Free Republic

Sen. David Vitter's bid to require the 2010 Census to ask all respondents about their citizenship was killed today when the Senate voted to invoke cloture and end debate on the Commerce spending bill without having to consider the Louisiana Republican's amendment. The Democratic leadership, which had been trying to block the Vitter amendment since early October, eked out a victory with the bare number of votes needed to invoke cloture, prevailing 60 to 39. Vitter's Democratic colleague, Sen. Mary Landrieu, who had been caustic in her criticism of Vitter's measure, voted with the majority. Vitter intended the citizenship count...

Memory cards in seven voting machines were unintentionally left in Atlanta precincts Tuesday night, in a poll worker error that election officials say is not expected to affect the outcome of any race. Fulton County Board of Elections Director Barry Garner says he expects to gain access to the memory cards Wednesday morning and tally the remaining votes. Garner says poll workers in the seven precincts were in a hurry and did not ensure that all the cards were removed from the machines. He called the oversight unacceptable and said his office would put procedures in place to prevent such...

PORTLAND, Maine — Voters on Tuesday repealed the state’s same sex marriage law after an emotionally charged campaign that drew large numbers to the polls and focused national attention on Maine. In a defiant speech to several hundred lingering supporters, No on 1 campaign manager Jesse Connolly pledged that his side “will not quit until we know where every single one of these votes lives.”

New Jersey Democrats have admitted that a series of robocalls on behalf of third party candidate for governor Chris Daggett were paid for by the Democratic State Committee - final proof that Daggett has been a spoiler for Republican Chris Christie all along. Matt Friedman of Politiker New Jersey writes: A Democratic spokeswoman says the party's chairman, Joe Cryan, was not aware of the robocalls when he denied that the state committee had anything to do with them yesterday afternoon. Cryan, who told PolitickerNJ.com yesterday afternoon that the Democratic State Committee had "absolutely" nothing to do with the call, could...

Abstract: Supporters of Proposition 8 in California have been subjected to harassment, intimidation, vandalism, racial scapegoating, blacklisting, loss of employment, economic hardships, angry protests, violence, at least one death threat, and gross expressions of anti-religious bigotry. Arguments for same-sex marriage are based fundamentally on the idea that limiting marriage to the union of husband and wife is a form of bigotry, irrational prejudice, and even hatred against homosexual persons. As this ideology seeps into the culture more generally, individuals and institutions that support marriage as the union of husband and wife risk paying a price for that belief in many...

A think tank has compiled and analyzed reports of the harassment, intimidation, and “gross expressions of anti-religious bigotry” shown in reaction to the successful passage of Proposition 8. If partisans of marriage redefinition continue to increase in power, the analysis warns, those who seek the preservation of marriage as a union of man and wife may risk paying a price legally, socially and economically. The Heritage Foundation’s Oct. 22 report “The Price of Prop 8,” authored by researcher Thomas M. Messner, said that many individuals and institutions who defend the nature of marriage as a union between a man and...

John McCain's campaign is still being audited by the Federal Elections Commission, while Obama – the only presidential candidate in history since the public finance system was established to decline public funds during the general election – may have escaped similar scrutiny by the FEC. An FEC spokesman told WND that the commission is obligated to complete an audit of McCain's campaign because he received public funds during the general election. "Under regulations, that is automatically audited by the FEC once you receive public funds," he said. "For the Obama committee, there's a possibility, just like with any other committee,...

In a crowd of peaceful anti-ObamaCare folks, one belligerent moron walks in with a sign and starts yelling, commits a battery on a bystander, and is escorted out by the police. After he gets outside, he tells the reporter what a "white, angry mob" it was, and of course, we can see with our own eyes that it was not white, angry, or a mob.

President Obama refunds cash to Kenyan aunt, convicted murderer, lobbyists By: Kenneth P. Vogel July 28, 2009 04:44 AM EST More than eight months after President Barack Obama won the White House, the remnants of his campaign organization is struggling to deal with some unfinished business: returning about $669,000 in tainted or illegal campaign contributions to a motley assortment of donors, among them a convicted murderer, Washington lobbyists and a number of foreign nationals, including his own aunt. But the 11 Chicago-based staff members still on the campaign’s payroll are finding it was a lot easier to rake in a...

His punishment: Not being permitted to brandish a deadly weapon within 100 ft. of a Philadelphia polling station until after the 2012 elections...

