Free Republic

What a shock- a Russian-Ukrainian billionaire who made his initial fortune from dubious stock shares eminating from the breakup of the Soviet Union has been sending big, fat checks this year to establishment Republicans and Democrats who aren't too uppity re. foreign policy.Of course, most billionaire Russians who are part owners of huge Russian mining/energy companies over there are KGB/FSB and/or mafia-connected... just like Putin And London resident Leonard Blavatnik is a typical pro-Putin oligarch, getting rich off looting the Russian state then utilizing that ill-gotten fortune to spread Russian influence around the globe. In this case, Blavatnik made almost 20 BILLION from the Russian oil/mining industries...

Framing the potential Senate contest as the "The Clown vs. The Mama Grizzly," former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin endorsed Minnesota State Senator Julianne Ortman Thursday in her bid to get the GOP nomination and unseat Sen. Al Franken (D-MN). The primary is August 14. Palin slammed the former Saturday Night Live comedian's record in the Senate as a "joke" and, riffing off of Franken's Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot book, called Franken just a "Big Fat Liberal" who voted with Obama 100% of the time: Al Franken’s career has been a joke; we all know this. The biggest...

Support appears to be crumbling among constituents of Senator Al Franken (D-MN) and Minnesota Democratic Governor Mark Dayton, according to new poll data posted from Public Opinion Strategies this week that the Minnesota GOP is touting.

And even more surprising, in the Star Tribune poll, which usually tilts significantly in sympathy to Democrats. Barack Obama’s job approval has dropped to 43/50 in a state he easily won in two presidential elections — and it’s much worse outside of Minneapolis and St. Paul (via Instapundit): Men had an especially unfavorable opinion of the president. According to the poll, 60 percent of Minnesotan men disapproved of his job performance, compared to 40 percent of women in the state.People under 34 had the highest approval rating for Obama, with 59 percent saying they thought he was doing a good...

So who did cast the critical 60th vote for the Affordable Care Act, a k a “Obamacare”? Facing a new election year, the GOP has an answer ready to go: U.S. Sen. Al Franken, the Minnesota Democrat whose 2008 recount victory over Republican Norm Coleman helped alter the balance of power in national politics. With the rocky rollout of healthcare.gov, Minnesotans can expect to hear a lot about the symbolic 60th vote; for example, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann recently penned an opinion piece calling Franken “a leading cheerleader and the 60th vote for Obamacare.” But in a body of 100 senators, Franken...

Many are outraged that Obama would nominate a cop killer advocate to head the DOJ Civil Rights Division. When will people realize that Obama is a lawless Chicago thug politician who surrounds himself with henchmen? One such Obama henchman that we have a golden opportunity to defeat is Senator Al Franken. Franken’s numbers are tanking. Only 39% of Minnesota voters have a favorable opinion of Al Franken. While Obama deceitfully gives pious speeches about bipartisanship and civility, his henchman says things like this,“Republicans are shameless d**ks. No, that’s not fair. Republican politicians are shameless d**ks.” Al Franken: The Truth (With...

Don’t get too excited about the latest St. Cloud State University poll in Minnesota, but it does at least offer a glimmer of hope for a Minnesota Republican Party that still finds itself in financial and organizational straits. Just a year after getting blitzed in the 2012 election, Minnesotans find themselves less than enchanted with Democratic officeholders. And 2014 incumbent Sen. Al Franken fares the worst of all:CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO In the poll released this week, 44% of Minnesotans polled said Governor Mark Dayton is doing excellent or pretty good. That’s a 9% drop from last year,...

<p>A slight majority of Minnesota voters expressed disapproval of President Obama’s health care law, known as Obamacare, according to a poll commissioned by the conservative Minnesota Jobs Coalition.</p> <p>The partly automated telephone poll of 400 likely voters, conducted this week by the Tarrance Group, found that 51 percent disapprove of the law, compared to 43 percent who approve. Strong opposition stood at 43 percent, compared to strong support at 29 percent.</p>

Minnesota senator Al Franken, a Democrat, opens the door to a delay of the Obamacare individual mandate in an interview with Minnesota Public Radio. The Washington Post reports: Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) says he would be open to a brief delay in the individual mandate if the problems with HealthCare.gov aren't fixed by the end of the month, according to Minnesota Public Radio. "I think then we have to consider extending the deadline for the mandate, but let’s hope that doesn't happen," Franken told MPR. Franken has so far been relatively quiet about potential changes to the health-care law, but...

Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander (R) Montana Senator Max Baucus (D) Alaska Senator Mark Begich (D) Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss (R) Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran (R) Maine Senator Susan Collins (R) Texas Senator John Cornyn (R) Massachusetts Senator William "Mo" Cowan (D) Illinois Senator Dick Durbin (D) Wyoming Senator Mike Enzi (R) Minnesota Senator Al Franken (DFL) South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham (R) North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan (D) Iowa Senator Tom Harkin (D) Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe (R) Nebraska Senator Mike Johanns (R) South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson (D) Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D) Michigan Senator Carl Levin (D) Kentucky...

Senate Democrats vented their frustrations over the faulty rollout of the Affordable Care Act in a meeting Thursday with White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and other senior officials. “There’s a lot of frustration, everywhere,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said after the meeting. McDonough tried to assure angry senators he is personally taking charge of the disparate federal offices in charge of implementing the massive law, which has been plagued by technical errors. “He gave us the impression that he’s taking charge of the different elements and cracking the whip. He said to let him know if we had...

Numbers have a way of proving themselves, or not!

ST. PAUL (WCCO) — US Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., says he’s not surprised by revelations that federal security agencies collect phone and computer data on American citizens.

The Daily Caller’s 05/17/13 report, “Flashback: Schumer, Franken urged IRS to target tea party in 2012,” exposes the moral bankruptcy of the left, as those leaders demanded an expansion of the current administration’s on-going anti-democratic efforts. Al Franken, Chuck Schumer, and other liberal Democrats penned a letter on March 12, 2012, calling on the IRS to cap the amount of political spending by groups they deemed masquerading as “social welfare organizations.” The group stated that the lack of clarity in the IRS rules allowed some political groups to improperly claim 501(c) 4 status, thereby allowing donors to these groups to...

Sen Al Franken (D-MN) was using such a circuitous "serpentine" walking pattern in an effort to avoid TRN's Jason Mattera's tough question that he inadvertently body checked one of his own staffers in the process. The absurd weaving to avoid the tough inquiry even brought the senator to laughter at one point as the beleaguered staffer tried to run interference for Franken by claiming that he doesn't talk to national press.

Minnesota U.S. Sen. Al Franken leads all potential GOP opponents by comfortable double-digit margins, according to a Public Policy Polling survey released Tuesday. Among those tested by the Democratic polling firm was U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, who he leads 55-38, a 17 point margin. Franken leads conservative talk show host Jason Lewis by the same 17 point margin (54-37), as well as state Sen. Julianne Ortman (52-35). Narrowing the gap slightly against the first-term senator were businessman Mike McFadden and Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek, who came within 15 points apiece (both at 51-36). Sen. Julie Rosen trailed by 16...

<p>Long before the Internal Revenue Service revealed it had improperly targeted conservative 501(c)(4) groups, a group of Democratic senators led by New York Sen. Chuck Schumer urged the IRS to do just that.</p> <p>The IRS’s admission last Friday that it had singled out tea party and other groups for extra audits and delays has raised concerns that President Barack Obama’s administration quietly attempted to stymy opponents through intimidation. But many prominent Democrats — including Montana Sen. Max Baucus, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State and the New York Times editorial board — had been publicly calling for tighter restrictions on 501(c)(4) groups affiliated with the tea party and conservatives.</p>

Scandal: Senate Democrats, including supporters of the Disclose Act, provided the names of groups they wanted targeted in a taxpayer-funded witch hunt overseen by an IRS employee and Obama campaign donor. Using the Citizens United case as a pretext, retiring Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., on July 27, 2012, wrote IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman to investigate 12 conservative groups he accused of violating their tax-exempt status and engaging in coordinated political activity. The groups Levin asked to be targeted for special scrutiny were Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, Priorities U.S.A., Americans Elect, American Action Network, Americans for Prosperity, American Future Fund, Americans...

Boy, I sure am. If there’s one thing the GOP needs now, it’s another senator who’s famously soft on immigration. Imagine these words ringing off the walls in the Senate chamber: “[A]ny Latino who votes for a Republican or a Democrat who opposes rational immigration reform is an Uncle Tom.” He’ll make a fine third in the McCain/Graham alliance. “I mention this only briefly, fasten your seatbelt,” Rivera said on his radio show. “I mentioned this only briefly to my wife … but I am and I’ve been in touch with some people in the Republican Party in New Jersey....

Yesterday, National Journal's Michael Catalini gave a rather depressing look at the prospects so far for Republicans in Minnesota's 2014 Senate race, when Al Franken will defend his seat for the first time --- and so far, no one has volunteered to challenge him. Norm Coleman, who lost the seat by 312 votes in 2008 after a months-long recount and challenge, has firmly declared himself uninterested in another election: After winning election by the narrowest of margins in 2008, Sen. Al Franken looked like one of the GOPÂ’s most inviting Senate targets in 2014. But instead, the party is facing...