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Rebirth of the Radical Republican
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By: Stan Gibilisco

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Rebirth of the Radical Republican - Video

May 18, 2014: Las Vegas gaming tycoon Sheldon Adelson attends the second Annual Champions of Jewish Values International Awards Gala in New York. (Reuters)

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio dined with Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson at a steakhouse in Washington Monday night, a person with direct knowledge of the meeting told Fox News.

Adelson, a casino mogul, pumped nearly $100 million of his own money into super PACs to help 2012 GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and eventual GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

His meeting with Rubio comes as the Florida Republican weighs his own White House bid for 2016.

Rubio donors are aware of the uphill battle in competing against former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's fundraising machine, especially with a wealthy donor base in Florida that has mostly committed to Bush.

However, Rubio has made an aggressive effort to stay in the game and remain in the top tier of potential candidates as he prepares his 2016 decision.

Rubio donors sources also have confirmed there is a $50 million fundraising target before the Iowa caucuses.

PAC aides are aggressively courting Romney's former finance chairman, Spencer Zwick, who is perceived as a gatekeeper to Romney's formidable donor network. However, many of these former Romney backers are now supporting Bush.

Rubio sources said Monday he could make up his mind as early as April on a 2016 presidential run.

Serafin Gomez covers Special Events and Politics for FOX News Channel and is also a contributor to FOX News Latino. Fin formerly worked as the Miami Bureau Producer for Fox News Channel where he covered Latin America. Follow him on Twitter:@Finnygo.

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Rubio dines with Republican mega-donor

FRESNO, Calif. The Republican mayor of the California city of Fresno has decided not to run for the United States Senate, an adviser said.

Mayor Ashley Swearengin will not seek the seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in 2016, the Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/17G4mnT ) and Sacramento Bee (http://bit.ly/1G3mEhA ) reported Saturday.

"She's letting people know this weekend that she's decided against a run," Swearengin adviser Tim Clark told The Bee ahead of the state Republican Party's convention in Sacramento.

Swearengin, who lost a bid for state controller in 2014, is the latest Republican to steer clear of the race.

There is no competitive Republican candidate currently seeking the seat, and while a Field Poll last week found that former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would be an automatic front-runner, she doesn't want the job.

In a University of Southern California Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll released Friday, Swearengin received the largest support among potential Republican candidates: 9 percent of registered voters who were surveyed. But only 19 percent of voters surveyed could identify Swearengin, who was elected mayor in 2008.

Democratic Attorney General Kamala Harris, who is the only major candidate who has announced she is running, received 28 percent support in the poll.

Nearly a quarter of voters were undecided.

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Republican mayor of Fresno won't seek US Senate seat

CAPITOL HILL

After weeks of drama, House Republicans have abandoned efforts to tie Homeland Security funding to a provision blocking a presidential executive order on immigration. Analysts and even some Republican lawmakers are questioning what this political defeat is likely to mean for the new Republican majority's ability to govern.

Things were not supposed to work out this way.

Republicans won big in Novembers midterm elections, boosting their majority in the House of Representatives to the largest in decades and winning control of the Senate. New Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky proclaimed it was now time for Republicans to show Americans that they can govern, ahead of presidential elections in 2016.

But two months into the 114th Congress, Republicans hit a low point last Friday. Fifty-two conservative House Republicans staged a revolt against House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, voting against a three-week bill to keep the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funded.

Boehner had to turn to Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, to supply the votes for a one-week extension to avoid a politically devastating lapse in funding. Just a few days later, in a humiliating defeat, the House approved DHS funding without any measures blocking immigration reform for the rest of this fiscal year, relying on Democratic votes.

House Freedom Caucus

A passionate group of about 50 House Republicans has often been referred to as the Tea Party faction. Some of that group are now calling themselves the House Freedom Caucus, led by Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio. They staunchly oppose President Barack Obamas executive action to shield up to 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation, and other executive orders by the president.

At a conservative policy luncheon last month, Republican Representative Raul Labrador of Idaho called it a constitutional crisis and complained that McConnell was effectively letting Democratic Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada run the Senate.

Several conservative congressmen faulted McConnell and Boehner for getting them into another budget showdown, alleging that their leaders postpone standing up to the president until the next crisis.

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Republican Majority in Congress Off to Rough Start

The Republican-controlled Congress cleared a bill Wednesday to construct the Keystone XL oil pipeline, setting up a confrontation with President Barack Obama, who has threatened to veto the measure.

The House passed the bill on a 270-152 vote, endorsing changes made by the Senate that stated climate change was real and not a hoax, and oil sands should no longer be exempt from a tax used to cleanup oil spills.

Only one Republican, Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, voted against the measure, while 29 Democrats backed it. But neither the House nor the Senate has enough votes to overcome a veto, the first of many skirmishes between the Democratic White House and Congress on energy and environmental policy.

Supporters were already strategizing on how to secure the pipeline's approval using other legislative means.

"The evidence is in. The case ought to be closed," said Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota, the chief Republican sponsor of the bill, said in a statement "we will continue to press for approval by attaching an approval measure to another bill, perhaps an energy bill or must-pass appropriations legislation."

Obama "needs to work with Congress in a bipartisan way and approve the Keystone XL pipeline project for the American people," he said.

For Republicans, the bill's passage capped weeks of debate on a top priority after they took control of Congress last month. Hours before the vote, they prodded

Democrats who did not take their side. House Republicans, who have debated and passed numerous measures on the pipeline only to have them dead end in the Senate, claimed victory.

Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., said she was a having a "holy cow" moment.

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Congress clears Keystone XL pipeline bill, setting up veto