Free Republic

The New Hampshire Republican Party amended its platform this weekend with stricter abortion provisions, including support for "personhood," which defines life as beginning at conception.Personhood has become a hot-button issue in Senate races across the country this year, such as Colorado, where Democrats have successfully attacked Rep. Cory Gardner for having supported such a measure in the past.Now, the issue could spread to New Hampshire, following the state party's decision at its convention.The platform now states: "Support the pre-born child's fundamental right to life and personhood under the Fourteenth Amendment, and implement all Constitutional and legal protections."It added: "Support a...

Voters have soured on President Obama. National and statewide trends favor Republicans. And here in his new home state, Scott Brown’s truck is gaining speed. Analysts and recent polls have found Brown closing in on US Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the Democratic incumbent he is vying to unseat, in a race that has become increasingly nasty and expensive. Once largely dismissed by critics as an unlikely second act in a state he moved to only last year, Brown’s Senate bid is increasingly seen as a plausible path back to the US Capitol. Observers see a race that may be largely determined...

The one-day GreenStorm campaign blitz raised more than $250,000 for Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado, along with Senate hopefuls Bruce Braley of Iowa and Rep. Gary Peters of Michigan. ... The GreenStorm fundraiser was also supported by ProgressivesUnited PAC, the Voices for Progress PAC, the National Resources Defense Fund PAC, and the Population Connection Action Fund..

Jim Geragthy, acclaimed author and National Review’s chief campaign analyst, has been grousing about the lack of quality polling in key Senate races this year. His frustration is well-founded. So yesterday must have felt like Christmas in September for Jim and political junkies everywhere, as two pollsters released a deluge of surveys covering the most contested races in the country. In light of the results, I’d expect that national Republicans are kicking off the week with an extra spring in their step, as well. We were leaked an advance copy of last week’s much-anticipated Politico/GWU Battleground poll, which was packed...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)There are 65 prominent people who might run for president in 2016. The Democratic and Republican fields contrast sharply. Hillary Clinton is the clear front-runner, while there is no front-runner on the Republican side. Twenty-three Democrats have been mentioned as a candidate or are eyeing a bid, according to an analysis by The Hill. The GOP side has 42. Most of the people on this list won’t run, and some have adamantly claimed that they’re not interested. But many politicians have changed their minds on seeking the White House. Before mounting his 2008 bid, then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said he...

Lawmakers are rallying around the 150-year-old U.S. Capitol Dome, weather-whipped and torn open by acid rain, worried that if an 11th-hour restoration isn’t fully funded, its most important traits could be lost forever. “If this work isn't done,” warned Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., “we're going to lose the dome, we're going to lose it as it truly, historically is.” A big fix, added Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., is needed, “so that we don't lose these treasures forever.” The two Senate appropriators are joining to help Architect of the Capitol Stephen T. Ayers secure the money needed to complete the $60...

U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, the lone member of the Bay State delegation to vote against Obama­care four years ago, now predicts the law’s botched roll-out will not only cost Democrats valuable House seats but could even jeopardize their control of the Senate in this year’s hotly contested midterm elections. “We will lose seats in the House,” the plain-talking South Boston Democrat said in Boston Herald Radio’s studio yesterday, delivering a harsh diagnosis. “I am fairly certain of that based on the poll numbers that are coming out from the more experienced pollsters down there. And I think we may lose...

Former Massachusetts Senator Brown comes out swinging on Obamacare in New Hampshire Reuters By Scott Malone April 10, 2014 7:20 PM By Scott Malone PORTSMOUTH, New Hampshire (Reuters) - Former U.S. Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts launched a Republican campaign on Thursday to represent neighboring New Hampshire in the Senate, with an attack on incumbent Democrat Jeanne Shaheen's vote for Obamacare. Brown, who moved to his native New Hampshire late last year to explore a run for office, has focused much of his energy on attacking the Affordable Care Act, an issue Republicans are making a centerpiece of 2014 campaigns....

The worst-kept secret in midterm politics has finally passed its expiration date. Former US Senator Scott Brown, who represented Massachusetts after Ted Kennedy’s death, will run against New Hampshire incumbent Jeanne Shaheen in November, assuming he wins the GOP primary in the Granite State. Brown officially opened his campaign with a blast against ObamaCare, which he said forces New Hampshire voters to “live free or log on” rather than operate under the state motto of “live free or die”:CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO He accused Democratic incumbent Jeanne Shaheen of being a rubber stamp for President Barack Obama, and...

What a shock- a Russian-Ukrainian billionaire who made his initial fortune from dubious stock shares eminating from the breakup of the Soviet Union has been sending big, fat checks this year to establishment Republicans and Democrats who aren't too uppity re. foreign policy.Of course, most billionaire Russians who are part owners of huge Russian mining/energy companies over there are KGB/FSB and/or mafia-connected... just like Putin And London resident Leonard Blavatnik is a typical pro-Putin oligarch, getting rich off looting the Russian state then utilizing that ill-gotten fortune to spread Russian influence around the globe. In this case, Blavatnik made almost 20 BILLION from the Russian oil/mining industries...

