Free Republic

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz threw his support behind T.W. Shannon in Oklahoma's GOP senate primary, The Hill reported. Shannon is a former state House Speaker. This was the first primary endorsement made by Cruz, who has a strong following among tea party-aligned Republicans. The endorsement allows him to honor his pledge not to back insurgents in primaries involving Senate GOP colleagues, The Washington Post reported. Shannon is in an open primary. A special election in November will fill the seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Tom Coburn two years before his term ends in 2016. Cruz plans to attend...

Louisiana Democrat Sen. Mary Landrieu is in the middle of a storm. She is beset by well-funded forces on the right who sense the Gulf Coast Democrat's vulnerability in trying to defend a Senate seat in a red state. On the left, she is trying to avoid being pulled down by the undertow of a president whose decline in approval ratings and controversial health care reform law might not play well with her state's conservative sensibilities. She's been buffeted by rough re-election fights before, and in previous successful bids for the state legislature, state treasurer's office and eventually two runoffs...

INCUMBENT LIBERAL MAY WIN GOP NOD, BUT CHALLENGES LOOM … Big government backer Lindsey Graham (RINO-S.C.) is likely to win the GOP nomination for another term in the U.S. Senate when South Carolina “Republicans” go to the polls in June. In fact the liberal lawmaker may claim the GOP nomination outright – without having to compete in a two-week runoff election (in South Carolina, major party candidates who fail to receive more than 50 percent of the vote on the primary ballot must face off against their nearest competitor in a head-to-head runoff matchup two weeks later). But just because...

 Terri Lynn Land continues to enjoy a six point lead in the race for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Democrat Carl Levin. This is according to a poll conducted on April 9 and distributed this morning by Mitchell Research and Communications with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.56%. When asked if the election were being held today would you be voting for Republican Terri Lynn Land or Democrat Gary peters 44% responded Land while 38% answered Peters. A total of 18% were undecided. Both Land and Peters seem to be attending to keep the...

The latest Mitchell Research poll has Land up six (44/38) over Peters; a previous Mitchell poll had her behind by one. This is enough to put her in front, overall; toss out the partisan polls and Terry Lynn Rand is ahead by rather more. Looking at the rend line… well, Gary Peters can’t just seem to catch fire. And I don’t think that the governor’s race is going to help, either: as of this moment Rick Snyder is decently ahead, and in a comfortable place for a Republican governor in a blue state. Hmm. Snyder needs a little work on...

On CNN's "Inside Politics" host John King and panel discuss Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) taking heat for reenacting a Senate hearing using actors because Senate rules prohibit using video ...

Pat Roberts voted to confirm Sebelius. As soon as Kathleen Sebelius resigned as Secretary of HHS, my first thought was, hmm, wonder if she’ll run for Senate in Kansas. Apparently I’m not the only one thinking about that, Sebelius Said to Weigh Run for Kansas Senate Seat In her darkest hour last fall, Kathleen Sebelius suffered one of the deepest cuts from an old family friend who accused her of “gross incompetence” over the rollout of the Affordable Care Act and demanded that she resign as secretary of health and human services. Now she is weighing revenge. Ms. Sebelius is...

David Brat, the long-shot challenger to Congressman Eric Cantor (R-VA) in Virginia's 7th Congressional District, is demanding an investigation into the new executive director of the Virginia Republican party, Shaun Kenney, after it was revealed Kenney's consulting firm is now on Cantor's payroll. "If Eric Cantor's campaign or any of his affiliates has hired Shaun Kenney’s consulting firm, any pretense of fairness in the upcoming Seventh District Congressional Race is diminished," Brat wrote in a letter to Pat Mullins, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia (RPVA). On Monday, a posting by a contributor at the blog Kenney founded, Bearing...

In Kansas, Milton Wolf is beginning to do what I suggested this morning he do — reach out to Kansas voters to show he is a credible alternative to Pat Roberts. Here is the first in his series of ad buys:

According to new IRS emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request from Judicial Watch, former head of tax exempt groups at the IRS Lois Lerner contacted the Department of Justice in May 2013 about whether tax exempt groups could be criminally prosecuted for "lying" about political activity. "I got a call today from Richard Pilger Director Elections Crimes Branch at DOJ ... He wanted to know who at IRS the DOJ folk s [sic] could talk to about Sen. Whitehouse idea at the hearing that DOJ could piece together false statement cases about applicants who "lied" on their...

