Free Republic

Amid a vicious winter storm on Monday that forced some presidential campaigns to cancel their scheduled stops in Iowa, only Martin O'Malley decided to press on. And one man at his last event, the only person to show up, in fact, "was glad to see me," the former Maryland governor said. But he still would not commit to caucus for O'Malley. "The very last event of the night, we actually had a whopping total of one person show up, but by God, he was glad to see me. So we spent the time with him," the Democratic presidential candidate told...

It’s time to acknowledge a milestone in the 2016 GOP primary. No, it’s not that Jeb Bush has broken his paleo diet. Rather, it’s that the leader in the Iowa polls is no longer the weakest frontrunner in caucus history! Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is now polling ahead of where Mitt Romney was at this point in the 2012 cycle. Walker is up to 18.4 percent in an average of Iowa polls conducted in 2015; Romney was at 18 percent in surveys conducted through the first half of 2011. Looking at just the last five surveys, Walker is now up...

Jeb Bush is exploring a 2016 presidential bid. The former Florida governor said in a post on Facebook Tuesday that over the Thanksgiving holiday there was a lot of discussion about the future of the nation. “As a result of these conversations and thoughtful consideration of the kind of strong leadership I think America needs, I have decided to actively explore the possibility of running for President of the United States,” Mr. Bush said. Mr. Bush said he plans to establish a Leader PAC next month to “help me facilitate conversations with citizens across America to discuss the most critical...

Right blasts RNC 'autopsy' as power grab By: Jonathan Martin and Maggie Haberman March 18, 2013 12:21 PM EDT The GOP’s prescription to cure the ills that helped bring on yet another disastrous presidential cycle would revamp its presidential nominating rules in ways to benefit well-funded candidates and hamper insurgents - a move that quickly heated up the already smoldering feud between the Republican establishment and the tea party-inspired base. Tucked in near the end of the 97-page report, formally known as The Growth and Opportunity Project, are less than four pages that amount to a political bombshell: the five-member...

Despite the slow pace of introducing new or modernized weapons and equipment into the table of organization and equipment (TOE) in Russia’s Armed Forces, there are signs that progress is more sporadic and prioritizes one strategic direction. The South Military District (SMD) is receiving new combat hardware and weapons systems at a much faster rate than other military districts. In some areas of the TOE, the share of modern equipment has now surpassed more than 70 percent (Interfax, May 4). Russian T-90 tank (Source: freerepublic.com) According to the press service of the SMD, the district will receive over 40 new...

Police and organizers shut down proceedings at one of Missouri's largest caucuses today, as Ron Paul supporters feuded with local GOP leaders. "It's like the Hatfields and the McCoys around here," St. Charles County's former GOP chairman told ABC News, after police arrived on-scene with a helicopter and removed Paul backers. In St. Charles, an exurb of St. Louis and one of the state's largest GOP counties, Paul supporters sought to elect their own chairman and adopt their own rules when proceedings opened - both of which are part of standard caucus rules and procedure. But as they argued with...

After months of preparation, education, and activism by conservatives, all over Missouri, caucus day arrived, and in St. Charles County it came and went without awarding delegates. The Francis Howell North High School bleachers were packed and there was a standing room only crowd after the caucus was called to order, an hour and a half late. Clearly crowds exceeded expectation as checking in the overflow crowd took much longer than expected. Most in the crowd waited longer to be checked into the caucus than the caucus lasted. The beginning of the caucus started with the reading of the pre-approved...

Cassville, Mo., is a little town on the edge of the Ozark Mountains. During the Civil War, the Confederate state legislature convened here. Tuesday, the Republican presidential caucus was the big draw. Most of the rest of the state will hold its caucuses Saturday morning. Confusion On Caucus Night The first caucus was a messy process. More than 250 people showed up, most planning to vote directly for the candidates. But that was not to be. David Cole, the chairman of the Missouri Republican Party, told caucusgoers that they would be voting on delegates to attend district and state conventions....

Hawaii's relatively few number of delegates, 20, still matter very much even this late in the Primary and Caucus cycle. Leading candidates are ramping up their presence here ahead of Tuesday night's Caucus. Most of the leading candidates have a son or daughter here in the islands hoping to help secure delegates for the party nomination. "Hawaii gets to have a say in who they want to be the nominee to go up against Obama. So I'm encouraged on Tuesday. Every vote matters," said Rick Santorum's daughter, Elizabeth....

That is what's on the calendar for today. Gingrich way back.

