote.

During his last run for Senate, Buck went from being an underfunded dark horse who won the primary against an opponent with much stronger name recognition and a bigger war chest.

Read more from this story HERE.

GOP Votes to Bar CNN, NBC from Hosting Primary Debates

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priebus1BOSTON — The Republican National Committee voted Friday to bar NBC and CNN from sponsoring GOP primary debates in the 2016 election, ramping up pressure to stop the networks from running programs focused on Hillary Rodham Clinton.

RNC chairman Reince Priebus, who is trying to consolidate control over the primary process, said the networks’ programs were likely aid Mrs. Clinton, who is seen as the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, and he said that’s unfair to the GOP.

“It is the right thing to do for our voters,” Mr. Priebus said. “They are not going to get a real debate of substance if its run by a network who wants to help out Hillary Clinton. We are done with this nonsense, there are plenty of other good networks. CNN and NBC anchors will just have to watch on their competitors networks. The media overplayed their hand this time.”

The vote came on the third and final day of the RNC’s “Making it Happen” summer meeting, where the committee continued to pick up the pieces from the 2012 election and prepare for the 2014 and 2016 elections.

Mr. Priebus capped the event by pushing back against the notion that intra-party battles are tearing apart the GOP.

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Heritage Action CEO Calls Out House GOP

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house_leadershipHeritage Action for America CEO Michael Needham on Thursday cast House Republicans as gutless for backing down on Obamacare and the farm bill.

“Washington loves to play this game of saying something can’t be done,” he said. “Politicians like to set expectations as low as possible so they can’t help but trip over them.”

During a C-SPAN “Newsmakers” interview with CQ Roll Call’s Niels Lesniewski and The Hill’s Bob Cusack, which will air Sunday, Needham said Republicans don’t know what is possible because there are still seven weeks until Sept. 30, when the government will need new spending legislation to avoid a shutdown.

Lawmakers have been asking what Heritage Action’s strategy would be if the government shut down, and they say Heritage doesn’t have an answer.

But Needham shrugged off that concern.

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Idaho Ground Zero for GOP Proxy Fight

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Photo Credit: APThe tensions dividing Republicans in Congress are now spilling onto the campaign trail.

Ground zero for the proxy fight is Idaho, where the insurgent and establishment factions of the GOP are warring over a congressional seat in the eastern part of the state.

On one side of the divide is GOP Rep. Mike Simpson, a longtime figure of the Washington order who is a powerful Appropriations Committee cardinal and one of House Speaker John Boehner’s best friends. On the other side is Bryan Smith, an attorney who was recruited to run against Simpson by the Club for Growth, an anti-tax group that has sought to push the GOP’s congressional wing further to the right.

Smith is branding the eight-term Simpson as a dusty creature of Washington who has turned wobbly on the spending issues that are near and dear to the conservative cause. Simpson, meanwhile, is stressing that he is, in fact, a conservative while making the case that his experience and seniority are, in fact, plusses.

“Idaho’s 2nd Congressional District is turning into a proxy war for the middle-right of the Republican Party and the right-right of the Republican Party,” said Phil Hardy, an Idaho Republican operative and a political analyst in the state. “It’s already happening.”

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We Should Not Have to Hold Our Noses

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Cory Gardner was a tea party hero. In the last 48 hours, he’s become a weasel. Gardner bailed on a Tea Party Express event to support Congressman Meadows and Senator Lee’s attempts to defund Obamacare. Cory Gardner caved to pressure from the GOP leadership.

We sent him to Congress as a fighter and instead he’s become a lover of the establishment. It’s a fact and I suspect you’ll now see him try to weasel his words over the next forty-eight hours to claim he’s for full repeal and defunding doesn’t do enough, so he won’t support it — or something like that. It’s what John Cornyn has been saying.

When they can get a pass, these guys will vote for symbolic votes against Obamacare. But when the heat is on, they won’t vote to defund it. How many times have they cast symbolic votes? And now that they have a substantive vote and fight on the issue they fold like cheap suits.

In Kentucky, Mitch McConnell’s campaign manager was caught on tape saying he would have to hold his nose for two years to run McConnell’s campaign. Jesse Benton’s loyalty is with Rand Paul. Rand Paul wants to run for President. So Rand Paul is coddling the establishment and Jesse Benton is working for Mitch McConnell with his nose closed.

