Buzzfeed.com: on Principles & Values

Joe Walsh: The "Age of Trump" woke him up to racism of past comments

Sally Yates: Change doesn't happen with people sitting on their behinds

Xavier Becerra: We know true value of diversity; will fight for our beliefs

Catherine Cortez Masto: Offensive to criticize Mexican-American for no Spanish

"I think its absolutely ridiculous--if that was the litmus test for whether or not you're Mexican-American then Gov. Sandoval would be thrown into that," she said.

Evan McMullin: Attended Brigham Young U; will contest Trump in Utah

Apart from his low profile, his candidacy will face other substantial hurdles in gaining traction--especially with ballot access and fundraising. But people close to the effort suggested McMullin would have the backing of serious Republican donors and fundraisers. They also pointed to his ties to Utah, a state where polls show Trump badly underperforming with the Mormon-heavy electorate. McMullin, an alum of Brigham Young University, plans to aggressively contest the state.

Evan McMullin: Received MBA from Wharton in 2011; unmarried

Unlike National Review writer David French, another conservative courted by anti-Trump Republicans to launch a long-shot third-party bid, McMullin has virtually no public profile. He doesn't appear regularly on television, and has just 135 followers on Twitter.

Andrew Cuomo: OpEd: Primary challenge doubles the campaign donation limit

Jeb Bush: GOP isn't about orthodoxy & disallowing disagreement

"Back to my dad's time and Ronald Reagan's time--they got a lot of stuff done with a lot of bipartisan support," he said. Reagan "would be criticized for doing the things that he did."

In the 12 years(!) since he last ran for office, Bush missed the rise of the tea party, and the ascendancy of a new generation of politicians--Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, Scott Walker, Ted Cruz, among them. Those men occasionally, carefully, respectfully break with the movement. Scorning today's Republican Party is, by contrast, the core of Jeb's political identity.

Paul Ryan: Tea Party & libertarians bring "creative tension" to GOP

He compares today's intra-party squabbling to the beginning of the Reagan revolution, when a "battle of ideas" gave way to a long period of conservative dominance in American politics: "We're figuring out the best way to apply our principles to the challenges of the day," Ryan says. "Sure, we have our disagreements. And yes, they can get a little passionate. I like to think of it as 'creative tension.' That's how it always is: You fight it out. You figure out what works. You come together. Then you win. It's messy and noisy and even a little bit uncomfortable. But the center of gravity is shifting. We're developing an agenda."

Rick Santorum: Obama's worldview: secular socialistic culture like Europe

"It was just such an affirmation of this belief to see Barack Obama in Germany. He is the party of Europe. They love him over there. Why? Because it is a very secular world. It's a very secular culture. It's a socialistic culture. It is exactly what Barack Obama wants to see America. It's exactly what Howard Dean envisions for America. If you look at everything they do, they point to the journey of Western Europe as the journey they want to replicate here in America."