Matt Bowman

The only thing a candidate can ever offer is words. He can’t act on what he will do because he’s speaking about the future, not the present. Yet Donald Trump has actually raised the bar for what pro-lifers can expect from Republican candidates, despite his troubling personal history on the issue. This sounds counter-intuitive: even […]

Political analysts disagree on whether it is more likely Donald Trump will arrive at the Republican convention in July with a 1,237 delegate majority or whether no candidate will have the majority and the convention will be contested. The Dallas Morning News reports that for Trump to get 1,237, he needs to win 60 percent of […]

Conservatives seem to agree on the need to stop Donald Trump’s burgeoning candidacy, but they disagree on a strategy. The first obstacle is how to somehow combine Ted Cruz’s and Marco Rubio’s 20-25 percent of the vote each into a 40-50 percent block to contend with Trump. Various conservatives have urged their allies to coalesce […]

As Justice Antonin Scalia’s funeral services take place this weekend, the political clash over his Supreme Court seat is heating up. Thursday evening, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Chuck Grassley penned a joint op-ed in The Washington Post laying down a bright line: “It is today the American people, […]

Republicans have a winning message on the replacement of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and all the candidates need to get on board. It’s a two part message. Let the people decide in November, because President Obama’s (or Hillary’s) appointee would radicalize the country. The Senate is exercising its constitutional duty to withhold consent by […]

Ted Cruz on Friday claimed that Marco Rubio holds a weaker position on defunding Planned Parenthood than he does, but pro-life leaders quickly contradicted Cruz’s claim. At the Faith and Family Presidential Forum yesterday, Cruz, speaking after Rubio had concluded, claimed that Rubio opposed Cruz’s call “to use the power of Congress to defund Planned […]

Marco Rubio’s second most memorable remark at last Saturday’s debate, answering a question on abortion, may give us more lessons on how Republicans should address the abortion issue. Rubio was confronted by the debate moderator for defending the right to life of babies even if they are conceived in rape. Despite a Thursday letter to all campaigns by […]

A new Quinnipiac University poll, which shows Marco Rubio performing the best against Hillary Clinton in November, got me thinking. How consistent is this result? The newest poll, conducted February 2-4, shows Rubio beating Clinton head-to-head 48-41, Ted Cruz tying her 45-45, and Donald Trump losing to Clinton 46-41. So I went over to RealClearPolitics.com, which lets you […]

As Mary noted yesterday, a new line of attack by Senator Lindsey Graham, who has endorsed Jeb Bush, is that Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are too pro-life because they oppose, in principle, abortion in the case of rape. Now Chris Christie has joined Graham’s anti-pro-life tactic. Today on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Christie declared, “Marco Rubio is not for an exception for . . […]

Former Senator Rick Santorum suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed Marco Rubio on Wednesday evening. In particular, Santorum cited Rubio’s strong support for family values. Santorum emphasized Rubio’s position of “understanding the central role of the family in supporting that opportunity; that family breakdown is one of the key reasons that the middle [class] is hollowing […]

This morning, Donald Trump appeared to melt down on Twitter. After a gracious concession speech in Iowa, he is now accusing Ted Cruz of “fraud,” saying he “stole” the Iowa caucus: Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa Caucus, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified. — Donald […]