A review of Minnesota’s statewide database of registered voters revealed at least 2,812 deceased individuals voted in last November’s general election, according to a new report by the “traditional values” advocacy group Minnesota Majority. After obtaining the list of voters who participated in November’s election, the group hired an independent firm who specializes in “death suppression” for direct mailing lists to review the data. The process, which involved matching names and addresses to state death records, bore troubling results. According to Minnesota statute 201.13, the commissioner of health is to report monthly the name, address, date of birth, and county...

New York (AP) -- Longtime fundraiser Norman Hsu was convicted Tuesday of violating campaign finance laws in a case that became an embarrassment to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other prominent Democrats. Prosecutors had argued that Hsu, 58, used straw donors to make thousands of dollars in campaign donations to bypass rules limiting the amount any single individual or group can donate. Hsu's defense argued he was framed by investors who cut deals with the government to avoid prosecution.

Planned Parenthood receives Title X funds from the Federal Government. Planned Parenthood also receives money from other Federal/State and Local Governments. It is reported that Obama's Headquarters in South Bend, Indiana was the Planned Parenthood Clinic. According to the report, the clinic boasted Obama signs as well as a PHONE BANK for making calls for Obama. Yet our Department of Justice went after Senator Ted Stevens during the election. Why is this not considered a serious violation of law and why is there no criminal prosecutions? South Bend, Indiana, is also the home to Notre Dame University... Finally, I would...

""Wikileaks" explained in an earlier email that it was making public the information on Coleman's donors, including their credit card numbers, because of the "Coleman campaign's effort to impugn the election processes in the State of Minnesota." As a result of Wikileak's mass email of a spread sheet containing credit card information for thousands of Coleman donors, the Coleman campaign sent an email to its supporters today suggesting that they cancel their credit cards."

President-elect Barack Obama brought in nearly $750 million for his presidential campaign, a record amount that exceeds what all of the candidates combined collected in private donations in the previous race for the White House, according to a report filed Thursday with the Federal Election Commission. Underscoring the success of his fund-raising, Obama reported that he had nearly $30 million in the bank as of Nov. 24, despite spending furiously at the end of his campaign.

We've seen it over and over, people in Europe who imagine that they should be allowed to vote U.S. presidential elections. Some of these people imagine that they should have a voice in our elections because, they say, America is so supremely powerful that the man who becomes our president makes decisions that will impact the entire world.

An Augsburg College student and Sarah Palin supporter from Alaska was beaten on election night while walking to her dorm and was called a racist by a group of four young women because she had on a McCain/Palin presidential campaign button, authorities and the victim said. Annie Grossmann, a freshman on the Minneapolis college's hockey team, suffered blurred vision and is thought to have had a concussion from a punch in the eye, but declined medical attention, she said

At least one broadcast network and one Web site said Monday that they could foresee signaling to viewers early Tuesday evening which candidate appeared to have won the presidency, despite the unreliability of some early exit polls in the last presidential election. A senior vice president of CBS News, Paul Friedman, said the prospects for Barack Obama or John McCain meeting the minimum threshold of electoral votes could be clear as soon as 8 p.m. — before polls in even New York and Rhode Island close, let alone those in Texas and California. At such a moment, determined from a...

On Fox News now: Republicans: 2 Black Panthers with night sticks blocked polling place in Philly. Police were called....

I put up my McCain/Palin sign last Tuesday. Friday night, it was gone, replaced with an orange cone. I put out my spare McCain Palin sign, reserved for my parents, SAT morning.....gone between 1AM/6AM. Sunday night...same thing...same timeframe. Any suggestions? I put out my last sign...I am thinking of getting some constertina wire and putting it around my last McCain Palin sign with an additional hand-made sign stating " I have to take these measures due to intolerant liberals stealing my 1st Amendment rights". Anyways, I'm in Little Rock, AR. Anyone else seeing these events? Been at the same house...

He has defeated Hillary Clinton, made history by becoming the first black man with a serious shot at the American presidency, and now Barack Obama could be set to top the music charts. After a raft of heavyweight musicians, from crooner John Mayer to rapper Kayne West, spontaneously pledged their support for him through songs, the Democratic presidential nominee has released an official campaign album. Soul label Hidden Beach Recordings, which counts Grammy winner Jill Scott among its signings, has unveiled Yes We Can: Voices of a Grassroots Movement and will donate the profits to Obama’s campaign. The label’s generosity,...

