Here’s a new rule to apply to aspiring presidential candidates: If you have to say you’re considering a run this early, you’re likely not in the top-tier candidate pool. For the third tier candidate, being coy is a vice — not a virtue. Take John Bolton, the former U.N. ambassador known for his trademark bushy […]

Contributor Ellie Cohen dove into Joe Biden’s polling problem last week, highlighting how his nomination would increase the odds of Republicans taking back the White House in 2016. There’s new evidence out of Virginia — part of the Holy Trinity of battleground states — that lends more credence to the case. In hypothetical match-ups against Chris Christie […]

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, the third most powerful House Democrat, declined to endorse or even encourage a Hillary Clinton presidential campaign in 2016 and said that Jeb Bush or Chris Christie would be potential nominees who could win back the White House for Republicans. Clyburn made the comments Wednesday afternoon in […]

Howard Dean, the 2004 insurgent presidential candidate who previously said Hillary Clinton would not get a free pass for the Democratic nomination in 2016, has adjusted his view. Appearing in Iowa Wednesday to speak before a labor conference, Dean told The Des Moines Register he’s supporting Clinton in the next White House contest. “At this point, I’m supporting […]

It took only hours after my story posted last November for the emails to stack up: Ted Cruz can’t run for president, he’s Canadian, they screamed. Just weeks after his unlikely election in Texas, the senator-elect was already dropping hints he had greater ambitions by diagnosing his party’s ills and prescribing solutions for the future in a […]

Imagine for a second Hillary Clinton is not the 2016 Democratic nominee. Would a generic, run-of-the-mill Democrat still enter election night with a floor of 246 electoral votes — just 24 shy of the 270 necessary for victory? That’s the scenario conservative Myra Adams raises in her column for The Daily Beast – the fundamentals of an electoral map […]

A conservative-leaning poll showing Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu trailing in her own reelection bid also shows Hillary Clinton defeating Gov. Bobby Jindal in the Bayou State if they were to meet in a 2016 presidential match-up. Harper Polling was in the field last week: Q: In an election for President in 2016, who would you most […]

When Chris Christie boasted in Boston last week about his winning ways, he was ostensibly arguing his ability to carry Republicans to the White House in a general election. But the self-assured New Jersey governor will only get that chance if he can master the rubric of a Republican primary first, which means plotting an […]

The New York Times’ Frank Bruni devotes his Sunday column to the attributes of a Jeb Bush presidential candidacy, but concludes with the prevailing wisdom that it’s ultimately an unlikely prospect. I’m told by people in the know that while Bush is definitely mulling a candidacy, there’s only a 20 to 30 percent chance that he’ll press […]

Allen West, the smashmouth former Florida congressman, heads to New Hampshire Friday night for a Nashua GOP dinner. Not every visit to the Granite State is created equal through the 2016 lens, of course. It’s advantageous for West or any other ambitious pol to leave the door open to a presidential run, but actually going […]

Speaking at the Republican National Committee’s meeting in Boston Thursday, New JerseyGov. Chris Christie sounded like a 2016 candidate, according to attendees in the room. His overarching message: I know how to win. But he also took a not so veiled swipe at a potential GOP rival and fellow governor Bobby Jindal: “I won’t go around calling our party […]

It’s a flashback to the nineties: Newt Gingrich vs. The Clintons. Except, this time, it’s Hillary of course. Speaking to his new employer, Newt said Clinton’s real risk as a 2016 candidate would be running too far to the left to quash a primary: ‘First of all Hillary Clinton may beat Hillary Clinton,” Gingrich told CNN […]

Donald Trump signaled he isn’t sure Ted Cruz is eligible to be president — and Ann Coulter asserted that the question is “not open and shut.” Their twin musings can be chalked up as part of the more extreme, firebrand element of the GOP, but when Cruz’ liberty-crusading pal Rand Paul was given his own opportunity […]

Marco Rubio is a neo-statist. Paul Ryan is easily shoved around. And now Chris Christie is a Gerald Ford Republican. Conservative talk show host Mark Levin is running out of Republicans he could support in 2016 — but given his comments to FOX’s Neil Cavuto, it seems highly unlikely he’ll be able to get behind a Christie […]

This was supposed to be the year Hillary Clinton used to rest up. Instead, it’s evident she’s taking the time to play catch-up. The first hint came in March — not quite two months after she left the State Department — when Clinton formally announced her support for gay marriage in a video.  The timing of her […]

Despite there being two Republican titans in Florida mulling 2016 presidential bids, Rep. Dan Webster has settled on one. The second-term congressman barely paused to think last week when he was asked which candidate he supports in the next White House run. “Jeb Bush,” he said almost immediately after the questioner finished. “No he is not a […]

Two diverging views of Ted Cruz and his presidential timber, following his weekend jaunt to Iowa . . . Blogger Jennifer Rubin, from Washington: “I see no path to the GOP presidential nomination for [Cruz.] vs. Kevin Hall for The Iowa Republican: “We are two and a half years away from the 2016 Iowa Caucuses, but we […]

Four likely 2016 presidential contenders will land in South Carolina on the same day later this month — but for separate events on behalf of Gov. Nikki Haley and Rep. Jeff Duncan. Govs. Scott Walker, Bobby Jindal and Rick Perry are slated to help Haley kick off her re-election campaign in Greenville on Aug. 26 with a […]

In a span of just two and a half minutes in Iowa Saturday, Rick Santorum revealed both his greatest strength and most severe weakness as a prospective 2016 presidential candidate. Speaking at The Family Leader summit, the former Pennsylvania senator and 2012 presidential caucus victor rekindled his flinty, blue-collar message that’s been noticeably absent in […]

Bob Vander Plaats, the president of The Family Leader — which is holding it summit in Ames, Iowa this weekend — suggested Marco Rubio should consider taking a pass on the 2016 presidential race because of his involvement in bipartisan immigration reform legislation. Some in Iowa, he adds, are saying, “’2016’s out for Rubio, there’s no way.’” […]

An aide to Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan calls Sen. Marco Rubio’s decision to attempt to defund Obamacare as “inauthentic” and “panicked” in a Huffington Post piece. Jon Ward’s story looks at the less bombastic approach Ryan has taken this year,  in sharp contrast with other 2016 contenders like Sens. Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and even Rubio, each […]

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former presidential candidate Rick Santorum will share the spotlight and vie for headlines in Iowa this weekend. The two are scheduled to speak just hours apart at Saturday’s Ames summit of The Family Leader.  Santorum is also headlining a keynote address in Lyon County Thursday night and will swing by […]

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — In 2008, if Iowa was the state that cracked Hillary Clinton’s inevitability, South Carolina crushed it. The former First Lady was thrashed here in the Democratic primary, getting stomped by nearly 30 points — a demoralizing loss that signaled Barack Obama’s popularity was demonstrably wider and deeper than previously perceived. So […]

Don’t plan on seeing Marco Rubio drop into Iowa anytime soon. Or New Hampshire.  Or South Carolina, for that matter. The freshman Florida GOP senator won’t be doing any travel to early presidential primary states in 2013, one of his top political advisers tells The RUN. “We’re not doing any early primary state travel in […]