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Carly Fiorina on crowded Republican presidential field

By: Bill O #39;Reilly

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Carly Fiorina on crowded Republican presidential field - Video

Sen. Marco Rubio made it almost official Monday.

The Florida Republican, who is expected to run for president, said he will have "something to announce" on April 13.

The first-term senator delivered his pre-announcement teaser during an evening segment on Fox's "The Five" and appeared hardly able to conceal what would be coming next month. His Senate term expires in 2016, and he cannot seek both elected offices at once.

"I will announce on April 13 what I'm going to do next -- in terms of running for president or the U.S. Senate," he said smiling. "I'll announce something."

Rubio has trailed in the polls. Firebrand Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas last week became the first candidate to officially announce his campaign for president.

Another conservative favorite, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the libertarian stalwart, is expected to announce his candidacy April 7.

Rubio has been quietly working behind the scenes to amass a campaign staff and draft a policy portfolio that many strategists believe will make him a stronger contender.

His upbeat message Monday was a prelude to the brand of conservative optimism he is expected to embrace, an approach aides believe will separate him from his peers.

"The country's really at a hinge point in terms of moving forward to the future," Rubio said. "We are really transitioning out of the 20th century and well into the 21st century, a dramatically different world.... It's really important that we move in the right direction as a country by not justconfronting the challenges of this new era but embracing its opportunities."

The 43-year-old alsointends to flex his foreign policy credentials, as he did on Monday, taking aim at the expected Democratic candidate, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and her turn as secretary of State.

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Republican Marco Rubio hints he'll announce presidential run soon

Rep. Tammy Duckworth's challenge to Republican Sen. Mark Kirk portends a costly battle in what figures to be one of the most closely watched 2016 Senate contests.

Duckworth, 47, a two-term Democrat from Hoffman Estates who lost her legs in the Iraq War in 2004, announced her bid Monday in a two-minute video. While other Democrats could enter the race and force a primary election, Duckworth is the first to declare her candidacy and would counter Kirk as a veteran and a survivor of physical challenges.

Kirk, 55, of Highland Park, was elected to the Senate in 2010 after nearly 10 years in the House of Representatives. He recovered from a massive stroke in 2012 that kept him out of Congress for nearly a year.

Illinois has had 48 U.S. senators in its history, only one a woman: Carol Moseley Braun, a one-term Democrat elected in 1992. Duckworth will be running in a presidential election year in a state that last favored a Republican for the White House in 1988.

One possible rival for the Democratic nomination, Rep. Cheri Bustos of East Moline, on Monday said she won't run and offered a tacit endorsement of Duckworth. Bustos said in a statement that she can't see "jumping into a race at this time when we already have such a strong fighter for working men and women and veterans."

That leaves Democratic Reps. Bill Foster of Naperville and Robin Kelly of Matteson as Duckworth's most likely rivals. Foster had no comment Monday. Kelly will make a decision on the race soon, spokeswoman Kayce Ataiyero said.

Kirk was one of the most vulnerable GOP senators nationally even before Duckworth announced her candidacy, said Nathan Gonzales, editor of The Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report, a biweekly newsletter.

Duckworth has never run for statewide office, he noted.

"We'll find out how good a candidate Tammy Duckworth is in the next 12 to 15 months," said Gonzales, who sees the strong possibility of a race animated by "millions of dollars in TV ads."

Kirk began the year with $2 million in campaign funds while Duckworth had more than $1 million. Winning Senate candidates in 2014 spent an average of about $9.65 million each, The Campaign Finance Institute in Washington said. And that money was dwarfed by tens of millions that outside groups poured into fiercely fought races, led by the more than $73 million in outside money spent in the North Carolina race.

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Duckworth's bid for Kirk's U.S. Senate seat promises costly battle

Republican lawmakers in Indiana promised Monday to amend a religious liberties bill that critics have labeled as anti-gay, bowing to protests that have rapidly spread to several other states considering similar measures.

Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma (R) said the legislature would act as soon as this week to clarify the states new Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which grants individuals and businesses legal grounds to defend themselves against claims of discrimination. The fix, Bosma said, would make clear that the law does not allow people to discriminate against gays, as critics contend.

Opponents of the measure say the fix suggested by Bosma and other Republicans is vague and probably insufficient. Meanwhile, criticism of the act, signed into law last week by Gov. Mike Pence (R), continued to mount.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook condemned the new law in an op-ed published in The Washington Post. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) wrote a letter to the Indianapolis Star inviting business leaders troubled by the law to move to Virginia. The president of the NCAA hinted that the Indiana-based athletic organization may stop holding major events there. And the rock band Wilco canceled a May 7 show in Indianapolis.

AP Photo/Michael Conroy Indiana Senate President Pro Tem David Long, R-Fort Wayne, left, and House Speaker Brian C. Bosma, R-Indianapolis, discuss their plans for clarifying the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act during a press conference at the Statehouse in Indianapolis on Monday. The pressure was reverberating in other states, where some Republican leaders either postponed consideration of their own religious freedom laws or disavowed them outright.

In Georgia, lawmakers canceled a hearing scheduled for Monday morning on their version of the bill. In Arkansas, lawmakers debated tweaking a bill that passed the Senate last week, perhaps limiting its reach in order to stir up less controversy. And in North Carolina, Gov. Pat McCrory (R) said he was not inclined to sign a bill working its way through the statehouse.

What is the problem theyre trying to solve? McCrory said Monday on WFAEs Charlotte Talks radio program. The bill, he said, would make no sense.

The debate injected a divisive new issue into the 2016 presidential campaign, presenting Republican hopefuls with a difficult choice: publicly back Pence on an issue that threatens to hurt the GOP among the majority of Americans who support gay rights, or side with the GOPs business wing against the law and risk angering base conservatives.

In recent days, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), former Texas governor Rick Perry and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal have all spoken approvingly of the Indiana law; Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has been more circumspect. Likely Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton has criticized it.

The debate also shines a spotlight on other Religious Freedom Restoration Acts, which are in force at the federal level and in 19 states besides Indiana. The federal law was signed in 1993 by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, and state versions have had broad support from both parties.

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Indiana to clarify new law decried as anti-gay

Glenn Beck Is Done With The Republican Party
I #39;ve made my decision -- I #39;m out, Beck said. "I #39;m out of the Republican Party. I am not a Republican. I will not give a dime to the Republican Party. I #39;m out. I highly recommend...

By: TYT Nation

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Glenn Beck Is Done With The Republican Party - Video