Mordecai Specktor says his 19-year-old son, Max, "has never been in a fight" and is "not a violent person." "He's an anarchist," said Specktor, the publisher and editor of Minnesota's Jewish newspaper, the American Jewish World. He's also "a University of Minnesota student, Jewishly educated." His son, he said, is "a wonderful guy." Max Specktor is also now branded a terrorist after his arrest earlier this month, along with seven others, on charges of planning to disrupt the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. He's been charged with conspiring to riot "in furtherance of terrorism" and could face up to...

Seven out of 10 voters (69%) remain convinced that reporters try to help the candidate they want to win, and this year by a nearly five-to-one margin voters believe they are trying to help Barack Obama. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 50% of voters think most reporters are trying to help Obama win versus 11% who believe they are trying to help his Republican opponent John McCain. Twenty-six percent (26%) say reporters offer unbiased coverage (demographic crosstabs available for Premium Members). Just last week a Rasmussen Reports survey found that 51% of voters believed reporters...

A year ago, the Ramsey County sheriff's office began looking closely at a group called the Republican National Convention Welcoming Committee. What it found, according to an 18-page search warrant application and affidavit, led to weekend raids on two Minneapolis homes and a temporary St. Paul office for the self-described anarchist group. According to the document, investigation learned: The self-described anarchist group — whose main goal was to "crash" the Republican National Convention," according to its Web site — traveled to or communicated with affinity groups in 67 cities to recruit members and raise money. Group members discussed the possibility...

A 23-year-old Michigan man faces up to 10 years in jail for illegally possessing bombs, which he allegedly intended to use to destroy the Xcel Energy Center during the Republican National Convention. Matthew Bradley DePalma, of Flint, Mich., was charged Aug. 30 with one count of possession of firearms. According to his criminal complaint, DePalma had several Molotov cocktails in his possession a week before the start of the RNC. DePalma had been under investigation by federal investigators after he attended a protester conference in Wisconsin in July. Officials said DePalma went to the Hennepin County Library on Aug. 18...

The Pioneer Press reports that the Ramsey County, Minnesota, Sheriff's office investigated an anarchist group that was considering kidnapping delegates to the Republican Party's convention in St. Paul. The would-be terrorists, who called themselves the "Republican National Convention Welcoming Committee," planned to shut down the convention. The group bears a striking resemblance to the Weathermen, a violent terrorist group founded by Barack Obama's unrepentant terrorist associate William Ayers. According to the news report: # The self-described anarchist group - whose main goal was to "crash" the Republican National Convention," according to its Web site - traveled to or communicated with...

The campaign of Democratic presidential nominee in waiting Barack Obama is threatening TV stations that dare to run a controversial ad that questions Obama's friendship with unrepentant Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers.Politico quotes an Obama aide as saying this afternoon, "The Obama campaign plans to punish the stations that air the ad financially, organizing his supporters to target the stations that air it and their advertisers."Politico has posted copies of letters the Obama campaign has sent to station managers and a letter the campaign has sent to the Department of Justice demanding a criminal investigation of the group that is...

“Voter suppression, intimidation and harassment systematically engaged in by the Obama campaign, its allies and supporters.” It is obvious that Hillary Clinton endorsed Obama only because she would probably have been excommunicated from the Democratic Party for failure to do so. The truth is that her campaign accused, and credibly so, the Obama campaign of serious misconduct during the Nevada Caucuses. This misconduct included intimidation of voters and what sounds a lot like Chicago-style machine politics at their worst. We encourage our readers to circulate the following PDF file, and/or the optical character transcription of it, as widely as possible...

Friend -- I wanted you to be the first to hear the news. At the Democratic National Convention next month, we're going to kick off the general election with an event that opens up the political process the same way we've opened it up throughout this campaign. Barack has made it clear that this is your convention, not his. On Thursday, August 28th, he's scheduled to formally accept the Democratic nomination in a speech at the convention hall in front of the assembled delegates. Instead, Barack will leave the convention hall and join more than 75,000 people for a huge,...

