Free Republic

Virginia, considered a swing state, is swinging blue for U.S. Sen. Mark Warner in his reelection drive this year and for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton if she runs for the White House in 2016, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Sen. Warner tops former White House aide Ed Gillespie, a possible Republican challenger, 46 - 31 percent, with 6 percent for Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds. Virginia voters say 49 - 36 percent that Warner deserves reelection. They approve 55 - 33 percent of the job he is doing and...

Some of Texas’ biggest business trade groups are moving to counter tea party and anti-government forces that have dominated recent Republican primaries. The movement mirrors the schism happening nationally between hard right and establishment Republicans. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently pledged $50 million to back pro-business Republicans in U.S. Senate primaries and fight tea party insurgents. Michael Quinn Sullivan, president of the fiscal-hawk group Empower Texans said the Texas Future Business Alliance is nothing but a group of big-money interests wanting taxpayer dollars to flow into their pockets. “This is what we’ve come to expect coming out of the...

Former Illinois GOP Chair Pat Brady, who was pushed out by party conservatives because of his vocal support for same-sex marriage, is writing his next chapter by tackling the same issue. Starting in November, Brady plans to begin lobbying Republican state lawmakers on passing same-sex marriage on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU has tapped Brady and his consulting firm, Next Generation Public Affairs, to help push the legislation through the Illinois House. “Illinois is one of the top-priority states, urgency-wise. I’m working for them at their direction,” Brady told the Chicago Sun-Times on Tuesday. “I’m concentrating...