Free Republic

If history has taught conservatives anything, it is that having Republicans in power is a necessary but by no means sufficient condition to advance a conservative agenda. During the George W. Bush era, for instance, Republicans controlled the White House and both chambers of Congress. Spending soared, the federal role in education grew, and entitlements underwent their most significant expansion since Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society. Republicans claim to have rediscovered their commitment to limited government principles as a reaction to President Obama. But with the possibility of retaking control of the Senate within their grasp, Republicans have decided to pursue...

California is morphing into a warmer Detroit with beaches and pneumatic blondes, but it doesn't have to be this way. Only liberalism could've taken the most beautiful, most hard-working, most entrepreneurial state in the union and turned it into a shabby province composed of deadbeat Oliver Twists holding up their bowls demanding more. Now that might be changing. It might be changing because the GOP, believe it or not, may be learning to win again. It used to know how. I remember when California produced leaders like Ronald Reagan. Today, conservative Californians breathed a sigh of relief that they were...

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — New England Republicans are poised to win elections in bright blue states and give the Democrats a run for their money in areas they've dominated for years. And many Republicans say their momentum is largely thanks to President Barack Obama's planned executive amnesty. Polling data shows that governor’s races in Massachusetts and Rhode Island—two solidly blue states—are winnable for GOP candidates. Maine’s incumbent conservative GOP governor is locked in a dead heat for his position, holding fast after many in the political class thought it would be a cakewalk to make him a one-term proposition. A...

On the polling front this weekend, Republicans have a few reasons to celebrate. Last week, the building blocks of the narrowest Republican Senate majority were clearly coming together. This week, polls indicate that Republicans have a number of avenues to pursue in their quest to win back the majority. In Louisiana, Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) has significantly narrowed the gap with Mary Landrieu (D-LA), but that race looks set to head to a runoff. A CNN/ORC survey released on Sunday shows Cassidy and Landrieu statistically tied with 40 to 43 percent support respectively. That poll also revealed that retired...

For years, three House Democrats — West Virginia’s Nick Rahall, Georgia’s John Barrow and Minnesota’s Collin Peterson — have been survivors, defying political calculus to win term after term in solidly red Republican districts. They paddled through the 2010 GOP wave. They even overcame the flood of Mitt Romney’s double-digit margins of victory in each district in 2012. But 2014 could be their ultimate survival test. In an era of increasing polarization, Rahall, Peterson and Barrow are the three Democrats running for reelection who represent the most Republican districts in Congress. They’ve managed to hang on to their seats, even...

Tory MP Mark Reckless has said he is leaving his his party to join UKIP, announcing his decision on the eve of the Conservatives' conference. The Rochester and Strood MP told the UKIP conference he had resigned as an MP, triggering a by-election..... He is the second Tory MP to defect to UKIP after Clacton MP Douglas Carswell did the same in August. Mr. Reckless will seek re-election in his constituency for UKIP...... Mr. Reckless said the Conservative leadership was "part of the problem that is holding our country back." Criticising the three main parties, he said: "People feel ignored,...

At the Values Voter Summit, the Texan highlights his strong beliefs on conservative issues.In an already crowded field of likely contenders for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, Ted Cruz has found his way to stand out against potential primary opponent Rand Paul: championing the most fundamental planks of the conservative base. In a passionate speech Friday morning to conservatives at the Values Voter Summit, Cruz left no room for doubt about where he stands on the social issues that—albeit amid party conflict—still define the GOP. "How do we win? We defend the values that are American values," he boomed. "We...

Conservative scholar and talk radio host Mark Levin said the GOP is "a party in trouble" that must nominate a bold conservative for president in 2016 if they do not want to get walloped yet again. Speaking at Values Voter Summit on Saturday with Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, Levin, who is cementing himself as the intellectual godfather for conservatives in the age of Obama, said moderate candidates favored by the establishment and stand for nothing will never appeal to Americans who are hungry for leadership. "It's very, very, important that we nominate a conservative for the first time...

Sarah Palin is known for having the backs of conservatives. Nicolle Wallace is not. Wallace, who has elevated her profile in the liberal press and most likely got her co-hosting job on the The View solely because she stabbed Palin and other conservatives in the back to please the media elite, proved it again this week while gossiping about a story in which the Palin family allegedly brawled to defend their eldest son, who was reportedly attacked at a party in Alaska. According to Newsbusters, Wallace said on Monday's The View, "I mean, sometimes with the Palins, it's exactly what...

After a week of watching you guys dry-heave at the thought of another Romney run, I thought it’d be fun to wind down on Friday by having you dry-heave at the thought of Bush’s candidacy instead. Dude, this is happening. Or is it?But people who have met in recent weeks with Jeb Bush in New York, Washington and Florida say they are far less certain that a campaign will ultimately materialize. Some described Bush as deeply engaged on issues beyond his usual focus on immigration and education, suggesting he was very much preparing for a national race. Others said it...

