Free Republic

With proposed new district boundaries, Republicans must recruit more moderate candidates and find common ground with more Californians, experts say. ********* [snip] Labor unions, which are Democrats' biggest allies, say the combination of the "top-two" primary system and the new political maps creates unprecedented opportunities for them to influence Republican races. Last week, the Service Employees International Union launched a political action committee aimed at helping moderate Republicans be elected to the Legislature. "The California Republican Party doesn't have enough money to buy a foreclosed home in Sacramento," said SEIU Executive Director David Kieffer. Jim Brulte, a GOP operative and...

The field for the GOP 2012 Presidential primary is beginning to take shape, both in terms of who is running and who is not. Frankly, I’m neither surprised nor disappointed by Donald Trump’s announcement that he will not run. Although he promised to be an interesting candidate, it was becoming increasingly clear that he would prove to be more of a distraction than a serious contender for the office. Newt Gingrich has finally made his candidacy official, and has promptly made sure there is no chance I will be able to support his efforts by trying to co-opt Obamacare and...

IT'S MY PARTY: The Democrats in the Senate are headed to President Obama's turf on Wednesday to talk with him about the deficit and, the White House says, other things. In guidance to reporters, the White House said that at the meeting at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Obama and the "Senate Democratic Caucus" will cover "the range of important issues on the legislative agenda, including the need to adopt a balanced approach in confronting the nation’s long-term deficit challenges." The meeting is closed to the press..

The silly season is upon us. The presidential primary season is just around the corner and for the third time in a row a relatively unpopular president is likely to be reelected while his opposition is in disarray. Almost alone among European democracies, the United States elects leaders on the basis of their campaign skills, not their governing skills. We elect the best TV performer — the best campaigner — regardless of previous experience. In Britain, only three people can be leader of the nation — the heads of the Labor, Conservative and Liberal Democratic parties. No other members of...

....Now that Republicans are running the House, Democrats have tried to stymie the GOP agenda by relying on the tactic, known as the motion to recommit. But they've failed on every one of their 23 attempts this year. ...the maneuver is aimed at forcing members of the majority into an untenable choice between opposing their party's position or casting a vote that opponents could use against them in election campaigns. For a recommit motion to work, the minority party must pick off at least some members of the majority. Thus Democrats would need at least a few dozen of the...

Americans have spent the last three generations growing detached from their communities. The book “Bowling Alone” by Robert Putnam illustrates the aggressive decline of civic engagement in the United States. The premise is simple; in generations past, ending with the Greatest Generation who came of age during the Depression and World War II, Americans were engaged in everything from neighborhood clubs, civic groups — and even bowling leagues. The inventions of television and radio and suburban life with long commutes have eroded the public engagement of most Americans. Information and ideas are no longer discussed in meetings, but on the...

President Barack Obama’s pledge to veto legislation containing so-called “earmarks” has so rankled Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev) that he has vowed “to fight to my last breath against this power grab.” “The President isn’t the only one who gets to say who will be on the receiving end of government spending,” Reid said. “All of us who must face the voters need campaign donations if we’re to be reelected. Channeling federal dollars to the businesses and interest groups who fill our campaign coffers is the payback that’s expected from these donors. Without it their incentive to give will...

I have lived in Washington for over forty years. Between us, my husband and I have worked for the federal government, in private practice, in the House, in the Senate, and for nonprofits. In those years, we've learned a fair amount about the workings of this city. But there are some things I never will understand. The first of these is the utility of relying on political consultants. I am sure there must be some good ones, but I seem never to have met them. The ones I have met seem to be largely glad-handlers, purveyors of conventional pieties,...

It's taken a good part of the past week for the breadth of the conservative achievement in the midterms to sink in. Over sixty new House seats, six Senate seats (we can safely say, no matter what occurs in Alaska, since Murkowski is a member of the Murkowski Party representing only Murkowski), thirty-plus statehouses, and no fewer than twenty "trifectas" -- that is, states in which the GOP owns the House, Senate, and governorship. The 2010 election was a victory both broad and deep, one that will be paying dividends for years to come. It could have been better. Anything,...

Are these really the "dirtiest" political campaigns in history? Have this year's negative political ads really "taken dirty to a whole new level, as CNN's Anderson Cooper frets? Is a "return to civility...a relic of a bygone era," as President Barack Obama laments?

