Free Republic

I don’t know who is going to win Saturday’s special Democratic Senate primary between Sen. Brian Schatz and Rep. Colleen Hanabusa — and it’s not just because there’s a lot going on in Hawaii right now (an earthquake rattled Hawaii on Thursday, and two tropical storms are on course to hit or come near Hawaii in the next five days). Instead, the polling picture in the Aloha State is a mess. One poll has Hanabusa up by 8 percentage points, and another puts Schatz up 8 points. Why the discrepancy? Hawaii’s diversity has troubled pollsters in the past and looks...

Getting the president’s backing isn’t what it used to be—he looks set to go 0-2 on Saturday, with the two candidates he endorsed in his home state apparently headed for defeat.When Barack Obama vaulted onto the national stage a decade ago, part of his appeal was that he seemed to be from so many places at once. All corners of the country could lay claim to him: He was Hawaiian by birth, Illinoisan by choice, and Kansan by heritage, and he spent his formative years in New York City. He marched through the 2008 primaries by winning in both the...

This speech was presented by Willes K. Lee, Vice President Western Region, National Federation of Republican Assemblies at the Alaska Republican Assembly State Convention and Straw Poll on May 24, 2014, in Menard Sports Center, Wasilla, Alaska.Aloha. Good morning. Thank you for that generous introduction. Thank you [organizers, hosts, officials], President Angle, conservatives. Thank you, Adele. We are blessed with your music. I am having so much fun being with Alaska conservatives. Are we among friends? Are there any liberals here? It is Memorial Day weekend. We’ve already met our veterans who are present. I suggest that sometime this weekend,...

A Hawaii man has been sentenced to a year of probation after making his son walk a mile home from school. Robert Demond was convicted of a misdemeanor charge of second-degree endangering the welfare of a minor. Demond explained that his son had been involved in some sort of rule-breaking at school. When Demond picked him up, he asked about it, but his son refused to respond. Demond then stopped the car and told his son to walk to rest of the way home to think about what he had done, reports the Garden Island. The judge, Kathleen Watanabe, ruled...

Eddie Pirkowski Answers U.S. Senate Candidate Survey By The Civil Beat Staff 07/18/2012 Courtesy of the Pirkowski Campaign Editor's Note: In June 2012, Civil Beat sent 10 questions to each of the candidates registered to run in the Aug. 11 primary for the U.S. Senate. Eight of the 11 responded, including Eddie Pirkowski. The questions and answers are reproduced below in full. Read responses by Ed Case, Mazie Hirono and Linda Lingle to see how Pirkowski's positions compare to those of his main competitors. Click on each topic listed below to read Civil Beat's question and Pirkowski's response. Drone Strikes...

Former Hawaii Republican Gov. Linda Lingle is pairing a traditional media strategy with an unconventional approach this week, through the release of her first TV ad and the launch of a cable station that will promote her candidacy. Lingle's first ad is 60-second spot featuring a clip reel of supporters plugging her qualifications and promoting her as a bipartisan politician. It ends by advertising a "special video" about the former governor that will air on a cable channel next week. "Watch a special video about her vision for Hawaii's future," says the narrator of the ad. Digital cable channel 110,...

Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney is seen as more 'mainstream' than President Barack Obama according to a Rasmussen poll posted on Sunday morning: A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters finds that 52% say it’s more accurate to describe the putative Republican nominee’s views as mainstream, while 30% regard them as extreme. Eighteen percent (18%) are undecided. When it comes to the president's political views, 45% of voters say they're in the mainstream, but an identical 45% say it's more accurate to describe them as extreme. This same poll, however, showed that voters are equally...

There aren’t many Republicans in the Democratic stronghold known as Hilo, but almost 200 came out Tuesday for the headquarters grand opening and birthday bash for former Gov. Linda Lingle, the GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Daniel Akaka. East Hawaii has about 1,800 or 1,900 registered Republicans, compared to West Hawaii’s 3,000 or so, said Hawaii County Republican Party Chairman Daryl Smith. He said that’s twice as many as four years ago. The soon-to-be vacated Senate seat is important to mainland Republicans, who need just four new GOP senators to gain a majority...

MEDIA RELEASE John Roco, a counselor on Oahu, is also a sometime church pianist and cantor for Sunday mass and founder of ‘Saint Damien Advocates’ – a nonprofit defending Catholic works from closure of adoptive and foster care services due to new gay non -discrimination laws (e.g., H.R.1681, ‘Every Child Deserves a Family Act’). Family values are not given ‘lip service;’ instead, Roco’s website is thoroughly ‘family.’ His son designed the site, took and arranged the photos at ‘homepage,’ and put together a video explaining H.R. 1681. His daughter, Eileen, is a 2010 Nene award winner and contributes with political...

