Thomas Beaumont

A defiant Sen. Ted Cruz declared Thursday he’s no “servile puppy dog” as he faced a torrent of GOP criticism over his refusal to endorse Donald Trump on the Republican National Convention stage. Irate convention delegates predicted Cruz had committed political suicide by accepting a prime-time speaking slot Wednesday only to urge Republicans to “vote your conscience,” not vote for the nominee. Although the Texas senator had not been expected to offer an effusive endorsement of his primary foe, many…

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Self-described as a policy nerd and tagged as “low energy” by Donald Trump, Jeb Bush is reaching deeper to show voters the man inside as he fights for his political survival ahead of New Hampshire’s Republican presidential primary. Bush is speaking more passionately at campaign stops, and not just in outrage toward Trump, the bombastic billionaire leading the GOP in national polls. He’s offering a closer look inside his heart — chiefly as the father of a former drug addict…

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Jeb Bush stared across the Londonderry Senior Center in disbelief. A voter at his town hall had just told him she’d read the candidate’s 3,000-word tax plan. “The fact that you read it makes me feel so pleased — even if you didn’t like it,” Bush said, unsuccessfully holding back a grin. It was the sort of moment Bush surely dreamed about when he announced his 2016 bid six months ago. Soon, the two were deep in the weeds of…

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Jeb Bush is charging back into early-voting states with a can-do message aimed at winning over primary voters and reassuring anxious donors. The former Florida governor, who has struggled to stand out in televised debates and whose campaign for president has cut costs, headlined events in South Carolina and New Hampshire on Tuesday with a renewed sense of urgency. “A president can’t say ‘you’re fired’ and go to commercial break,” Bush told more than 100 people at a senior center…

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The outside political group supporting Jeb Bush’s bid for president with tens of millions of dollars in television advertising is considering placing organizing staff in Iowa and New Hampshire, a move that would follow the decision of his formal campaign to refocus its efforts on the two early-voting states. Senior advisers to the group tried to paint an upbeat picture of Bush’s White House prospects at the outset of two days of concurrent meetings held for major donors to Bush’s…

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The powerfully funded super PAC backing Republican Jeb Bush will spend at least $10 million on television time in the earliest voting presidential primary states, the first salvo in a massive TV ad campaign to support the former Florida governor’s bid for the Republican nomination. Officials with Right to Rise USA say they will buy time in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina TV markets and on cable television in the three states. Ads are scheduled to begin in Iowa…

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