Much is being said in the 2010 campaign cycle about outside spending on political candidates. Most recently, the Democrats have been making much of some foreign contributions to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Democrats have accused the Chamber of using that foreign money as part of the millions of dollars that the Chamber has spent trying to help Republicans to get elected, which would be illegal. The Chamber, of course, denies any wrongdoing, and the majority of the evidence would seem to indicate that they are right. What seems missing from this conversation, however, is any discussion of the appropriateness...

I have posted this to a number of threads where it was germaine to the topic. Yesterday, a fellow Freeper suggested that, with a CRITICAL election coming up on 11/2, it merited its own thread. So, here it is. Have at it!! :-)) ***************************************** Over the years – when, to steal a line from Billy Joel, I wore a younger man’s clothes – I was involved with several pretty solid conservative candidates for Congress. One was a Democrat (Lawrence Patton McDonald) – because that was the only way he could win in that district. Those old-timers who know Larry’s record...

WASHINGTON — After 18 months of careful image-making and bipartisanship, Michelle Obama is shifting course as first lady, stepping up her policy agenda and dipping into election-year politics to campaign and raise money for Democrats. Despite stinging criticism of her summer vacation to Spain with daughter Sasha — aides warned her not to go, and the backlash was fiercer than they had imagined — Mrs. Obama is the most popular member of her husband’s administration. Having worked to build good will through nonideological causes like fighting obesity and assisting military families, aides say, she is ready to spend some of...

Jim Bennett, the son of Sen. Bob Bennett who ran his father’s campaign for a fourth term this year, has begun working as a volunteer on the Senate campaign of Democrat Sam Granato, who hopes to replace the senior Bennett in Washington, D.C. Bennett was ousted at the Republican State Convention earlier this year when he came in third in the delegate vote. Mike Lee then defeated Tim Bridgewater in the GOP primary to become the Republican nominee against Granato in the November election. The defeat of Bennett at the convention has triggered concerns among a number of traditional Republicans...

Just a few months ago, Cedra Crenshaw was a stay at home mom. A former accountant and auditor, she was spending her free time fighting for transparency and accountability from local governing bodies. She became a regular at school board meetings. Quality education for all, is one of her passions. Living in Illinois, she knew firsthand, what many in America are now witnessing. The liberal policies that the current administration espouse, don't work. The same Chicago Machine that put Obama in the White House is the same machine responsible for the Illinois' debt crisis. For nearly a decade, Illinois Democrats...

Concerned Women for America condemns, the passage of the DISCLOSE Act in the House of Representatives today. Penny Nance, CEO of Concerned Women for America, stated: "The DISCLOSE Act is designed to stifle Americans' legitimate right to political speech and carves out exceptions for powerful special interest groups and unions. It places onerous regulations on small business owners and grassroots groups if they attempt to educate the public on candidates and issues....

Under a "jungle" or "Louisiana primary" regime, there are no partisan ballots in the August primary election. Instead, multiple Democrats, Republicans, Greens, Libertarians, Larouchies and whoever else are all thrown into the pot with each other, and the top two vote-getters appear on the November ballot, regardless of party. Given gerrymandered districts, and even just political/cultural/geographic realities, it's very likely that many if not most November legislative elections could feature just two Democrats running against each other, or two Republicans. The system has been in place for many years in Louisiana, among other things producing the infamous 1991 general election...

The Tea Party movement had another chance to show its influence in elections in last week's primary elections in 11 states across the country. In Nevada, a Tea Party candidate knocked off a GOP competitor. Some public policy experts and a political activist give their thoughts on what it means to the Tea Party movement.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are preparing to roll out a series of changes at several privately owned immigration detention centers, including relaxing some security measures for low-risk detainees and offering art classes, bingo and continental breakfast on the weekends. The changes were welcomed by immigrant advocates who have been waiting for the Obama administration to deliver on a promise made in August to overhaul the nation's immigration detention system. The 28 changes identified in the e-mail range from the superficial to the substantive. In addition to “softening the look of the facility” with hanging plants and offering fresh carrot...

As oil continues to pour into the Gulf of Mexico with no real end in sight, the spill is becoming an issue in the 2010 campaign. On Wednesday, the League of Conservation Voters launched a TV ad using footage of the April 20 explosion on BP's Deepwater Horizon to attack Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln's ties to BP and the overall oil industry. "Big Oil has another gusher," the ad says, as a cartoon image of the U.S. Capitol dome explodes in a spout of dollar bills. "But this time it's tens of millions in campaign cash." The ad slams Lincoln,...