Conservatives should not have to hold their noses to vote in primaries.

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Gohmert: President Lied About GOP on Obamacare

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Photo Credit: Gage SkidmoreRep. Louie Gohmert charged on Sunday that President Barack Obama lied when he said during his White House press conference Friday that Republicans want to stop Americans from getting health care.

“That’s a false narrative. He said that we’re trying to keep people from getting health care. That’s just not true. That is an absolute, blatant lie,” the Texas Republican said. “We’re not trying to keep anybody from getting health care. And whether or not they have insurance under an exchange or not does not prevent people from getting health care.”

Gohmert was appearing on a political roundtable panel on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday with a fellow Texas congressman, Democrat Joaquín Castro, who defended Obama’s remarks and criticized Republicans for “extreme ideology.”

“The fact is you have millions and millions of Americans that can’t afford health insurance. Obamacare is helping people get health insurance. Republicans have offered no other solutions or plans,” Castro said, adding over Gohmert’s objection: “At this point, Louie, it’s just, you know, ideology. It’s just extreme ideology.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: GOP Rep. to College Student on Vote Against Atheist Chaplains in the Military – ‘I Thought it Was a Dumb Idea’

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Photo Credit: YouTubeYou’d think the question of adding “atheist chaplains” to the military was put to rest by the House of Representatives, which voted against the controversial proposal several few weeks ago, but the secular humanist lobby is continuing to battle.

This time an atheist college student, Daniel Moran, took to the microphone at a town hall meeting Thursday and asked U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) why he twice voted against the measure.

Instead of shrinking from the student’s pointed question, Burgess had this to say: “Yeah, I thought that was a dumb idea. I’ll do it again.”

The audience erupted in applause and hoots and hollers upon hearing Burgess’ response. One man in the crowd shouted, “There are no atheists in foxholes!”

Read more from this story HERE.

Media Fail: 63% Want Congress to Keep Going After ObamaCare

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One of the new talking points we are seeing throughout the mainstream media is a mocking “Here we go again” attack-narrative against the Republican Congress as they maneuver to defund ObamaCare, or work to kill various parts of ObamaCare. But a new poll shows that almost two-thirds of the American people want Congress to keep at it.

Fox News notes that when asked if the “health care law needs to be changed and Congress should keep at it, 63% said yes. That is up from 58% a year ago.”

Only 31% oppose.

Watching the news coverage these days, you get the sense that America is tired of Congress going after ObamaCare. But just the opposite is true.

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: GOP Town Hall Explodes With Anger – ‘We’re Losing The Country’ So Quit Being ‘Nice Guys’!

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Photo Credit: MediaiteIf one Maryland town hall is any indication, Republican voters are not happy with how little Republican politicians are doing to reign in the government. Greta Van Susteren took viewers to a town hall where Congressman Andy Harris was confronted by constituents angry about NSA surveillance, the Obama administration, and Republicans not doing enough for them. One man scolded Harris, “We’re dying out here because you guys are being nice guys!”

One man complained about NSA spying, saying Congress needs to “come clean” with the public about the government’s secret interpretation of the law. Harris assured him that he’s personally outraged by NSA surveillance, adding that they have “not seen the end of” investigations into Benghazi and the IRS scandals.

Read more from this story HERE.

GOP House Leadership to Support Amnesty?

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On Fox News Sunday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) did not deny the House Republican leadership will support an “overall path to legalization” for all of the country’s illegal immigrants. Though not offering specifics, Cantor told host Chris Wallace that the House would be addressing the immigration issue and “would take a position” on the question after the August recess.

When repeatedly asked whether the House will vote on a bill to put at least 11 million illegal immigrants on a “path to legalization,” Cantor said the House Republican leadership has not made “any announcements about the schedule” and emphasized the House was “not going to be bringing the Senate bill up.” He also said the House Republican leadership was “going to take a position” “because we know the system is broken” and “we want to fix it.”

Cantor acknowledged that Committees in the House have already passed piecemeal immigration bills that deal with things like border security and guest workers and said, “we will have a vote on a series of bills at some point, and it will deal with a variety of issues.”

Read more from this story HERE.