After winning three of ten Super Tuesday states, but narrowly losing to Mitt Romney in Ohio, Rick Santorum will try to generate some new momentum on Saturday in Kansas with GOP Presidential caucuses in that state. 40 delegates are at stake in the Sunflower State - 12 delegates are handed out 'winner take all' in the four congressional districts in Kansas; three to the winner in each district. 28 delegates are divided up proportionally based on the statewide results; 20% of the vote is the threshold to qualify for that batch of delegates. Santorum has done well in states near...

Santorum Strong in Kansas Rick Santorum looks set for a comfortable lead in the state of Kansas, which holds its caucuses Saturday with 40 delegates up for grabs. "We chased all the candidates out of Kansas!" Santorum said Friday. Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich have skipped the state to focus on Alabama and Mississippi, with their primaries on Tuesday. Santorum is expected to win the state even though Bob Dole, the former GOP presidential candidate from Kansas, endorsed Romney earlier this week.

Rick needs momentum heading into Super Tuesday.

EAST MACHIAS, Maine -- Ron Paul has gained 83 votes on Mitt Romney following a Republican presidential caucus in eastern Maine, where voting last week had been postponed due to bad weather. Romney still holds a 156-vote lead over Paul in statewide totals. Paul received 163 votes in Saturday's Washington County caucus, where Republicans from more than two dozen towns gathered to cast their votes. Romney received 80 votes. Rick Santorum got 57 votes and Newt Gingrich received four votes.

The Maine Republican Party is being urged to reconsider its announcement that presidential candidate Mitt Romney won a preference poll of state caucus-goers, the Bangor Daily News reports. The Maine GOP said on Saturday that Romney had defeated Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, 39 percent to 36 percent, or less than 200 votes, in the state’s weeklong caucuses. To be counted, party officials said the meetings had to be concluded by Feb. 11. According to the newspaper, some communities that followed caucus procedure were still not counted in the final tabulation. In addition, one county was forced to postpone its caucus...

Nevada state GOP chair Amy Tarkanian boasted this week that her state will turn Republican in the next presidential election. Not likely if her state GOP runs that show like it ran the Nevada caucuses, which were an embarrassing display of bad planning and execution on multiple levels. Aside from the scheduling, the choice of caucus locations, and the decision to shut out thousands of workers on the Las Vegas strip which we’ve detailed here, let’s now clue you all in on the litany of other problems: 1. The GOP couldn’t deliver results in a timely manner.An all-night count —...

Las Vegas -- Today's Republican caucuses in Nevada differ from primary elections by requiring voters to devote a block of time to make their preferences known in a process that takes more time than just filling out a ballot. There are also some unusual rules set this year by the GOP officials in the state, including:Timing: Republican Party officials in each county decide when to hold caucus meetings. In Clark County, home to Las Vegas and 70 percent of state residents, the meetings are at 9 a.m. today - a time that is inconvenient for the city's taxi drivers, waitresses...

Occupy Iowa and Healthcare NOT Warfare had been attempting to organize a protest vote for a slate of uncommitted, progressive delegates in Tuesday’s Iowa caucuses. With most eyes on the super-tight Republican contest, it’s hard to find any complete results for the Democratic caucuses. In fact, we may never know what happened in some of those Iowa meetings. However, turning to Twitter, it is possible to see some scattered reports of uncommitted delegates being elected at the county-level.Iowa City’s precinct 15 appears to have elected 3 Obama county delegates and a single uncommitted delegate. Iowa City’s precinct 17 elected...

It's not too early to project one set of winners from today's Iowa caucuses: the strategists and advertising whizzes of the political industrial complex who are taking advantage of a Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance to collect and spend unlimited donations from wealthy individuals and special interests to become a force in the presidential race. In Iowa, the candidate who appeared to receive the biggest boost from an ostensibly independent political action committee was Mitt Romney. A group called Restore Our Future reportedly spent nearly $3 million on broadcast advertising aimed at lifting Romney's stature in Iowa - and,...

On Saturday, during in an appearance on WSUM 91.7, the University of Wisconsin’s student radio station located in Madison, Darcy Richardson encouraged his supporters in neighboring Iowa to come out and caucus for the Occupy Iowa and Healthcare NOT Warfare efforts to elect a slate of progressive, uncommitted delegates in this Tuesday’s caucuses. “I’ve been encouraging my supporters in Iowa to join with the Occupy Iowa and Healthcare Not Warfare organizations in sending the strongest possible message to the Obama administration,” Richardson told the listening audience. Supporting an uncommitted slate in Iowa gives progressives the best chance to make their...