National Review: Ted Cruz for President

National Review has endorsed Ted Cruz in the Republican primaries.  Excerpt:

He forthrightly defends religious liberty, the right to life of unborn children, and the role of marriage in connecting children to their parents — causes that reduce too many other Republicans to mumbling.

When At-a-glance Candidate Rankings Are More than Glance-deep

Via Jim Geraghty’s Morning Jolt (e-mail version), an organization called the Leadership Project for America has an interesting idea:  Instead of an arguably near-meaningless in-the-moment popularity contest or an in-depth but one-sided grade card, they rank the presidential candidates based on a thoughtful analysis of each candidate’s conservative policy positions, honesty, accomplishments, and communication ability that is both broad and deep (see the multi-level outline of their grading rubric here).

Rick Perry, Federalist

Texas Governor Rick Perry formally entered the Republican presidential primary race on Saturday.

I think the time has come for all conservatives to unite behind him.

Section I: Why unite?
Section II: Why Perry? 

Santorum: Fiscal Conservative

Appearing in three Fourth of July parades in Iowa last week, Rick Santorum said, “What we need is an Independence Day candidate that believes in the independence of the American people, not its dependence on government and government programs.”

I think Rick Santorum may be that candidate.  Any number of the current contenders might make an excellent president, but as Santorum points out, he already has a record of doing the work that needed to be done, even when it was unpopular—even when it cost him his senate seat.  We could do with more principled politicians like him.