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None of the three candidates for congress has more than 30 percent of the electorate's vote, according to a new poll. The poll of 300 likely voters was conducted by McLaughlin & Associates for Conservative party candidate Doug Hoffman. The poll showed Republican Dede Scozzafava with 30% of the vote, Democrat Bill Owens with 20% and Hoffman with 19%. Thirty-one per cent of those polled were undecided. Pollster John McLaughlin said the poll shows that Hoffman "has an excellent chance of winning this election." "This race is shaping up to be a clear choice among a liberal Republican, a liberal...

Could Sarah's move mean the beginning of a Conservative third party?

Sixty-nine percent (69%) of Republican voters say Alaska Governor Sarah Palin helped John McCain’s bid for the presidency, even as news reports surface that some McCain staffers think she was a liability. Only 20% of GOP voters say Palin hurt the party’s ticket, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Six percent (6%) say she had no impact, and five percent (5%) are undecided. Ninety-one percent (91%) of Republicans have a favorable view of Palin, including 65% who say their view is Very Favorable. Only eight percent (8%) have an unfavorable view of her, including three percent (3%)...

'Compassionate' Conservatism Was a Mistake By DICK ARMEY The liberal pundits who embraced the candidacy of Barack Obama are also eager to issue a death certificate for free market capitalism. They're wrong, and they remind me of what the great Willie Nelson once said: "I'm ragged but I'm right." To be sure, the American people have handed power over to the Democrats. But today there is a categorical difference between what Republicans stand for and the principles of individual freedom. Parties are all about getting people elected to political office; and the practice of politics too often takes the form...

The Conservative candidate for B.C.'s Skeena-Bulkley Valley insists naked photos taken of her in her office are not an issue for the party.Sharon Smith, the mayor of Houston, B.C., grabbed worldwide attention five years ago when pictures of her wearing nothing more than a smile and her mayor's robes were widely circulated on the Internet.

Return of the Atlanticists by: Jeff Waldmann, August 13, 2008 With the British Conservative Party poised for a thunderous victory in the next general election, the future appears bright for increased cooperation between the United States and Great Britain in the War on Terror, according to a July 29 Heritage Foundation panel. “Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s personal ratings are among the worst for a British leader in modern history, with 70% of Britons dissatisfied and just 17% approving,” said Niles Gardner, Director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation. So what can the United States expect...

John McCain is expected to have New York's Conservative Party line in the November presidential election, which could provide him with symbolic value nationally but not enough votes to win in a Democratic-leaning state where recent polls show Barack Obama with a comfortable lead. New York Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long said in an interview today that the expected September endorsement of McCain would be "a plus" for the Arizona senator among conservative voters around the country because New York is the only place with a statewide ballot line for the Conservative Party. McCain has clear conservative credentials - leadership...

David Cameron declared yesterday that some people who are poor, fat or addicted to alcohol or drugs have only themselves to blame. He said that society had been too sensitive in failing to judge the behaviour of others as good or bad, right or wrong, and that it was time for him to speak out against "moral neutrality"... "We talk about people being 'at risk of obesity' instead of talking about people who eat too much and take too little exercise," he said. "We talk about people being at risk of poverty, or social exclusion: it's as if these things...

MONTREAL, March 30 (UPI) -- A poll in Quebec is bad news for both the nationalist Bloc Quebecois and the Liberal Party. The Conservative Party, now the governing group in Canada, has gained at the expense of the other two, CTV reported. Support for the Bloc has dropped to 30 percent, the CROP poll found, while the Conservatives are now at 29 percent. Liberals are down to 20 percent, and the New Democratic Party is at 15 percent. Among Francophones, about 85 percent of the population of Quebec, support for the Bloc is at 35 percent, for the Conservatives at...

Alexander J. Madison – January 29, 2008 Fellow citizens, I was holding out hope that we could save the Republican Party from it’s slow, deliberate and painful march towards irrelevance. But with the only Reaganite in the primary election, Duncan Hunter, dropping out this past weekend, and Tom Tancredo long gone after being pilloried by the GOP cheerleaders on ‘conservative’ talk radio, and Fred Thompson, the only other reasonably traditional conservative, unable to get the necessary traction for a competitive race against the moderates, it is time to cut our losses and let the collapse take its natural course. The...