When Democrats get desperate they resort to fakery. And Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu sees her re-election chances evaporating, so it’s time to pretend. Byron York in The Examiner reports on a video ad she is running that contains fake footage of a Senate hearing, where she poses as something she is not, a fighter against the Obama administration, which she actually supports 95% of the time when she votes on official actions. York explains: What Landrieu did to invite the ridicule was to re-create for her ad producers her own performance in a Senate hearing -- complete with set, supporting...

The Republican challenger to Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., thinks nobody should spend 47 years in Washington. Dr. Milton Wolf, a diagnostic radiologist from the Kansas City area, on Wednesday released a television ad criticizing Roberts for his nearly five decades in the nation's Capital. "After 47 years in Washington, Kansas is a distant memory for Pat Roberts," the ad opens, before pivoting to Wolf's daily routine as a Kansas doctor. The ad goes on to mention Wolf's plan to "repeal and replace Obamacare," "fight wasteful spending" and pass Congressional term limits. After his tenure, Wolf's ad promises, he'll return home...

Democratic Governor Pat Quinn is facing some early trouble from his Republican challenger in Rasmussen Reports’ first look at the 2014 gubernatorial race in Illinois. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Illinois Voters shows Republican businessman Bruce Rauner picking up 43% of the vote to Quinn’s 40%. Six percent (6%) prefer some other candidate in the race, while 10% are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.) (Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook. The survey of 750...

Every year since 1976, except 2008, the number of Democrats in Oregon has dropped, yet establishment-type Republican candidates continue to lose in the Beaver State. Since 1988 Oregon has voted Democratic in every presidential election; Mitt Romney ran away with the Oregon Republican Primary in 2012, yet Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney 937,321 to 733,743 in the general election. But Oregon hasn’t always been so reliably Democratic – Ronald Reagan won Oregon in both 1980 and 1984. Why has Oregon gone from being Reagan country to being reliably Democrat? As I observe in my new book TAKEOVER, grassroots conservatives voters...

The truth may hurt, but is not mean, as my friend Andrew Breitbart would say. The truth is the major challengers to incumbent Republican Senators — Matt Bevin in Kentucky, Milton Wolf in Kansas, and Chris McDaniel in Mississippi — are behind. This is not to say they cannot win. I believe they can. But, this is to say that for them to win, their campaigns and our efforts must be kicked into high gear. Matt Bevin, Milton Wolf, and Chris McDaniel are the best men for the Senate in their respective states. They are competent. They are conservative. They...

AIKEN, S.C. (AP) - Five of the six Republicans running against U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham are meeting in a debate in Aiken. The Aiken Republican Club is sponsoring Wednesday’s debate, which will take place after the club’s luncheon in downtown Aiken. A panel of reporters will ask questions of the candidates. Those scheduled to appear at the event are Columbia pastor Det Bowers, Spartanburg County state Sen. Lee Bright, Upstate businessman Richard Cash, Orangeburg lawyer Bill Connor and Lowcountry businesswoman Nancy Mace. Graham will not attend the debate. Graham is seeking a third term in the Senate. All his Republican...

Two months ahead of the South Carolina primary, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham is campaigning with gusto to ward off any potential political threats along his right flank, where he was thought to be vulnerable to a competitive Tea Party challenge. But, in fundraising, at least, Graham's campaign appears to be declaring: Mission accomplished. Not one of Graham's Republican challengers has exceeded $1 million in contributions. Graham's campaign, meanwhile, has raised more than $11.6 million during the election cycle, and ended March with nearly $6.9 million on hand. But that's less cash than Graham had at the end of last quarter,...

(Reuters) - Two incompatible ballot measures on background checks for gun buyers in Washington state enjoy majority support in a poll released on Tuesday, but the one advancing stricter gun controls is more popular. The competing measures, both slated to be on the ballot in November in the Pacific Northwest state, are the only firearm background check initiatives up for a vote this year in the United States. :snip: Initiative 594 would require all firearm sales, including those at gun shows and conducted online, to be predicated on a background check of the buyer. Initiative 591, however, would disallow background...

Ron Paul's nonprofit Campaign for Liberty will fight the Internal Revenue Service's demand that it reveal its donor list to the agency, despite having already been fined for refusing to do so. "There is no legitimate reason for the IRS to know who donates to Campaign for Liberty," Megan Stiles, the communications director at Campaign for Liberty, told the Washington Examiner in an email on Tuesday. "We believe the First Amendment is on our side as evidenced by cases such as NAACP v. Alabama and International Union UAW v. National Right to Work. Many 501(c)(4) organizations protect the privacy of...

The International Renaissance Foundation's mission is to foster an open, participatory, plaurlist society based on democratic values in Ukraine...