Free Republic

Blame Bush, blame Palin, Obama is cool, even-tempered and the Messiah. They refer to the "post-racial" era that makes people forget race. (Funny, abolishing affirmative action or crime wasn't discussed) The ass kissing of these three dying mediums for an unproven Leftist is just par for the Marxist old media. ...Nothing on Obama many Communist or terror mentorships and connections. Nothing on his faked birth certificate, nothing on Odinga... They spoke nearly in all past-tense, as BHO has been elected. They say Republicans have gone downscale as a party and left the upper crust WASP model and settled into the...

Charlie Cook, founder of The Cook Report and a columnist for The National Journal called the race for Obama this morning, and for congressional Democrats who he thinks will take at least 7 Senate and 20 House seats. "...today it seems very unlikely that the focal point of this election is going to shift away from the economy. And as long as the economy is the focal point, it's difficult to see how this gets any better for Republicans up or down the ballot. It's sobering to think of the magnitude an event would have to have to pull voters...

Well, "Bittergate" is a Wright-size problem. To recap, at a fundraiser in San Francisco last week, Obama said: "You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are going to regenerate and they have not. And it's not surprising then, that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like...

 Just yesterday, Charlie Cook updated his race rankings. I have to say, I think he might have jumped the shark.Reading Cook has felt to me like watching one of my favorite sitcoms. Maybe a bit like Seinfeld: his trajectory this electoral season has seemed like that show. I was with him in the Spring. Good points, well argued. I liked it. Read him every week. Disagreed often (very often!), but the disagreements always got me a-thinkin', which is something I truly enjoy. I checked his site every day. But, slowly but surely, I started to move away from him. He...

From Charlie Cook's forthcoming National Journal column: "Time is running out for Republicans. Unless something dramatic happens before Election Day, Democrats will take control of the House. And the chances that they’ll seize the Senate are rising toward 50-50. "The electoral hurricane bearing down on the GOP looks likely to be a Category 4 or 5, strong enough to destroy at least one of the party’s majorities. The political climate feels much as it did before previous elections that produced sizable upheavals, such as in 1994, when Democrats lost 52 House seats, eight Senate seats, and control of both chambers."

The 2006 midterm elections will be a disaster for the Republican Party -- unless a "cataclysmic event" saves the day. That's the dire warning from political analyst Charlie Cook, who predicts in his "Off to the Races" column that the GOP's expected misfortune will result from a perfect storm of three factors:

There is growing evidence that Republicans will face a voter turnout problem in the November midterm elections.The GOP faces not only enormous misgivings among voters about the war in Iraq -- which amounts to 70 or 80 percent of President Bush's problems -- but also a combination of Social Security, mounting budget deficits, Hurricane Katrina, Harriet Miers, port security, immigration, gasoline prices and various scandals. History tells us that when one party is either complacent or disillusioned -- and the other party is highly motivated, agitated or angry -- the results can be devastating to the former while providing boundless...

by Mark Finkelstein March 27, 2006 Wouldn't you think that someone who fashions his show "Hardball" would have the intestinal fortitude to invite on at least one guest who disagrees with his world view? At least tonight, Chris Matthews apparently thought that unnecessary. Here was Matthews guest line-up this evening: Philippe Sands: left-wing Brit, author of a new book, Lawless World, accusing Bush of having decided very early on in the game to go to war against Iraq. John Podesta: the lugubrious former chief-of-staff to Bill Clinton and member of Hillary's inner circle. Pat Buchanan: while the Today show had...

A year ago, with Republican victories in the 2004 elections still fresh and with President Bush's job-approval ratings still above 50 percent, Democrats' chances of capturing the House looked fairly slim. Today, however, with Bush's approval ratings hovering around 42 percent, the possibility of a Democratic takeover -- although less than 50-50 -- is very real.

by Mark Finkelstein January 18, 2006 - 07:38 When Republican leader Trent Lott made racially insensitive remarks, the MSM was immediately flooded with speculation as to whether he could survive in his political leadership post. But when Hillary Clinton did the same, the Today show portrayed her as going on the offense, not being on the defense. You might have imagined Today's graphic for this morning's segment would have read along the lines "Hillary Feeling the Heat". Imagine again. In fact it read "Off and Running? Hillary Attacks GOP". Offense, not defense. Today also conveniently omitted mentioning that her 'plantation'...

I received this Email from Charlie Cook's Website, and thought it interesting enough to post: Republican voters and independents who lean toward the GOP were asked: In thinking about a Republican nominee for president in 2008, which ONE of the following descriptions comes closest to the kind of candidate you would prefer as the Republican nominee for president: a) A candidate who is a strong conservative, who emphasizes social cultural issues, and is pro-life and opposes gay marriage; b) A candidate who is a strong conservative focusing on business and tax issues, and who favors conservative positions on social and...

The two presumptive favorites for 2008 presidential nominations each face enormous challenges, according to the new Cook Political Report/RT Strategies national poll. Indeed, their problems are almost mirror opposites of each other.For New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrats and Democratic primary voters nationwide are highly receptive to her strengths and downplay her weaknesses. But among independents the view is considerably cooler, and is downright cold among Republicans, raising real questions of electability.On the other hand, if Arizona Sen. John McCain were as well regarded among Republicans and GOP primary voters as he is among independents and Democrats, he'd be...

Only in a place as obsessed with politics as Washington could an election more than three and a half years away dominate so many discussions. But, heading into the first presidential campaign in 80 years without an incumbent president or vice president running, the possibilities are fascinating. On the Republican side, virtually every national poll shows former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani leading the pack, with 25 to 30 percent of the vote. Sen. John McCain of Arizona tends to run second, with 20 to 25 percent, and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia,...

OFF TO THE RACES Butler's Chances Black Minister From Detroit May Prove To Be A GOP Exception By Charlie Cook Tuesday, May 3, 2005 Central to the job of a political analyst is to assess the partisanship and voting patterns of a state or congressional district, the strengths and weaknesses of the incumbent if one is running and of the other candidates in the field, the availability of resources and any other circumstances that might become important in the contest, and then weigh the importance of each of these factors. After almost three decades of watching congressional elections, I have...

Cook's opinion is that the Bush campaign was been very well run and that the Republican convention was very well planned. When asked about Zell Miller, Cook thought it was the single most effective moment of the convention. A friend of his had compared Miller to Col. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now. But Cook felt that it was an effective way of penetrating the skulls of the undecideds and grabbing their attention. He quoted Lee Atwater from 1998, when Atwater said of Dukakis, "We're going to strip the bark off that son of a bitch." Cook feels that the Kerry campaign...

More Questions Than Answers In Iowa By Charlie Cook Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2004 Notwithstanding the District of Columbia's inept and unsuccessful bid for attention with a Jan. 13 shadow Democratic presidential primary, the opening bell for the Democratic nomination rings at 6:30 p.m. (CST) on Monday, Jan. 19 in Iowa. As the Iowa caucuses get closer, the outlook for the Democratic nomination gets murkier and murkier. Tracking polls going into the holidays indicated that former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean was in first place in the mid-to-high twenties, with Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri licking at his heels in the low-to-mid-twenties....