http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GOP_2016_NEW_HAMPSHIRE_THE_LATEST?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-04-17-12-09-30Apr 17, 1:40 PM EDT
The Latest: White House hopefuls gather in New Hampshire
1:15 p.m. (EDT)
Gather enough Republicans in a room and what are you going to hear? Complaints about Common Core education standards, before too long.
Several ripped into the standards at Friday's big gathering of 2016 GOP presidential prospects in Nashua, New Hampshire. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry says he opposes Common Core because: "You're either for the 10th Amendment or you're not."
The 10th Amendment specifies that powers not delegated to the federal government are held by the states, and it's a favorite among Republicans who accuse Washington of overreaching. The Common Core standards actually were developed largely by state officials with the support of the federal government, but many Republican leaders see them as a federal takeover of education.
That's how both Perry and former New York Gov. George Pataki described them at the GOP meeting.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who's also at the gathering, departs from most of his potential 2016 rivals in supporting Common Core.
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12:25 p.m. (EDT)
Rick Perry says he won't make the same mistakes he made in New Hampshire four years ago if he chooses to make another run for the Republican presidential nomination.
"Coming here and spending the time in New Hampshire is invaluable, and I didn't realize that in `11," the former Texas governor told a handful of voters Friday at the Waterhouse Country Store in Windham.
"They're kind of like buying a car," he said of the state's famously demanding voters. "They want to look under the hood, get the Carfax, they want to drive it a few times, feel it out, make sure they're getting the right one for them."
Perry also criticized the race's three declared Republican candidates: Sens. Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio.
"Listen, Ted and Rand and Marco are not only friends ... these are really incredibly bright, capable individuals who, I might add, all three of them give an amazing speech. I mean, they get me up, standing up and pumping the air," he said.
But after eight years of President Barack Obama, a senator before he won the White House, Perry asked, "is that what Americans are going to be looking for? Or are they going to be more interested in someone who has substantial executive experience?"
Perry left office in Austin earlier this year as the longest-sitting governor in Texas history.
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12 p.m. (EDT)
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has an announcement in the offing about his plans for 2016. That's according to his aide, Hogan Gidley.
Huckabee ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and has been hiring staff for a potential 2016 campaign. He's set to visit New Hampshire on Saturday. While there, he has scheduled a breakfast with supporters and a stop at a gun store. Before he goes, he's speaking with reporters in Washington.
Huckabee, a former Baptist pastor, could make a strong showing among evangelicals in Iowa and South Carolina but would face rivals with much more money for their campaigns, such as Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Scott Walker.
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11:45 a.m. (EDT)
George Pataki the perennial presidential prospect isn't taking himself too seriously.
"I kid that every four years there's the Olympics, the World Cup, and Pataki shows up thinking about running for president," the former New York governor told a gathering of Republicans in Nashua, New Hampshire. Pataki considered running for president in 2008 and 2012, but says he's more serious this time around.
Rather than delivering a speech, Pataki answered pre-submitted questions. His stance that Common Core education standards must go was the most popular with the crowd.
Pataki is running an advertisement in New Hampshire that calls on fellow Republicans to stop focusing on "distractions" such as gay marriage and instead talk about the economy.
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11:30 a.m. (EDT)
Marco Rubio isn't sure whether he's old enough to be president right now.
But next month? That's a different story.
The Republican senator from Florida was asked Friday morning if 43, his current age, is old enough for a president.
"I know 44 is, which is what I'll turn in May," Rubio said with a smile during an appearance at Manchester Community College in New Hampshire.
As a young first-term senator, Rubio has drawn comparisons to President Barack Obama, who was also in his first Senate term when he launched his campaign, and age 47 when he came to the White House. Critics suggested Obama didn't have enough experience for the presidency.
Should he win the GOP nomination and the 2016 election, Rubio would take office at 45 years old, making him the third youngest president in history.
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11 a.m. (EDT)
Just down the street from the big gathering of Republican presidential hopefuls in Nashua, New Hampshire, a leading Democratic voice is saying that all those Republican voices are the same.
"With all of their shared extreme views they might as well just be one," said Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.
Wasserman Schultz says she's in New Hampshire to draw a contrast between Republican and Democratic candidates.
She says each Republican would take the country backward.
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10:20 a.m. (EDT)
Conservatives may not like it, but former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush isn't shying away from his support for creating a way for immigrants who are living in the country illegally to gain legal status. And he responded Friday to critics in his party who often suggest such immigrants come to the United States simply for the government benefits.
"The people who want to come here are driving for success," Bush said in a morning appearance at Saint Anselm College.
Bush has yet to say if he's running for president, but he looks and acts very much like a candidate. If elected, he said, he would deal with the millions of immigrants in the country illegally "in a rational , thoughtful way."
"My suggestion is earn legal status, not earn citizenship, but earn legal status," Bush said, adding such immigrants would have to pay taxes, pay a fine, learn English, and not "commit crimes."
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9:45 a.m. (EDT)
Hillary Rodham Clinton is on the minds of New Hampshire Republicans.
Opening a two-day conference for presidential hopefuls at a hotel in Nashua, New Hampshire state GOP party chairwoman Jennifer Horn said its sexist to think people will "blindly and stupidly" vote for the former secretary of state and New York senator because she is a woman.
Clinton launched her campaign last weekend and spent two days this week in Iowa. She'll be in New Hampshire to campaign on Monday and Tuesday. Horn slammed it as a "coronation tour."
Horn told the crowd gathered to hear from close to 20 prospective presidential candidates to ask them tough questions, but to save their attacks for Democrats.
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9:30 a.m. (EDT)
There aren't many presidential contenders flanked by family photos when they campaign in New Hampshire.
But that's the case for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, where massive photos of his brother and father are among the presidential portraits hanging on the walls at Saint Anselm College.
Bush joked to the crowd at the school's "Politics and Eggs" event that the pictures brought back "really fond memories." And he used the opportunity to address what may be at the same time his greatest political asset and liability - his own last name.
"I'm going to have to show my heart, show who I am, tell my story," Bush said. "It's a little different than the story of my brother and my dad. This may come as a shock to you, but you have brothers and sisters so you may appreciate this: we're not all alike. We make our own mistakes in life. We are on our own life's journey."
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8:50 a.m. (EDT)
A big weekend in 2016 presidential politics is underway in New Hampshire, where nearly 20 Republican White House prospects will court voters this weekend at a state GOP meeting in Nashua.
It's the first gathering of its kind in the first-in-the-nation primary state this year, and around the formal speeches and Q&As, the candidates will be out and about all weekend for "retail" campaign stops at diners, shooting ranges, sports bars and house parties.
The day's first event is underway down the road in Manchester, where former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is speaking at "Politics and Eggs" - a breakfast fixture for 2016 prospects at Saint Anselm College. Last night, at an event called "Politics and Pies," Bush told a crowd the Senate should confirm attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch despite objections from many of his fellow Republicans.
"If someone is supportive of the president's policies, whether you agree with them or not, there should be some deference to the executive," Bush said. "It should not always be partisan."
