Free Republic

Sen. Mary Landrieu's best hope for re-election? Change the letter behind her name from a "D" to an "R," says a Louisiana newspaper. Landrieu is one of the senators in one of the tightest rates this year — and if she loses, her loss could potentially flip the Senate to Republican control. An article in the Baton Rouge Advocate says Landrieu essentially acts like a Republican anyway but that the party label is a scarlet letter. “She has a letter behind her name, D, and it’s toxic,” Joshua Stockley, a political science professor at the University of Louisiana at Monroe,...

Jeb Bush adviser and GOP hack Mike Murphy thinks it may be in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) interest to throw the Senate to Republicans. In an appearance on Sunday's Meet The Press, the conservative-bashing consultant who has yet to win a presidential election and once referred to Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) as Reid's secret weapon, said if Republicans took back the Senate, it could turn into an "American idol of grievance." Todd snickered and egged Murphy on, showing nothing but contempt for conservatives. "Harry Reid may throw the Senate," Murphy said. "You can argue it's in his interest."...

As the 2014 midterm election campaign heats up, all indications are that Democrats are headed for a trouncing at the hands of Republicans. Most political prognosticators now give the GOP a better-than-even chance of picking up the six seats it needs to win control of the Senate, and the party is expected to expand its majority in the House. The Republican gains may not match those of the Tea Party wave of 2010 that cost Democrats the House and their filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, but it likely will be enough to make President Obama's final two years in office...

Democratic Senator Chris Coons looks comfortably on his way to reelection in Delaware. A new Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Delaware Voters finds Coons leading Republican challenger Kevin Wade by 15 points - 49% to 34%. Four percent (4%) prefer some other candidate in the race, while 12% 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 Likely Voters in Delaware was conducted on September 10-12, 2014 by Rasmussen...

If Milton Wolf endorsed Pat Roberts after Wolf’s defeat in the Kansas Republican primary for U.S. Senate, I missed it. And if he has, it is the best kept secret in Kansas. I’ve checked everywhere on the web, and it isn’t there. I called Wolf to confirm, but I did not get a response. So, I think it is safe to assume the tea party challenger has decided, at least for now, not to endorse the victor. This is too bad because Wolf — who amazingly carried 41 percent of the statewide vote against 48 percent for longtime incumbent Roberts...

Few states are more important than Iowa in the battle for the Senate this fall. But anxiety is rising within Republican ranks that deep-pocketed conservative donors and outside groups are not doing enough, as Democrats outspend them by millions of dollars to retain the seat of retiring liberal Sen. Tom Harkin. Since GOP nominee Joni Ernst won the June primary, Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley and his allies have outspent Ernst and her supporters by more than $2.1 million, $9.2 million to $7 million. Democratic groups have reserved $10.8 million for the final six weeks of the race, compared to $8.3...

The race to be the next governor of the Aloha State is nearly dead even. A new Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Hawaii Voters finds Democrat David Ige with 40% support to Republican Duke Aiona’s 39%. Independent candidate Mufi Hannemann is a distant third with 14% of the vote. Two percent (2%) like some other candidate, and six percent (6%) 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...

**SNIP** “Nobody comes about to vote to say ‘thank you,’” Maher said. “The people who get health care now — they’re the people least likely to vote. The people who come out to vote are the angry people.” “That’s true,” said Pelosi. “Fear is a motivator, and we are not fear-mongers. The Democrats are messengers of hope, and that’s what we will continue to be.” **SNIP** Nevertheless, Pelosi said she thinks election models are flawed. “All of the prognostications are predicated on false, ancient, old, stale assumptions,” she claimed. “We’re in a whole new world of communications now.”

A string of Republican candidates for Senate are supporting an issue usually associated with Democrats: increased access to contraception. They're supporting it on the road and in ads, like this one from anti-abortion conservative Cory Gardner: YouTube In it, he says he believes "the pill ought to be available over the counter, round the clock, without a prescription." Tom Tillis and Ed Gillespie, also anti-abortion conservatives, have made similar statements. Some of them have been associated with state legislation to restrict abortions or with so-called "personhood" amendments that would give constitutional rights to fertilized eggs. So what gives? First of...

WJR Radio at the top of the Hr noted Former Ford CEO Alan Mulally is considering or looking into a run for POTUS

Rather than talking about the plantation mentality, debates or plane rides, Rob Maness -- at least on this day -- spent Wednesday telling voters about his plans to deal with the growing crisis in Iraq. It was a rare day when a Louisiana Senate candidate wasn't hurling allegations against the competition. Of course Maness has certainly played a significant role in the Senate mudslinging, taking credit for being the first to condemn both Sen. Mary Landrieu's flight and residency controversies as well as Rep. Bill Cassidy's comment that Sen. Harry Reid runs the Senate with a plantation mentality. Yet, he...

