Free Republic

No wonder Arkansas is turning Republican.Democratic Arkansas governor Mike Beebe decided to wrap up his second term by pardoning his own son for a drug offense. Forced out by term limits, Beebe had been discussed as a potential Dem presidential candidate in the New York Times, but he finally made national headlines for the wrong reason.Not content to simply pardon his son, Beebe went through the farce of releasing his son’s request for a “second chance” letter, as if the son of an Arkansas governor needs a second chance or has to write a letter to his father asking...

Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe plans to pardon his son for a felony drug charge from more than a decade ago. "It will probably be in the next few weeks," said Matt DeCample, a spokesman for the governor. "For any pardons the governor does the person has to have finished all terms of their sentence ... and then had a period of time where they've shown they have straightened their lives out." Kyle Beebe, who is now 34, was charged in 2003 with possession of a controlled substance -- marijuana -- with intent to deliver. He was fined and sentenced to...

Outgoing Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe's office says he plans to pardon his son over a felony marijuana conviction. Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said the two-term Democratic governor planned to pardon his son, Kyle, who was convicted in 2003 of felony possession of marijuana with intent to deliver. DeCample said the pardon recommendation would be included in the final pardons issued by the governor early next month.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who turned his stunning victory in the 2008 Iowa caucuses into a thriving talk show career, is reconnecting with activists and enlisting staff to position himself in a growing field of potential Republican presidential candidates. This week, Huckabee is leading more than 100 pastors and GOP insiders from early primary states on a 10-day overseas trip with stops in Poland and England. Huckabee’s newly formed non-profit advocacy group, America Takes Action, has begun to serve as an employment perch for his political team, recently bringing on a number of experienced campaign operatives.

House Republicans will have their largest majority since the 1930s next year, but that doesn't mean Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) job will be easy.The House GOP leadership's struggles in keeping members in line over the past four years have been well documented. Some of the incoming freshmen will likely join the ranks of conservatives who frequently oppose leadership initiatives.Among the new freshmen, for instance, is one congressman-elect who has called Hillary Clinton the "anti-Christ," another who has suggested Muslims don't deserve First Amendment rights, and yet another who has declared himself open to the idea of the United States invading...

Last week in Arkansas, Issue 3 passed very narrowly. The win for Issue 3 means the term limits on state legislators will now be dramatically weakened from six to 16 years in the state’s House and from eight to 16 years in the Senate. Plus, a new commission appointed by legislators is now poised to give legislators a big, fat pay raise. You are probably wondering: the voters wanted all that? No. We have reason to believe they did not. They were tricked. They voted for Issue 3 while at sea, confused. That confusion had been stirred into the political...

With the walloping Republicans gave Democrats in the midterm elections, the GOP stands one Louisiana Senate runoff away from completely controlling Southern politics from the Carolinas to Texas. Only a handful of Democrats hold statewide office in the rest of the Old Confederacy. The results put Southern Republicans at the forefront in Washington—from Senate Majority Leader-in-waiting Mitch McConnell of Kentucky to a host of new committee chairmen. Those leaders and the rank-and-file behind them will set the Capitol Hill agenda and continue molding the GOP’s identity heading into 2016. In statehouses, consolidated Republican power affords the opportunity to advance conservative...

Sitting at his laptop, Jon Black scrolled over "Arkansas" to see a burst of bar graphs, each representing a week's worth of data on an important slice of the electorate: Republican-leaning Arkansans who often don't vote. Black winced. A crooked blue line skirted just above the top of seven consecutive bars, telling Black, director of voter turnout at the Republican National Committee, that his Arkansas colleagues were short of their goals for this particular cluster of voters labeled "High Value GOP." He called his colleagues in Arkansas. Almost instantly, Tom Cotton's Senate campaign started visiting, calling, and aiming digital ads...

LITTLE ROCK — Republican Asa Hutchinson won the Arkansas governor’s race Tuesday, defeating Democrat Mike Ross to put the state’s top office back in Republican hands after Democrat Mike Beebe’s eight years in office.Republican candidates swept all seven of the state’s constitutional offices in an election that saw the GOP take over as the state’s official majority party.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Liberal MSNBC contributor Jimmy Williams said the “old white people” in the South who vote Republican are “going to die someday” and hopefully usher in a new era of Democratic rule in the region. Host Krystal Ball, a former failed Democratic congressional candidate, asked Williams whether white Southerners should just be written off by the party, but Williams said never, saying that since they are “for people” and Republicans aren’t, they would eventually win the day. “Mitt Romney only won South Carolina with 53 [percent], John McCain with 52,” he said. “That’s a changing South. Those old white people? They’re...