He is Steve Ybarra. He's a superdelegate in California and he, now, says he's willing to take either Clinton or Obama's side but for a big price. -snip For the last eight years, I've been trying to get the Democratic Party to pay attention to the needs of voter registration and education and get out the vote to the Mexican-American community. And guess what? We managed to lose two elections because of it. So, we're coming up on an election where the Mexican-American voter will be the person who makes the decision in this upcoming election. HEMMER: How did you...

DNC Superdelegate Puts His Vote Up For Sale Steven Ybarra Wants $20 Million For His Vote SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CBS13) ― In this tight battle for the Democratic nomination we've heard a lot about the candidates courting superdelegates. But, one superdelegate is courting the candidates. He says he'll sell his vote for a price. A very high price: $20 million. Steven Ybarra of Sacramento says that eight-figure price is peanuts for the presidency.

Bill O’Reilly blasts DailyKos as a “hate site,” but according to a federal ruling released Tuesday, the popular liberal blog is as much a part of the media as Fox News when it comes to campaign finance rules. The Federal Election Commission unanimously dismissed a complaint filed against DailyKos by a right-wing blogger who had argued it was illegally acting as a political committee by giving support and free advertising to Democratic candidates. Adam Bonin, the lawyer who represented DailyKos, called the ruling “a big victory, but everything about the rulemaking and the precedent strongly suggested that there was no...

NBC Universal will devote a whopping 75 hours of air time to showing Al Gore’s "Live Earth: The Concerts for a Climate in Crisis.” And if Gore decides to run for president in 2008, the event would be "one of the largest ever, if not the largest, in-kind contributions to a presidential campaign,” according to The Media Research Center’s NewsBusters.org, a Web site dedicated to combating liberal media bias. In addition to devoting all of NBC-TV’s Saturday, July 7 prime time to the concerts, CNBC will carry seven hours of coverage from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. EDT, Bravo will...

In what will surely be one of the largest ever, if not the largest, in-kind contributions to a presidential campaign if Al Gore decides to run, NBC Universal announced late last week that its networks will devote an incredible 75 hours of time on Saturday, July 7 to showing Gore's “Live Earth: The Concerts for a Climate in Crisis.” In addition to the entirety of NBC's prime time that night hosted by Ann Curry of NBC News, CNBC will carry seven hours of coverage from 7pm to 2am EDT; Bravo will show the concerts around the world for 18 hours...

If there's one thing Donovan Riley apparently learned during his time in Chicago, it was "Vote early and often." Riley, 69, the former CEO of the University of Illinois Medical Center and a former law professor at Loyola University, is running for a state senate seat in Milwaukee. On Nov. 7, 2000, the day of the big election between Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush, Riley appeared at the polling place in Oconomowac, Wis., where he had registered to vote just the day before, voting records show. His ex-wife owned a home there. "Then he drove...

Some states try to ensure that the winner of popular vote becomes president. SAN DIEGO Picture it: On election day in some future year, a presidential candidate ends up with the most popular votes but not enough electoral votes to win. It's a repeat of the 2000 election in which one contender, Democrat Al Gore, took the majority of the national popular vote, while the other, Republican George W. Bush, clinched the most electoral college votes and, hence, the presidency. But this time there's a twist: A bunch of states team up and give all their electoral college votes to...

"Vote early -- and often." We hear this quip every time an election rolls around, and with good reason: Electoral fraud is as old as the ballot box itself and still happens in the United States. Just last year a judge in Washington state ruled that some 1,678 illegal votes were cast in its 2004 election -- more than enough to change the outcome of the governor's race. Few concepts matter more in a republican democracy than the credibility of "one person, one vote." Yet no nationwide standard exists to prevent fraud at the voting booth. Some states, including Virginia,...

A shareholder group is gaining momentum in its efforts to pressure companies to disclose charitable giving -- with donations linked to the Rev. Jesse Jackson... The National Legal and Policy Center has stepped up efforts to require corporations to disclose more details about their donations... The Rainbow/PUSH Citizen Education Fund, which in 2001 provided payments to Jackson's former mistress. The Church Falls, Va.-based non-profit group hit two shareholders meetings this week -- Boeing on Monday and PepsiCo Inc. on Wednesday. "Many shareholders would certainly object to their money going to a controversial and divisive figure like Jesse Jackson," said Peter...