Former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown announced Friday that he is laying the groundwork for a possible challenge against incumbent Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire, but Shaheen is comfortably ahead of Brown for now in Rasmussen Reports’ first look at the possible U.S. Senate race in the Granite State. A new statewide survey of Likely New Hampshire Voters finds Shaheen with 50% support to Brown’s 41%. Four percent (4%) like some other candidate in the race, and five percent (5%) are undecided.

**SNIP** Midterm elections are often a reflection of the approval rating of the incumbent president and now President Obama stands at 42.8%. And elections in the 6th year of a PresidentÂ’s term are usually not good for the incumbentÂ’s party. To make things even worse for Democrats, the issues of a weak economy and Obamacare make November look bleak for Harry Reid and his Senate Democratic cohorts. â—¾Alaska, Mark Begich â—¾Arkansas, Mark Pryor â—¾Louisiana, Mary Landrieu â—¾Michigan, Open Seat (liberal Democrat Carl Levin retiring) â—¾Montana, John Walsh â—¾North Carolina, Kay Hagan â—¾South Dakota, being vacated by retiring Democrat Tim Johnson...

Looks like he is running. Typing in 'Scott Brown for Senate' gives a #1 Google result entitled just that, and it links to this website http://www.scottbrown.com/ So, the race is on in New Hampshire, since Shaheen has been running scared from two dangerous polls that show her in deep trouble against Brown. Personally, I don't like him, I don't trust him, and I probably wouldn't vote for him if I lived in NH... but Shaheen is just so damn unlikable. The woman looks like the kind of grandmother who'd give crappy presents. I admit it would be nice to see...

**SNIP** Most notably, the president “stressed how important keeping the Senate is this year,” this person said. The discussion comes amid rising anxiety among some Democrats about how the president’s declining popularity might affect the party’s ability to maintain control of the Senate. Republicans are increasingly hopeful of picking up six or more seats to narrowly retake control of the chamber. Aides to two of the most at-risk Democrats – Mark Begich (Alaska) and Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) – confirmed that their bosses attending the meeting.

The Republican National Committee unveiled a slew of new radio ads Tuesday targeting vulnerable Democratic senators and Senate hopefuls on Obamacare -- including in two races where major would-be Republican challengers have yet to join the race.The ads are set to air in 40 media markets nationwide, including in New Hampshire, where Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is seeking re-election, and Virginia, where Democratic Sen. Mark Warner is running for a second term. Neither seat had been seriously considered to be in play, but a prominent Republican is now weighing a bid in each race: former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown in...

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said Tuesday that he cannot support Sen. Kelly Ayotte's (R-N.H.) bill to repeal $6 billion in cuts to military pensions because of the way it offsets the costs. Levin initially told reporters Tuesday that he would back Ayotte's bill, providing a big boost to the effort to reverse the military retiree cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) reduction included in the last month’s budget deal. But a Levin aide said that the Armed Services chairman endorsed Ayotte's bill before realizing that it restored the cuts by preventing illegal immigrants from claiming a child tax credit....

The conservative group Ending Spending may have premiered the ad that nationalizes the 2014 midterm elections around Obamacare. The 30-second killer ad was produced by Republican media consultant Larry McCarthy and goes after Jeanne Shaheen, the first-term Democratic Senator from New Hampshire who is likely to face former GOP Senator Scott Brown next year. The ad begins with footage of Shaheen on the Senate floor echoing President Obama by saying, “if you like your insurance you can keep it.” An overlay graphic points out that Obama was given the “Lie of the Year” award from a fact-checking group for that...

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., announced Tuesday that she will be introducing legislation to roll back provisions in the pending budget deal that would cut military retirement benefits by reducing cost-of-living adjustments. Shaheen, who is up for re-election in 2014, said that the plan would be paid for by closing “select corporate tax loopholes,” even though Republicans resisted doing so in the budget agreement that has yet to pass the Senate. “This bipartisan budget agreement will create economic certainty for small businesses, help promote job creation, and protect our country from another government shutdown but like I’ve said before, it’s not...

Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander (R) Montana Senator Max Baucus (D) Alaska Senator Mark Begich (D) Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss (R) Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran (R) Maine Senator Susan Collins (R) Texas Senator John Cornyn (R) Massachusetts Senator William "Mo" Cowan (D) Illinois Senator Dick Durbin (D) Wyoming Senator Mike Enzi (R) Minnesota Senator Al Franken (DFL) South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham (R) North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan (D) Iowa Senator Tom Harkin (D) Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe (R) Nebraska Senator Mike Johanns (R) South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson (D) Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D) Michigan Senator Carl Levin (D) Kentucky...

Senate Democrats vented their frustrations over the faulty rollout of the Affordable Care Act in a meeting Thursday with White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and other senior officials. “There’s a lot of frustration, everywhere,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said after the meeting. McDonough tried to assure angry senators he is personally taking charge of the disparate federal offices in charge of implementing the massive law, which has been plagued by technical errors. “He gave us the impression that he’s taking charge of the different elements and cracking the whip. He said to let him know if we had...