Sorry, Rudy: In an interview to air this Sunday, state Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long tells WNBC's Gabe Pressman the party is likely to give an early nod to Fred Thompson if he manages to "break through" in South Carolina. "As a Conservative, as the chairman of the New York state Conservative Party, my favorite candidate, naturally, is Fred Thompson," Long said. "He did very well this week in the debate. Certainly, I think in South Carolina. If he does well there, if he breaks through in South Carolina, he changes the face of this Republican race again. He becomes...

Saskatchewan’s new government is receiving a warm reception from Conservative governments in both Edmonton and Ottawa. The morning after the Saskatchewan general election – where the Sask. Party took 38 of 58 seats – was a bright one for Lloyd Snelgrove, Alberta MLA and cabinet minister. “With the new premier and the new attitude in government, I think the future for the prairies – for Western Canada – has never been brighter than it is this morning,” said Snelgrove, MLA for Lloydminster-Vermilion and President of the Treasury. With the Sask. Party generally seen as the more right-wing party in the...

Canadians often grumble about the outsized influence of Quebec in national politics. The province doesn’t even make up a quarter of the country’s population anymore, and yet it seems able to determine the limits of what governments in Ottawa can do on everything, from taxes and spending, to Canadian involvement in Afghanistan, and even Canada’s position on global warming. Americans frequently are told that Canada cannot be more helpful on a particular issue, “…because of Quebec." The Conservative minority government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper made several direct appeals to Quebec voters in its Throne Speech that officially opened a...

WASHINGTON - Republican presidential contender Fred Thompson swipes at GOP rival Rudy Giuliani in a speech he plans to give Monday night on the former New York mayor's home turf. "Some think the way to beat the Democrats in November is to be more like them. I could not disagree more," the one-time Tennessee senator says in remarks he is to deliver before the Conservative Party of New York. "I believe that conservatives beat liberals only when we challenge their outdated positions, not embrace them. This is not a time for philosophical flexibility, it is a time to stand up...

The state Conservative Party has invited Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson to be the featured speaker at its fall bash - a snub to local GOP favorite Rudy Giuliani. Conservative Mike Long said Giuliani is not his party's favorite son. "Is Thompson looked at by conservatives as someone they're comfortable with? That's a fair estimation," Long said of the ex-Tennessee senator and actor. "Thompson has a lion's share of support at the moment among New York Conservatives," Long said. "We're very honored and pleased he will speak."

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- New York conservatives have invited Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson to speak at a fall celebration -- not native son and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. State Conservative Party officials said it's not meant to be a slap at anyone, merely what they wanted to do. Giuliani has supported abortion rights, gun control and has been divorced twice, all issues that make him less popular among Conservatives than other candidates. The Conservative Party is the fourth largest in New York and can often be influential on the Republican side in elections. The party has...

The Marijuana Policy Project (www.mpp.org) reports that 55% of polled enrolled members of New York State's Conservative Party support medical marijuana with 35% oppose. See New York Conservatives Favor Medical Marijuana Bill, Poll Shows ... However, the leadership of the Conservative Party is adamantly opposed to medical marijuana. It is not really suprising to those who actually know many New York Conservatives that they support medical marijuana. It is a little reported fact that the Christian Coalition has endorsed medical marijuana. There is both a philosophical and self-interest component to these unexpected positions.... Just as many black Americans diverge from...

Possible GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson had two meetings on Rudolph Giuliani's home turf today. Thompson met with Michael Long, head of the state conservative party and with Steve Cassidy, president of the firefighters union. Yesterday, the International Association of Fire Fighters released a video, criticizing Giuliani's handling of 9/11. When asked about the controversy, the former Tennessee senator, a Republican, refused to weigh in and would not comment on Giuliani's record on 9/11. "I have the greatest respect for Steve and his organization and what they're doing,” said Thompson. “I've read about it but I don't have enough knowledge...

The Conservative Party long ago decided that too much talk of the British way of life, like too much loud opposition to immigration, made them sound crypto-racist. That left the patriotism card for Labor to play. Indeed, as the Conservative Party has moved rapidly to the left, whole swathes of policy have been left open for Labor. Cameron is greener-than-thou, positively enthusiastic about public spending and skeptical of George W. Bush.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who earlier in his career developed a powerhouse international influence in action films and body building, now appears to be exporting a new Arnold product: a signature blend of California conservatism that has growing appeal to political leaders in other countries. The governor's distinct political recipe -- melding bipartisanship, business sensibilities and a strong environmental message -- is one reason he has been invited to address the 2007 conference of the British Conservative Party. The gathering of 10,000 in late September in Blackpool will be headed by Tory leader David Cameron, the dynamic...