Arkansas had one of the hottest Senate races in the country this Fall and leading national pro-life groups said voters in the Natural State had a clear preference when it comes to which candidate is more concerned about protecting women and unborn children. The National Right to Life Committee, together with its affiliate, Arkansas Right to Life, endorsed Rep. Tom Cotton for election to the U.S. Senate. Today, he defeated pro-abortion Sen. Mark Pryor. tomcotton“As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Tom Cotton has been a strong advocate for the right-to-life cause,” said Carol Tobias, president of National...

Early exit polls show GOP wins in KY, AR, CO, IA, KS, GA - if those hold, GOP Senate majority is certain. Watch VA - closer than expected. Early exit polls show GOP wins in KY, AR, CO, IA, KS, GA - if those hold, GOP Senate majority is certain. Watch VA - closer than expected.— Sean Noble (@seannobledc)

NOTE: the survival of our Republic is threatened by two things -- fundamentalist Islamic terrorists and Hillary Rodham Clinton. President Bush is leading the fight against the terrorists. It is up to those of us who know the real Hillary Clinton to lead the fight against her. We must shine the light of truth on this dangerous woman so that all Americans may know the real Hillary. #1 in a series. Hillary Clinton has again shown to be a liar without conscience. The following is from the New York Post during the 2000 Senate campaign against Rick Lazio. Hillary Accuser...

Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics and one of the most widely respected political analysts in the country, has come out with his final predictions for the 2014 midterms, and he predicts a good night for Republicans. In his “Crystal Ball” picks, Sabato see an 8-seat pick-up for Republicans in the Senate, which would give them a 2-seat majority.

“The trend line in Arkansas looks gruesome for Mark Pryor,” Guy wrote in his preview post this morning surveying a handful of closely-watched Senate contests around the country. And who among us could disagree? Consider, for instance, this left leaning (D+7) PPP poll, which dropped over the weekend. Despite the fact that the D/R/I sample breakdown is 39/32/29, Sen. Pryor still finds himself on the losing end:

This started as a top ten list.Let's face it, with President Obama's awful approval ratings and the unfortunate consequences of Obamacare felt like a sting around the country, Democrats were already vulnerable in this year's midterm elections. These gaffes certainly won't help. Let's take a look at some of the worst mistakes Dems have made on the campaign trail so far:1.) That awful/insensitive/shameful and now infamous ad from the Wendy Davis (D-TX) gubernatorial campaign. 2.) Those colorful campaign memos from Michelle Nunn’s (D-GA) campaign, in which her own campaign referred to her as a “lightweight.” 3.) Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) saying he was...

This is a fantastic 5-minute video of a black man at a Republican campaign office talking about his journey from being a Democrat to becoming a conservative. Having gone on the same journey seven years ago, I’m ever-intrigued by what causes this shift. And more importantly, how to nurture it in others. In this case, the gentleman in the video was a Democrat because (1) he is black and therefore liberal party alliance is automatic, and (2) he had a long-held belief that the Democratic Party was the party for everyday people.

After a long day crisscrossing Arkansas in a motorhome, Tom Cotton receives a rock star’s welcome when he walks into the Craighead County Republican Headquarters in northeast Arkansas. He is there to thank volunteers who have been doggedly working the phones to get voters out to the polls. "I've largely played the part I can play," he tells the crowd. "Now, it's up to you." The work Cotton has done since he declared he would challenge incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor has him going into Election Day with a head of steam. The latest Real Clear Politics average has him...

Pfc. Due W. Turner is no longer the unknown soldier of Columbia County, Arkansas. At last his name has been added to the monument dedicated to the country's veterans on the courthouse square in Magnolia, Arkansas. That empty space on the list of Columbia County's veterans of World War II had stood waiting to be filled all these years, like a silent sentinel. The committee in charge of the monument, once it learned that one of the county's own had been overlooked all these years, did its duty -- just as Private Turner had done his. At long last, it...

Consider this an object lesson and fair warning for all those other states that are trying to what they can to improve education or even cut through the bureaucracy that seems to cover it everywhere -- like kudzu. Here in Arkansas, our never-give-up reformers came up with a simple way to let parents, teachers, schools boards, taxpayers and anybody else who's interested -- and we all should be -- know how good a job their neighborhood school is doing. That's right -- the school where little Johnny or Judy goes. Just give each school a grade, the kind you might...