Yesterday, Gallup released a poll showing a few things, and none of them are good for Democrats.* The first is that Republicans had expanded their lead over Democrats as the party people believe is best equipped to protect the United States from terrorism: The Republicans’ lead over the Democrats on the question of terrorism is, as you can see, at historic levels. Not since the poll began has the GOP’s lead been this large. As RedState’s Dear Leader Erick Erickson notes, this is what happens when you don’t have a coherent anti-terrorism strategy: At the beginning of this year, President...

Yes, Sen. Pat Roberts's re-election campaign has struggled, but not because he's too conservative. Kansas Senate Republican Pat Roberts is in a re-election fix. There's an important lesson for the GOP in this mess—though it's not the moral the left is pushing. Democrat Chad Taylor, a state district attorney, last week terminated his campaign against the three-term Republican senator, a move that paradoxically made the race competitive. Mr. Roberts had been betting the Democrat would split the vote with independent candidate Greg Orman, leaving him a clear path to re-election. Mr. Orman is instead now consolidating Taylor support and leading...

Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) on Thursday characterized Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) as being deliberately confrontational before abruptly walking off the stage at an event meant to raise awareness for Christians in the Middle East. Cruz said some in the crowd the night before reacted with "bigotry and hatred" when he expressed his support for Israel early in his speech. "I support Israel, but what Senator Cruz did was outrageous and incendiary," Dent told The Washington Post. "He showed a true lack of sensitivity for the people he was speaking to, especially the religious leaders who were there. It was a...

Mary Landrieu when she’s electorally safe. And here’s Mary Landrieu’s new ad now that she’s electorally endangered. The ad then notes that Landrieu “voted to double the border patrol, build triple-layer fencing, and voted nine times to block amnesty….I’m Mary Landrieu, and I approve this message because on border security, I’ll put my record up against anyone, especially Bill Cassidy,” If Jeff Foxworthy were hard up for material, I’ve got a few lines that can help until he ditches the writer’s-block. You might be a Democratic Senator near Election Day if: “You suddenly decide going golfing with Obama would be...

LANSING, Michigan — Republican ex-Gov. William Milliken is backing Democrat Gary Peters for U.S. Senate, saying the congressman has been a moderate and an independent voice in the Michigan Legislature and U.S. House. Milliken says he plans to issue an endorsement statement Friday morning. Peters is running against Republican Terri Lynn Land, a former Michigan secretary of state. Democratic U.S. Sen Carl Levin is retiring after 36 years.

The last decade or so, Republican conservatives have faced a bitter uphill battle for control of Washington DC. They’ve stumbled over their own ideological excesses, with candidates dragging issues such as ‘legitimate’ rape, birth control and the role of women in the workplace into the limelight. One tea party-favored candidate found herself struggling to assure voters that she wasn’t “a witch.” This political cycle, a lot of far-right candidates didn’t even make it to November. They were toppled by establishment Republicans, who have shown themselves to be feistier, better prepared and more flexible than in 2010 and 2012. Candidates who...

In this year’s Republican Senate primaries, the establishment went full nuclear on grassroots candidates and the voters that supported them, burning bridges with committed activists and engaging in shameful Democrat tactics to slander TEA Party candidates along with anyone who worked with them or for them. The ostensible reason for this absurd, scorched-earth campaign was the stated belief that TEA Party campaigns had cost Republicans possible victories, and with a Republican Senate majority in sight, we could not afford to throw away winnable seats. In the first place, this narrative has always been factually spurious. Todd Akin and Sharron Angle...

No other state in the union saw as big of a transformation of political control in the 2010 election as Wisconsin, going from liberal domination to conservative leadership. Following Gov. Walker’s bold collective bargaining reforms, the Left protested, whined, and forced recalls that ultimately failed. These activities spurred the Tea Party into action and gave them invaluable preparation to advance the conservative movement. Now Tea Party leaders are running for office and upgrading their Congressional representation. The Wisconsin 6th Congressional District race demonstrates their political muscle and shows how they keep winning in Wisconsin. Perhaps the Left’s biggest miscalculation in...

White House chief of staff Denis McDonough pledged to Latino lawmakers during a private meeting Thursday that Pres Obama will take executive action on immigration before the holidays are over – an effort to soothe lawmakers furious about the administration’s move to hold off on action. The timeline was described by several members who attended the meeting and, substantively speaking, isn’t different than the end-of-year pledge made by the White House when it moved to delay executive action on immigration until after the midterm elections But it gives at least some faith to members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, who...