Many GOPers continue the self-deception—she’s not running. Here’s a whiff of reality from a Republican. She’s running, and she’s formidable.Over the last two years I have engaged in countless discussions with Republican friends and colleagues about whether Hillary Clinton would run for president in 2016. What I discovered were two distinct schools of thought: Republicans who were hopeful that she would not run, and Republicans who were confident that she would not run. Both camps believed that Clinton would bow out or not win her party’s nomination for one or more of the following reasons: She has secret health problems....

A Reagan biographer says the slogan was "the wail of pathetic losers" in the 1970s A Republican adman unveiled a new public relations campaign this week to soften the image of the Grand Old Party using the guiding slogan “Republicans Are People, Too.” The promotional push came complete with a highly produced video, a website and social media efforts. The project is the brainchild of Vinny Minchillo, a Mitt Romney presidential campaign veteran who helped produce ads for the White House candidate in 2012. The positive, feel-good campaign, Minchillo said, is meant to “let people know that it’s OK to...

Probably not fatal to the GOP’s hopes of retaking this seat, but not helpful either. Per Becket Adams, since when do tea partiers describe rich people as “the one percent”? [Palin] is slated to appear at a Saturday event organized around [Rob] Maness’s “#OneofUs” campaign, a campaign intended to frame the candidate as an average Louisianan in contrast to the GOP front-runner in the race, Rep. Bill Cassidy, and Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), both of whom Maness has characterized as out-of-touch Washington elites. “If you could sum up this campaign, it’s two of them vs. one of us,” a source...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Prospective Republican presidential candidates are expected to promote "religious liberty" at home and abroad at a gathering of religious conservatives, rebuking an unpopular President Barack Obama while skirting divisive social issues that have tripped up the GOP. The annual Values Voter Summit opens Friday in Washington with speeches from several potential presidential candidates, including Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. The speaking program features ambitious Republicans with positions on social issues across the spectrum — from the libertarian-leaning Paul, who favors less emphasis on abortion...

Sarah Palin appears in Kansas Thursday to stump for Sen. Pat Roberts, the most endangered Republican senator. She could be helpful, but there's irony in her pitch.Sarah Palin has come to the rescue. The Republicans’ 2008 vice presidential nominee – and big-time political lightning rod – took the stage Thursday in Kansas on behalf of the state’s endangered Republican senator, Pat Roberts. Three-term Senator Roberts is widely seen as the most vulnerable Republican senator in the November midterms. A loss would seriously harm the Republicans’ chances of retaking the Senate. Enter Ms. Palin. The former Alaska governor’s public favorability has...

The laws of political fundraising dictate that every time a politician does something embarrassing — or heck, every time a politician does something — his or her opponents must therefore beat that incident to death in order to make money. Lo and behold: Barack Obama saluted the Marines while holding a latte! Ka-ching. Over at SemperLatte.com, anyone who is outraged by Obama’s multitasking can sign up for the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s emailing list, and express their displeasure by donating various sums of money to an assortment of GOP candidates running in the upcoming midterms.

Massachusetts Republican gubernatorial candidate called FOX 25 political ace Sharman Sacchetti a “sweetheart” and all hell has broken loose. President Obama has made the same gaffe twice and yet he was not accused of waging a war on women. Howie asked was it really that big a deal.

Sarah Palin will campaign for incumbent Republican Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) in Independence, Kansas on Thursday. Roberts is in need of help from the Tea Party favorite, as recent polls show he trails independent Greg Orman in this fall's general election. Last week, the Kansas State Supreme Court granted Democratic nominee Chad Taylor's request to be removed from the ballot, setting up a two-person race between Roberts and Orman. Roberts defeated Tea Party challenger Dr. Milton Wolf in the August 5 Republican primary by a relatively narrow margin of 47% to 41% in a bitterly personal contest that left many...

Cochran Attempt to Strike Hosemann's Opinion on 20 Day Deadline Fails Thad Cochran's attorneys failed in their effort to keep the Secretary of State’s statements on Republican Chris McDaniel’s appeal out of the record yesterday. Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann has at least twice previously stated to the Clarion-Ledger that there was no deadline for filing a challenge for a statewide primary election. Attorneys for Cochran filed a motion to strike Hosemann's statements from the record in the McDaniel appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court. Judge Hollis McGehee heard arguments on the Motion in Mendenhall on Monday.

A Waukesha County judge tossed out a lawsuit Wednesday attempting to force changes to the Nov. 4 ballot. Waukesha County Circuit Judge James Kieffer dismissed the case after 25 minutes of arguments because those who brought the suit had not followed a procedure requiring them to first file a complaint with state election officials. The case was brought last week by the campaign committees of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau). In another blow to the lawsuit, Kieffer also ruled that only electors could bring such a challenge, not the political committees of candidates....