Free Republic

Sen. Lamar Alexander voted for comprehensive immigration reform. And he lived to tell the tale. The Tennessee Republican easily won his primary Tuesday against a conservative insurgent who sought to bury him over his vote -- a candidate who was backed by the same forces that helped topple Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), including conservative radio host and immigration hardliner Laura Ingraham. His survival is a testament to an emerging political reality: Republicans who support reform can survive the conservative backlash. It was also another demonstration of how much immigration has been overshadowed on the trail by other issues -- in...

It is time to get rid of the Tea Party. They are an embarrassment. Worse, they are collaborating with Democrats to bring down Republicans and make it easier for Democrats to win general elections. There was a story in yesterday’s Politico that pretty much laid in on the line: “Tea party activists looking to oust Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in a GOP primary may get some help from an unlikely source: Democrats. Big Democratic donors, local liberal activists and a left-leaning super PAC in Kentucky are telling tea partiers that they are poised to throw financial and organizational support...

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham says America's retirement system could be at risk unless the nation's immigration problems get fixed. In a speech to a Charleston business group, Graham said the U.S.'s graying population means there will be fewer workers in the job stream to keep stocking stressed government budget and benefit accounts, including Social Security. And if the future economy includes millions of illegal workers who don't pay in, then benefits that a growing numbers of Americans will depend on for retirement will become even more drained, he said, pointing at an expected "tsunami" of retirements by 80 million Baby...

Should have done it a week ago, frankly. Sen. John Walsh, D-Mont., announced Thursday that he is dropping out of the Senate race after it became clear that he could not overcome the fallout from a plagiarism scandal. “The 2007 research paper from my time at the U.S. Army War College has become a distraction from the debate you expect and deserve,” Walsh said in a statement. “Distraction.” Yes, I imagine that plagiarism and academic fraud probably would qualify as such. As to the plagiarist’s replacement, well… I don’t know what’s more depressing for Democrats: that their best hope to...

COLUMBIA, SC — Onetime Republican Thomas Ravenel officially is running for the U.S. Senate again, this time as a petition candidate. The S.C. Election Commission certified the 10,000 signatures required for the former S.C. treasurer and reality TV star to be on the ballot in November as a challenger for the seat held by U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/08/06/3604749/thomas-ravenel-signatures-certified.html?#storylink=cpy

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) isn't happy about Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) using her in his latest campaign ad — and has called in her lawyers to try to force Begich to stop airing it. Murkowski's campaign lawyers sent a "cease and desist" letter to Begich's campaign Thursday demanding that the ad be pulled down. "We are writing on the [Murkowski campaign] committee's behalf to demand that Alaskans for Begich immediately cease any broadcast and/or web hosting of the television spot entitled 'Great Team,' " writes attorney Scott Kendall in the letter. "This advertisement is factually incorrect. It also misuses Senator...

Washington and Montana Democrats are mulling options for replacing Sen. John Walsh (D-Mont.) on the ballot as it looks increasingly likely that he'll exit the race. Walsh, who canceled scheduled campaign events Tuesday and Wednesday, has made no public appearances since the weekend amidst increasing chatter that he plans to drop out of his race against Rep. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) in the wake of his plagiarism scandal. "He took a personal day yesterday," campaign spokeswoman Lauren Passalacqua told The Associated Press on Wednesday. Democrats in Montana and Washington, meanwhile, are increasingly expecting that Walsh will decide to withdraw from the...

Although you wouldn’t know it from the lack of media coverage, or even the AP's own write-up of the poll (which gives new meaning to the phrase "buried lead"), a new Associated Press-GfK poll offers nothing but harrowing news for Democrats and the media who love them. Buried in the "pox on both houses" rhetoric we're hearing from the media, what you will find in a little place I like to call Reality are the actual numbers, which show consequential movement towards the GOP on almost every issue voters are most concerned with. On the question of who voters would...

The hard-right tea party faction has claimed just one big win so far this primary season — in Virginia, where House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was unseated by a little-known conservative, Dave Brat. But The Washington Post reported Wednesday "the truth is that in some ways the movement continues to get stronger." "The tea party wins when it wins, and it wins when it loses," Washington Post blogger Paul Waldman writes. "Five years after it began and long after many people (myself included) thought it would fade away, it continues to hold the GOP in its grip." Waldman points to...

A libertarian, tea-party congressman just rolled to reelection in a congressional district that is home to some of the wealthiest people in the business wing of the Republican party. Representative Justin Amash (R., Mich.) was outspent by his opponent, Brian Ellis, who had the support of the Chamber of Commerce and other House Republicans, but it was never even a tight race. “It’s been a pretty significant lead for the congressman throughout,” a Republican consultant and pollster in Michigan unaffiliated with either campaign told National Review Online Monday. As of this writing, Amash enjoys a comfortable double-digit lead, garnering 57...

