Texan kicks off campaign with a pitch aimed at Christian conservatives
♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com editor
LYNCHBURG, Virginia (CFP) — U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas has become the first candidate in either party to announce a run for the White House in 2016, with an exhortation to Christian conservatives to get involved in the political process and vote their “values.”
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz
“What is the promise of America?” Cruz asked students at Liberty University, where he announced his campaign March 23. “The revolutionary idea that this country was founded upon, which is that our rights don’t come from man. They come from Almighty God. And that the purpose of the Constitution, as Thomas Jefferson put it, is to serve as chains to bind the mischief of government.”
Rather than announce his campaign in his home state of Texas, Cruz chose Liberty University, a 13,000-student school in Lynchburg, Virginia, founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, a leader in the Christian conservative political movement who also founded the Moral Majority in 1979.
In his opening campaign salvo, Cruz, who wore a headset microphone and paced across the stage as he spoke, asked the crowd to “imagine millions of courageous conservatives, all across America, rising up together to say in unison, ‘We demand our liberty.'”
“Instead of a federal government that works to undermine our values, imagine a federal government that works to defend the sanctity of human life and to uphold the sacrament of marriage.”
And on the fifth anniversary of the signing of Obamacare into law, Cruz vowed as president to sign legislation “repealing every word” of the health care law.
Cruz, 44, a Harvard Law School graduate and one-time national debating champion, won his Senate seat in 2012 in an upset made possible by Tea Party support. In the Senate, he has been an occasional thorn in the side of GOP leaders and was among the Republicans who helped trigger a government shutdown in 2013 in a dispute with Democrats over repealing Obamacare.
Cruz is one of nine Southerners — eight Republicans and one Democrat — considering a White House bid in 2016.
On the Democratic side, former U.S. Senator Jim Webb of Virginia has already launched an exploratory committee for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination — a race that’s expected to be dominated by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a former first lady of Arkansas.
Winthrop University survey finds little support for a Graham White House bid, even among Republicans
♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com editor
SPARTANBURG, South Carolina (CFP) — Most South Carolinians say they do not want their senior U.S. senator, Lindsey Graham, to seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, according a new poll.
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham
A Winthrop University survey released March 4 found more than 60 percent of state residents opposed to Graham running for the White House, with just 28 percent saying they thought the senator’s candidacy was a good idea.
Among self-identified Republicans and those who lean Republican, 34 percent thought Graham should run, while 57 percent were opposed.
The poll of 1,109 residents of the Palmetto State had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Graham, 59, elected to his third term in the Senate last November, launched a presidential exploratory committee in January, saying that was seriously considering running for president on a national security platform.
If he runs, he would be a favorite son in the key South Carolina primary, scheduled for February 2016, which is traditionally the first primary held in the South.
Graham is one of nine Southerners — eight Republicans and one Democrat — considering a White House bid in 2016.
On the Democratic side, former U.S. Senator Jim Webb of Virginia has already launched an exploratory committee for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination — a race that’s expected to be dominated by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a former first lady of Arkansas.
New Quinnipiac poll finds Clinton leading other Republican contenders in Sunshine State
♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitcs.com editor
MIAMI (CFP) — Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are in a statistical dead heat in a hypothetical 2016 presidential match-up in the key swing state of Florida, a new poll finds.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
A Quinnipiac University poll of 936 registered voters in Florida found Clinton was the choice of 44 percent, compared to 43 percent for Bush — within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percent.
However, Clinton, a Democrat, fared much better in hypothetical match-ups with four other potential 2016 GOP presidential candidates, including Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio.
The poll found Clinton led Rubio 49 percent to 39 percent among Florida voters, outside the margin of error.
Against three other Republican candidates, Clinton did even better, cracking 50 percent and holding double-digit leads over former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
South Carolina Republican highlighting his foreign policy credentials
♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com editor
WASHINGTON (CFP) — U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham has formed a committee to explore a bit for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham
Graham’s committee, named “Strength through Security,” will enable the senator “to travel the country, listen to Americans, and gauge support for a potential presidential candidacy,” according to an announcement on the group’s website.
Graham, 59, was elected to his third term in the Senate last November, after battling back a gaggle of Tea Party challengers in the GOP primary.
While Graham’s bipartisan work with Democrats has drawn fire from conservative activists in his own party, his hawkish stands on foreign policy and defense issues puts him squarely in the conservative camp.
The website for his new organization calls him “as a conservative problem-solver and one of the strongest proponents of a robust national defense.”
Graham is also a close friend and ally of Senator John McCain of Arizona, who was the 2008 Republican presidential nominee. McCain has been touting a Graham presidential candidacy in the media.
Graham is one of nine Southerners — eight Republicans and one Democrat — considering a White House bid in 2016.
On the Democratic side, former U.S. Senator Jim Webb of Virginia has already launched an exploratory committee for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination — a race that’s expected to be dominated by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a former first lady of Arkansas.
Virginian is the first Democrat to make a move toward a nomination fight with Hillary Clinton
By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com editor
BURKE, Virginia (CFP) — Former U.S. Senator Jim Webb has launched an exploratory committee for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination — a race that’s expected to be dominated by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Former U.S. Senator Jim Webb
“We desperately need to fix our country and to reinforce the values that have sustained us, many of which have fallen by the wayside in the nasty debates of the last several years,” Webb said in an open letter published on his committee’s website.
“I look forward to listening and talking with more people in the coming months as I decide whether or not to run.”
Webb is the first Southerner in either party to make a move toward a presidential bid. However, at least six Southern Republicans are considering running, including U.S. Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida; Governors Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Rick Perry of Texas; and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.
Webb, 68, served as a Marine combat officer in Vietnam and was navy secretary during the Reagan administration. In 2006, he ran for the U.S. Senate and rode that year’s Democratic wave to a victory incumbent GOP U.S. Senator George Allen, which gave Democrats control over the upper chamber.
However, he opted not to seek re-election in 2012 after serving a single term.
While Webb was considered a Democratic moderate in the Senate, his exploratory committee announcement hinted that he may be planning to run against Clinton as an economic populist, noting that “the disparities between those at the very top and the rest of our society have only grown larger since the economic crash of late 2008 and early 2009.”
Webb also acknowledged that he faces “what many commentators see as nearly impossible odds” in securing the Democratic nomination.
“We are starting with very little funding and no full-time staff, but I’ve been here before,” he said. “In February 2006, I announced for the Senate only nine months before the election against an entrenched incumbent. We had no money and no staff. We were more than 30 points behind in the polls.”
LYNCHBURG, Virginia (CFP) — 
SPARTANBURG, South Carolina (CFP) — Most South Carolinians say they do not want their senior U.S. senator, 
MIAMI (CFP) — Former Florida Governor 
BURKE, Virginia (CFP) — Former U.S. Senator 
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