Campaign

For Texas Democrats, national Democrats and Senate Democrats, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is a dream come true, and the gift that keeps on giving. Now the talkative and ubiquitous Cruz has denounced the entire Republican leadership, presumably including Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), as being untrustworthy. Should Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the former boxer, land another blow to the political chin of Cruz, or send him thank-you notes for doing his part to make Republicans look so radical and weird that more Democrats will be elected to the Senate in 2014?

It's easy to get caught up in the firestorm — Benghazi, the IRS, the fishing expedition the Department of Justice carried out within The Associated Press. But political junkies shouldn't miss what is developing with the all-but-declared candidacy of Sen. Rand Paul and his tour of the early presidential nominating states.

On Monday he will be with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Prieubus in New Hampshire. He has already spoken at the Iowa Republican Party's Lincoln Dinner and is making stops in South Carolina as well. He isn't just traveling but transitioning from libertarian to "libertarian Republican" as he seeks enough establishment support to move beyond the reputation of his dad's Ron Paul brand to his own Rand Paul brand.

As Alexandra Jaffe reported in the Hill, a new PPP poll is out that shows Hillary Clinton dominating Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) by 10 points in a 2016 match-up.

Only New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), who I have praised and who earned his street cred by praising Obama and criticizing certain Republicans, comes within 3 points. Dare I suggest a little humility (wink) from certain Republicans who keep falsely predicting the demise of Obama and Clinton?

Wednesday morning’s National Review Online story about Ted Cruz and 2016 created a national stir, reporting one of the party's fastest rising stars is “considering” a presidential bid.

Sen. Cruz (R-Texas) quickly expressed his own surprise at the “wild speculation."

But before you blush at such unbridled ambition, recall that then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was mentioned as presidential candidate just as quickly in his first term as Cruz has been. Read more...

In my last column I warned Republicans that their intense antipathy toward President Obama is destroying the legacy of Lincoln and the GOP brand while hurting America.

Now here comes National Review, pumping a potential 2016 presidential candidacy of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and attacking the immigration bill, a combination destined to turn Florida and Texas quickly blue and bring an epic Hillary Clinton landslide in 2016. 

Bad news for Hillary. Elizabeth Warren too and Rand Paul and Rick Perry. 

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has just moved to the front of the line. And well he should. What an astonishing piece of work on behalf of the feds, state and local authorities.

Boston FBI special agent Richard DesLauriers brings a resolute commitment to task, but the governor brings a steady presence, a ballast, the feeling that we are here, we will not be turned away. We are coming for you and we will get you.

Serious times call for bold measures, Joe Miller said yesterday in a press release: "With the re-election of Barack Obama, our very way of self-government is in peril. The Constitution is under attack, the value of human life degraded, religious liberties are threatened, the Second Amendment is increasingly in jeopardy, and the right to protection from unlawful search and seizure is giving way to a virtual surveillance State."

Not long ago, Miller just barely missed the turn to the Senate when Lisa Murkowski asked for a recount, telling the judge that those who spelled her name wrong on the ballot should be included in the count. She won the recount, and the Miller/Murkowski contention perfectly reflected the division rising in the Republican Party between establishment conservatives and new Tea Party candidates. Miller was a Tea Party champion and had the support of Alaska’s former Gov. Sarah Palin.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) owes Ashley Judd a public apology for discussing with his campaign staff the idea of smearing Judd with lowbrow attacks on her faith and mental health. 

James Carville says he will support the pro-Hillary super-PAC. It starts so soon because something is wrong. And the something has been wrong since 1992. Or maybe since 1968. It may not be cleared up till 2020.

As Hillary enters, National Review reports today that Newt Gingrich won’t rule out a 2016 run as well. These two, Newt and Hillary, are symbionts, like yin and yang, moon and sun, the Brontë sisters, light and dark, and Timothy Leary and G. Gordon Liddy. The question still not settled after all these years and generations is, as Alice said, "Who will be Master?"

Not long ago Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was questioning the patriotism of Secretary of Defense and war hero Chuck Hagel.

Then last week, Dr. Ben Carson was apologizing for comments on Fox News seeming to compare being gay to bestiality and pedophilia, not long after he became the darling of the right for making insulting, partisan comments against President Obama at a National Prayer Breakfast.

And Friday, Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) was apologizing for referring to Hispanics as "wetbacks."

Almost daily, leading Texas Republicans are opposing Medicaid, opposing voting rights for Hispanics and all minorities, and opposing even civil unions for gays. National Republicans have an intolerance problem and an extremism problem.