Here is a fun new campaign video in the 2012 GOP Republican U.S. Senate Primary for Hawaii. It was meant as a prelude to the annual 2012 Hawaiian Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner at Hilton Hawaiian Village (thus the quotes from Lincoln in body of the video). Abraham Lincoln, the founder of our party, and the President's Day's festivities were taken into account, but when I showed this to my scrutinizing kids, a 'new life' came about for the video. Enjoy!

The speculation is over; Charles Djou announced Wednesday afternoon that he is running for the same House seat he lost to Colleen Hanabusa last year. The announcement sets up a rematch of the 2010 race which Hanabusa won. The former Honolulu city councilman made the announcement with his family and former Hawaii congresswoman Pat Saiki at his side. Djou also announced that he will be deployed to Afghanistan from Labor Day thru March, when he returns he will continue his campaign. Some in political circles say Djou's House bid suggests that former Republican Gov. Linda Lingle plans to run for...

Hawaii's Republican former governor Linda Lingle said she would get along well with a group of former governors in the Senate should she run for and win the seat being vacated by Sen. Daniel Akaka's (D) retirement, the latest sign that she is seriously considering a race. "Governors bring a particularly different approach in the United States Senate than those people who have come just from the legislative side," Lingle told members of the conservative Grassroot Institute of Hawaii at the Japanese Cultural Center on Friday. "They are less ideological. They are more practical. They are more agenda-driven. They are...

The public revival of the so-called “birther” question among some Republicans plays to his political advantage, President Obama says. Obama told ABC News interviewer George Stephanopoulos that Donald Trump and others are doing themselves no favors in persisting on the issue of the president’s background. “I think that over the last two and a half years there's been an effort to go at me in a way that is politically expedient in the short-term for Republicans, but creates, I think a problem for them when they want to actually run in a general election where most people feel pretty confident...

leveling the electoral national playing field

The Republicans shouldn't even be playing in the Hawaii special election for the House seat opened when Democratic Rep. Neil Abercrombie decided to run for governor. But it's a sign of the poisonous political atmosphere for Democrats that a GOP candidate has a chance at seizing what is arguably President Obama's hometown House seat.

Hawaii's 1st district special election -- set for May 22 -- appears to be a growing problem for House Democrats. The Cook Political Report, an independent political handicapper, moved the race from "lean Democrat" to "toss up" on Thursday, citing the "low hurdle" that Honolulu City Councilman Charle Djou (R) must clear to win. (The Fix ranked Hawaii's 1st district as the 17th most likely district to switch parties in our latest Line.) All three major candidates -- Djou as well as Democrats Colleen Hanabusa, a state senator, and Ed Case, a former member of Congress -- will appear on...

Illegal dishsoap and detergent, Legalized recreational marijuana. IN GOD WE TRUST no longer on the quarters. Things that are happening now, like taxes NOT EQUAL. This is why our founding fathers left, and came and created the UNITED STATES, and the bill of rights, and the constitution. So we ARE FREE, TO live and worship accordingly. Our Government is in WAY more than they should be. They want in even more, to tell us how to live, what to drive. We are not under a ruler or a GOD (the Government)We have a God and we will continue to worship...

Jeff Woods reports the reaction of some lawmakers upon hearing that Rep. Eric Swafford had joined a fringe movement that questions President Obama’s citizenship: “I actually asked Eric for his [birth certificate] this morning. I told him I wanted to see his. He said he had it in his office. I think it’s shenanigans. I don’t see how some of these people get elected. I’m just tickled to death I’m not in a leadership position in the Republican Party. That heart attack I had yesterday would have been for real probably.” Later, Miller launched into a tirade against the state...

A prominent Philadelphia attorney and Hillary Clinton supporter filed suit this afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee. The action seeks an injunction preventing the senator from continuing his candidacy and a court order enjoining the DNC from nominating him next week, all on grounds that Sen. Obama is constitutionally ineligible to run for and hold the office of President of the United States. Phillip Berg, the filing attorney, is a former gubernatorial and senatorial candidate, former chair of the Democratic Party in Montgomery (PA)...

You guys should check this group out. I met one of their members out in Ohio working with a congressional candidate. They knew what they were doing and I was impressed but i didn't realize that Alex had his own team until yesterday. I looked at their website its got some really solid ideas in terms of strategy. Check it out: http://www.vandenberg-strategies.com