Elections GOP Road to 2016 Primary Thread

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Rand Paul and the GOP's New Civil Rights Movement
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is waking up to something fairly rare: Friendly fire against his outreach to black voters on criminal justice reform. In a walk-up to Paul's expected Tuesday announcement of a presidential bid, the Washington Post quotes Center for Neighborhood Enterprise President Bob Woodson, a frequent freelance tutor in poverty issues to Republicans.

"I find him superficial," says Woodson. "His talk about the militarization of police felt like pandering."

Like virtually everyone else in national politics, Paul has stopped talking about police militarization. (Police unions popped that particular trial balloon.) But as he readies for a five-state tour of his home state and early primary states, Paul is in the rare position of forcing criminal justice reform into a Republican presidential race. Since at least 2013, his office has collaborated with black leaders in Kentucky on voter restoration and economic development. His pre-campaign operation dodged all questions last week about the Iran deal and the red-state religious freedom laws, but his tour is going to take him to the University of Iowa, the sort of place where he typically leans in on criminal justice reform.

I think Rand really will do well on this topic for the debates. He can push less harsh drug punishments all he wants because Jeb admitted to smoking weed in college. If Jeb tries to counter with the typical hard of drugs line to help our children, Rand will seriously tear him apart.

I also think this part of his message easily is what sets him apart from the other contenders. He has established a platform that is seeking out younger voters rather than the dying demographic the GOP/Fox News clings to. Rand likely won't succeed but he is likely going to establish a blue print for future GOP campaigns to follow if they want to appeal in the GE more.
 
Where the 2016 Republican Candidates Stand on NSA Spying
In one corner, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and Chris Christie make up the GOP's wing of traditional defense hawks, vociferously defending mass phone and Internet spying as necessary to keep Americans safe from terrorist attacks. In the other, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz lead a tea party-infused faction clamoring to keep Big Brother's prying eyes and ears far away from private conversations.

Pretty much looks like this

Anti-NSA:
Ted Cruz
Rand Paul
Possibly Mike Huckabee

Pro-NSA:
Jeb Bush
Chris Christie
Marco Rubio
Rick Santorum
Lindsey Graham
Possibly Bobby Jindal

Fence/Unclear:
Ben Carson
Scott Walker
John Kasich
Carly Fiorina
Rick Perry

The interesting thing is this could be a distinct difference between Huckabee and Santorum who, imo, are the same candidates looking for the same evangelical voters.
 
Rand Paul seems to stray from libertarian roots as he courts GOP base
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When the presidential buzz began building around Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) a couple of years ago, the expectation was that his libertarian ideas could make him the most unusual and intriguing voice among the major contenders in the 2016 field.

But now, as he prepares to make his formal announcement Tuesday, Paul is a candidate who has turned fuzzy, having trimmed his positions and rhetoric so much that it
 
Ted Cruz aims to be Iowa's favorite Christian candidatel
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As aides politely tried to rush Ted Cruz from an event in Cedar Falls to one in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Thursday, the presidential candidate continued shaking hands with anyone who wanted to meet him.

Finally, after the selfies and conversations started to die down, his aides managed to move him closer to the door when a tall, burly man stopped him.

"Senator," he said, "can I pray with you real quick?"

"Yeah," Cruz said, as he clasped the man's upper arm and the two bowed their heads.

It was one of the many moments when Cruz connected with voters on a religious level last week, as the senator from Texas hit the trail in Iowa for the first time as a presidential candidate.
 
I believe that "hispanic" Jeb just lost GOP nomination in 2016 and forever.
 
I believe that "hispanic" Jeb just lost GOP nomination in 2016 and forever.

Really? I think it's a big ol' nothingburger. He'll just claim it was a simple mistake of checking the wrong box. Now if he did it more than once, or always self-identified as personally Hispanic (rather than as a family ie his Mexican American wife and bi-racial kids) than it might be more of an issue - but if it's a one off thing it's totally a non-issue.
 