If you want to truly understand politics, especially of the Right-leaning variety, you'll have to look beyond the dumbed-down, self-congratulatory so called journalism of Beltway establishment publications like Politico. Here is their headline out of Kansas: How Pat Roberts beat Milton Wolf. But the real story has to be read between the lines. Pat Roberts’ narrower-than-expected win over challenger Milton Wolf on Tuesday night — came with a big lift from party headquarters in Washington. The Republican Party threw everything they had behind Roberts .... and what did they get for it? Less than 50% of their own base vote,...

<p>Wednesday’s political coverage was about as predictable as the drive by media fawning over the Obama regime.</p> <p>The narrative had already been set. Now the media, flush with Potomac fever, a disease far worse than Ebola, announced the tea party is dead.</p>

The Republican primary in Tennessee on Thursday is the tea party's last chance - albeit a distant one - to beat an establishment incumbent this election year. Longtime GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander is defending his seat against state Rep. Joe Carr. Despite picking up endorsements from conservative powerhouse Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Nation, it's an uphill battle for Carr, who trails the two-term senator in the polls. Not to mention, Alexander handily won his last election with 65% of the vote and has raised significantly more campaign cash. Carr pegs campaign on immigration Carr has staked his campaign...

Tennessee senator Lamar Alexander is making his final pitch to primary voters with a radio ad in which the two-term Republican claims he has voted to "end amnesty" for illegal immigrants. Alexander has been hit hard on the issue of immigration by his chief GOP challenger, state representative Joe Carr, ahead of Thursday's primary. "In the last few days of a campaign, don't believe anything new that you hear," Alexander says in the ad. "Last year, I voted to end amnesty. Last week I voted against President Obama's immigration bill." Listen to the ad below: Is it true that Alexander...

Monty Lankford has been a champion of conservative politics in Tennessee for years. He served as the state finance director for Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign, and he knows how to raise money—more than $3.5 million for Republican candidates over the years. But when conservatives approached Lankford to run against Sen. Lamar Alexander, one of the more moderate Republicans in the upper chamber, Lankford eventually said he wasn't interested. And neither were most of fellow conservatives. By many standards, Alexander is the type of incumbent Republican that tea party groups love to hate. He's been a political fixture for the better...

Sen. Richard Shelby has $18 million in campaign cash that he doesn't need this year, but he's not likely to share it with his fellow Republicans. Though he's not up for re-election, the Alabama senator has not transferred any of his considerable campaign wealth to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the party arm working to gain GOP control of the upper chamber. snip The top two ranking Senate Republicans, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Minority Whip John Cornyn of Texas, are up for re-election, curtailing their ability to transfer campaign funds to the NRSC. McConnell, in particular, is...

Independent conservative Thomas Ravenel has been certified as a candidate for the U.S. Senate in South Carolina, meaning his name will appear on the November ballot alongside incumbent “Republican” Lindsey Graham, Democrat Brad Hutto and Libertarian Victor Kocher. The certification of Ravenel – the star of Bravo TV’s reality television show Southern Charm - means he has met the state’s threshold of 10,000 valid signatures, according to election officials. That’s not a big surprise, as Ravenel submitted more than 17,000 signatures last month and was within 60 valid signatures of qualifying for the ballot when we checked in on his...

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise has been seeking help from a federal lobbyist while putting together his new staff, according to a Politico report. The report shows that John Feehery, aligned with the lobbyist shop Quinn Gillespie & Associates, “sat in on and participated in multiple official interviews with job candidates,” helping Scalise put together his press operation. Part of the old establishment, Feehery managed communications for Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Whip Tom Delay. But Feehery has a history of being critical if not outright hostile about the Tea Party. “It is time to get rid of the Tea...

After the untimely demise of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, deputy whip, Louisiana Congressman Steve Scalise was elevated to majority whip– the guy responsible for moving the GOP’s legislative agenda forward. Now we have an inkling of what we have to look forward to next session. Via Politico: House Majority Whip Steve Scalise got some help interviewing potential new hires for his press shop from an unlikely source: a federal lobbyist. snip John Feehrey isn’t just any lobbyist. He belongs to the crony capitalism wing of the GOP. On the McDaniel-Cochran senate race: I guess Mississippi doesn't want Federal money...

LANSING, MI — Michigan tea party candidates hoping to make a mark in the state House defeated a series of “establishment” Republicans on Tuesday, also losing a couple key races in what may still have been the movement’s most impressive showing since its inception in 2010. Political newcomer Lee Chatfield of Levering scored the biggest primary win, knocking off incumbent state Rep. Frank Foster in a northern Michigan campaign largely defined by opposition to Medicaid expansion, Common Core education standards and anti-discrimination protections for gay residents. Chatfield did not necessarily promote himself as a tea party candidate, but he scored...