Free Republic

MARIETTA, GA. Democrats have discovered something unexpected in Jon Ossoff, the 30-year-old first-time candidate from Georgia: a model for winning back the House majority. Now they just need to try and replicate it —

My mother is in her final hours after battling breast cancer since Sept 2011. Prayers for my family. Sincere Thanks

Republican presidential candidate John Kasich said on Saturday that he would not have signed the controversial North Carolina law that requires transgender people to use bathrooms that correlate with their gender at birth.

A new state senator for this area was elected Tuesday in a special election that was decided by only 12 percent of the nearly 82,000 registered voters in eight counties. Republican Steve West of Millersburg won six of the eight counties to capture the remaining 20 months of the term. Democrat Kelly Caudill of Maysville won in Rowan and Mason counties but lost by a total of 866 votes in the special election. West will fill the Senate seat vacated by Walter Blevins.

Fox News host Greg Gutfeld will be developing a new weekend program for the cable news network with a bit of an edge to it, with a “whimsical nature and political satire.” Fox announced the new show for Gutfeld, currently in development, in a press release today. Fox News EVP of Programming Bill Shine said, “We are confident that Gutfeld’s distinct perspective and knack for humor will start a valuable dialogue and be a refreshing addition to the weekend line-up.” The show, Fox says, will “focus on his strong libertarian values and social commentary.” However, this new role for Gutfeld...

Tea Party darling Donna Campbell rode voter discontent — and millions of dollars in negative advertising — to a huge victory on Tuesday over State Sen. Jeff Wentworth, abruptly ending his two decades in the Texas Senate.

JACKSON -- House Speaker Billy McCoy has given the Senate an ultimatum: approve his chamber’s redistricting plan as is, or the matter will immediately go to the U.S. Department of Justice. McCoy, D-Rienzi, released a statement Wednesday informing Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant and others he has no intention of negotiating a compromise. Legislators are redrawing the 122 House districts and 52 Senate districts to reflect population changes revealed by the 2010 Census. Read more: http://www.sunherald.com/2011/03/16/2949193/house-leader-gives-senate-ultimatum.html#ixzz1GpRMx9WY

Standard & Poor’s late Thursday said Netflix, data-storage provider F5 Networks Inc. (NFX) and oil and gas company Newfield Exploration Co. will replace the New York Times Co. (NYT) , Office Depot Inc. and Eastman Kodak Co. in the S&P 500 Index (SPX) .

Ballots were still being counted late Tuesday in a high-stakes election along the Central Coast that could swing the balance of power in the state Senate. John Laird, a former Democratic assemblyman from Santa Cruz, and Sam Blakeslee, a Republican assemblyman from San Luis Obispo, continued to campaign as the polls closed Tuesday night, each capping a hard-fought bid that would strengthen their party's foothold in the state Legislature...

Rep. Dina Titus' infamous F-bomb prediction that Democrats would face election year trouble after supporting the divisive health care reform has landed with an explosive bang in her backyard. The freshman Democrat is now running behind Republican opponent Joe Heck, according to the latest poll commissioned by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, following $1.3 million in ads outside interests opposed to the health care bill have run to try to sink Titus' re-election hopes. According to the Mason-Dixon poll, Heck would get 49 percent of the vote if the election were held today and Titus would take home 44 percent, with...

Washington gay and lesbian newspaper The Washington Blade has ceased publication and is closing Monday, along with its parent company, Atlanta-based Window/Unite Media LLC. Window/Unite published five gay and lesbian publications, including Southern Voice, South Florida Blade, The 411 Magazine and David Atlanta. All will stop publishing, and three of the company's offices will close. The news, first reported by Washington City Paper’s sister paper Creative Loafing Atlanta, was confirmed by a Washington Blade employee. The publication has also stated the news on its Twitter feed: “Washington Blade, like all Window Media publications, is closing today. Thank you for your...

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security recently revoked Gov. Mark Sanford's access to classified federal security information, then reinstated it after acknowledging that the suspension was made in error. It was unclear late Thursday whether the suspension was related to Sanford's secret trip last month to Argentina to meet his mistress....

KBH Gubernatorial Exploratory Committee posts Texarkana Gazette Editorial smearing Sarah Palin, and by association, Gov. Perry. ...If Perry relies too heavily on Palin, he may find himself with a lot of time to watch Russians from her front porch come January 2011.

From "An Inconvenient Truth" to popularizing the Prius, Hollywood has helped lead the way on some environmental issues. One of the latest initiatives: Cool Change, Fox's company-wide program to reduce the network's impact on global warming. As part of that effort, the seventh season of "24" will take steps to reduce and offset the carbon emissions from the show's production, with the goal of having the season finale be entirely carbon-neutral. ...

For the first time, Fred Thompson has taken the lead in the GOP 2008 Presidential Nomination Futures Market.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A swarm of bees clustered outside the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center shut down the emergency room Monday, as officials waited for a beekeeper to come vacuum up the 7,000 insects. Although no one was stung, the Little Rock emergency room still decided to be closed for ambulance traffic. "We'll take walk-ins, but ambulances are being diverted to other hospitals," UAMS spokeswoman Andrea Peel said. Doctors did not see any patients with bee stings, but emergency room physician Dr. Delaney Kinchen said it was an important precaution to close the ER while...

Today, for the first time, the Intrade/Tradesports contract for Giuliani to win the GOP nomination has surpassed that of McCain. Current prices are Rudy 31.0 and McCain 30.3

It was a dubious maneuver, which not only prevented any real floor debate over the ban, but also attached an intrusive, unnecessary, big government measure to a bill that addressed important national security concerns. This meant that any senator who held the position that what Americans do with their own money in their own homes on their own time is none of the government's business couldn't vote against the gambling ban, lest they risk being smacked about the head with the "soft on national security" cudgel.

On Monday President Bush flies into Houston to campaign for a congressional candidate who — at one point — looked like a long shot. But an exclusive poll indicates that Shelley Sekula-Gibbs may pull off a political upset and win her write-in campaign for Congress.