Really? I think it's a big ol' nothingburger. He'll just claim it was a simple mistake of checking the wrong box. Now if he did it more than once, or always self-identified as personally Hispanic (rather than as a family ie his Mexican American wife and bi-racial kids) than it might be more of an issue - but if it's a one off thing it's totally a non-issue.

Isn't Hispanic technically just something you chose to identify as? I understand it's ridiculous for him to claim he is but I think by definition, you can say you are Hispanic.

Looked it up. Means you originate from a Spanish speaking country. He spreaks Spanish but didn't originate from one.
 
Just wanted to say hats off to T/S.
As an outsider looking in, the Republican race is extremely interesting to follow. I'm not sure who the Democrats would hope their ultimate opponents ends up being, but it's got me glued.
 
Hispanic Jeb is hilarious.

But I also see it as an honest mistake. I mean, what does having it marked on his card accomplish for him? Your can't pander from a voter registration card.
 
Just wanted to say hats off to T/S.
As an outsider looking in, the Republican race is extremely interesting to follow. I'm not sure who the Democrats would hope their ultimate opponents ends up being, but it's got me glued.

Thanks

Definitely will be fun to watch. I'm hoping there is a challenger to Hillary so we can have more to watch but the GOP field alone is going to be great. 2012 was fun to follow and it wasn't even that competitive or interesting with the talent involved.

Hispanic Jeb is hilarious.

But I also see it as an honest mistake. I mean, what does having it marked on his card accomplish for him? Your can't pander from a voter registration card.

I've filled out a form too and almost made the mistake before because "White Hispanic" was the first option that started with White. The form they are showing he did it on isn't that case however. It really is bizarre if you try to think why he would do it intentionally.
 
Florida Dems: Bush's ‘Hispanic’ ID a Felony, But They Won't File a Complaint

Don't you just love the Dems? So let me get this straight.... it's a felony if a person chooses to identify as Hispanic, but perfectly acceptable if a man wants to idenfity as a women, and vis versa?

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Don't you just love the Dems? So let me get this straight.... it's a felony if a person chooses to identify as Hispanic, but perfectly acceptable if a man wants to idenfity as a women, and vis versa?

1592_600.jpg

Wrong. It takes a group of university professors claiming race is a choice and lecturing this to students again and again over a series of years that makes things acceptable or not. That's the only thing you have to do these days to change something basic as gender.
 
Saw this on Drudge.

"Rand Paul Announcement Tease (Video)"

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The improbable rise of Rand Paul

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BY SAM YOUNGMAN
April 4, 2015

The first time he heard Rand Paul speak, U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie said he knew.

In the fall of 2009, well before Massie considered running for Congress, he attended a Tea Party rally where a conservative blogger named David Adams was speaking on behalf of somebody Massie had never heard of. He went home excited and pulled up every speech Paul had ever given that could be found on YouTube, "which was possible to do at the time because there were only about six."

That was enough to put Massie on the "Rand wagon," but he didn't hear the Bowling Green ophthalmologist speak in person until later that winter, when Paul attended a Northern Kentucky town hall.

"The thing that struck me when I saw him in person, I walked away a believer at that point, was how confident and comfortable he was in his own positions," Massie recalled. "He wasn't struggling to appeal to the people in the room. He just told them what he believed and that was really refreshing.

"My first impression was this is a guy who could and should be president."


When Aaron Whitten met the younger Paul, he had no idea who Paul's father was, let alone that he was running for president.

Whitten, now the chairman of the Grayson County GOP, said he had little interest in politics when he met Paul, whom he knew only because of the would-be senator's extensive work as a member of the Lion's Club.

At a Lion's Club meeting in Bowling Green in 2006, Whitten sought out Paul, and he said he almost choked on a piece of rubbery chicken when Paul told him that he had been helping his dad with a White House run.

Paul suggested Whitten check out one of Ron Paul's books and gave him his phone number in case he had any questions or wanted to discuss what he had read.

Whitten recalls picking up that book, "A Foreign Policy of Freedom."

"I got started reading this book, and I couldn't put it down," he said. "So basically, he started my political awakening."
 
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