Two sons of prominent Democratic polticians and three paid party activists will face felony charges as a result of a widely-publicized attempt to keep Republicans from voting on Election Day in Milwaukee. The charges will be filed on Monday, highlighting the other unrelated issues of voter fraud in Wisconsin's largest city and Democratic stronghold:

Expect tire-slashing charges Monday Sources say politicians' sons, 3 other Democrats will be hit with felonies Posted: Jan. 22, 2005 Spivak & Bice Cary Spivak &Dan Bice E-MAIL  |  ARCHIVE   The investigation into the Great Tire-Slashing Caper will end Monday with felony charges against the adult sons of two prominent Milwaukee politicians - U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore and former Acting Mayor Marvin Pratt. Sources close to the 83-day-old probe said Sowande Omokunde, Michael Pratt and three other paid Democratic activists will each be charged with a single felony count of criminal damage to property, legalese for vandalism. Omokunde, also...

Democrat Christine Gregoire will be sworn in as Washington's Governor today, possibly thanks to voters such as Mary Coffey, James Courneya and Rosalie Simpson. Why do we mention them in particular? Because, as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer recently reported, they're all dead... Revelations of the formerly living casting ballots in elections isn't new to American politics, although it's something most of us thought was a relic of the late Richard Daley's Chicago. But this isn't the only jaw-dropper to have come out of Washington's gubernatorial race, which Ms. Gregoire claims to have won -- on a third recount, by 129 votes...

Just announced on fox. Big victory for us!!!

This cause originated upon the filing of a complaint for a writ of mandamus. Upon consideration of relators’ motion for an emergency peremptory writ of mandamus, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that relators’ motion be, and hereby is, granted, and that a writ of mandamus be, and hereby is, granted to compel respondent Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell to reissue and enforce his October 26, 2004 Directive 2004-45 to all eighty-eight counties insofar as it permits, in accordance with R.C. 3505.21 and 3506.13, one duly designated challenger per precinct and, after the polls close, one duly designated witness per precinct,...

CLEVELAND — Thousands of people who are registered voters in Ohio and Florida possibly could vote twice in the presidential election through use of absentee ballots, The Plain Dealer reported Sunday. An investigation of voter rolls in the two key battleground states found that some double voting has occurred previously and could go undetected Tuesday, the newspaper said. Many states have only just begun to compile statewide voter registration lists to comply with a 2002 federal voting law. Such lists allow state officials to find double registrations within a state, but states rarely coordinate with one another. Virtually nothing prevents...

WASHINGTON — Florida again. And Ohio and Iowa and New Mexico and maybe Wisconsin or one or two other battleground states. All are possible settings for a replay of the court contests and recounts that marked the 2000 election. The neck-and-neck presidential election could end, as it almost always has through American history, with a clear winner and a gracious loser on Election Night. But armies of lawyers are ready for the alternative with an eye to fighting several Florida-style postelection legal wars at once. Lawyers set up command posts in key states weeks ago, and they have already filed...

[DNC logo} IMPORTANT LEGAL NOTICE To all Republican Party Election Day poll watchers: Your name has been filed to serve as a poll watcher on Election Day, on behalf of the Republican Party or a Republican candidate. The Democratic Party recognizes the legal rights of poll watchers, under Florida Election Law, to perform their lawful duties. We want to make sure that all poll watchers recognize the importance of their role in this process and understand the repercussions for abusing that role. As a poll watcher, you have the ability to protect one of the most sacred rights of our...

Especially if you live in big cities so we can tape any incidents because mikey will edit out all the rat wrongdoing.

Fabiola Armitage is back on television, only instead of a campaign ad the focus has been on her mugshot. Armitage is a Kerry supporter and a strong believer in stem cell research. She's featured in an advertisement urging Floridians to vote against Amendment 3 on this year's ballot. The amendment would cap how much money a lawyer can make from a medical malpractice lawsuit. St. Johns County Sheriff Deputies arrested Armitage for grand theft and battery this week. They say she had 78 campaign signs supporting George Bush and Mel Martinez in her trunk. Armitage tells First Coast News that...

Yesterday, I drove by the welfare department in Bakersfield, California to see if anyone was registering voters there (as sometimes is the case). Sure enough, there was a democrat voter registration table. Now, hold your fire on the location. In all fairness, we Republicans have sometimes registered voters at the welfare office, though with probably far less of a natural constituency. Anyways, I parked, walked up, and listened to a woman I will refer to as "Rat-lady" as she attempted to register voters. A woman I will refer to as Maisha came over to the table to register to vote....