Free Republic

The Wisconsin senator boasts of his strong support for gun rights even though the NRA gave him failing grades during his last two re-election bids. The increasingly strained efforts by Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold to ingratiate himself with conservative voters don't appear to be having much effect. His GOP challenger Ron Johnson has led in every major published poll since July, and currently has a lead of seven points in the RealClearPolitics average of recent polls. That hasn't stopped Mr. Feingold from trying to reinvent himself as the original Tea Partier. He plugged away again in this week's debate...

The real historical parallel may be 1894 when Republicans took 100 seats. As Election Day draws closer, every major public opinion poll shifts from interviewing registered voters to those whom it identifies as "likely" voters. Gallup, the oldest U.S. polling company, first developed the model it uses for identifying likely voters back in 1950 and its final election polls have proven highly accurate. Yesterday, Gallup delivered its first 2010 "likely voter" poll and the results floored the political community. In the generic ballot question, which asks which party a voter would favor in a generic House contest, Gallup gave the...

Democrats are planning to portray John Boehner as a Beltway insider beholden to lobbyists for corporate interests. Michael Dukakis, who carried only ten states as the Democratic Party's failed presidential nominee in 1988, dropped by the Obama White House recently to give folks there the benefit of his campaign advice for the mid-term elections. Mr. Dukakis told the Boston Globe that he told Obama advisers that they should emphasize that Republicans "want to go back and do exactly what got us in this mess in the first place." He insisted that if "we do that and deliver this message over...

Walter Mondale himself sees a parallel. Comparisons between the Obama White House and the failed presidency of Jimmy Carter are increasingly being made—and by Democrats. Walter Mondale, Mr. Carter's vice president, told The New Yorker this week that anxious and angry voters in the late 1970s "just turned against us—same as with Obama." As the polls turned against his administration, Mr. Mondale recalled that Mr. Carter "began to lose confidence in his ability to move the public." Democrats on Capitol Hill are now saying this is happening to Mr. Obama.

Leading Democrats rolled out their strategy for countering Republicans in the November elections yesterday and it appeared to be equal parts fear and ridicule. Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine journeyed to Philadelphia to participate in a pep rally with Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, himself a former DNC chair. The event featured the two men trying out their attack lines for the fall elections. Mr. Rendell said the Republican Party was being taken over by "fruit loops" who question whether President Obama is a U.S. citizen, claim the jobless prefer unemployment checks to a paycheck, and want to change the...

Lisa Murkowski may lose because she didn't denounce ObamaCare. It looks as if Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the ranking Republican on the Energy Committee, has lost her GOP primary to Joe Miller, a former judge who made maximum use of his endorsements from Sarah Palin and Tea Party groups. The moderate Sen. Murkowski is trailing by 2,000 votes this morning, and she would have to take over 60% of the absentee votes still outstanding to overcome that gap. Should he be declared the victor, Mr. Miller will be the overwhelming favorite in the general election in conservative Alaska and a...

Palin Hunts a Momma Grizzly Sarah Palin has accused Senator Murkowski of becoming "part of the big government problem in Washington." By JOHN FUNDAllies of Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski are looking over their shoulders before Tuesday's GOP primary. Internal polls taken for her campaign show Fairbanks attorney Joe Miller closing the gap. A new RT Nielson poll also has Ms. Murkowski's lead down to 47% to 35%. If accurate, it shows Ms. Murkowski below the level of support where an incumbent can be considered safe. Ms. Murkowski has outspent her rival by almost 20 to 1, but she has yet...

Believe it or not, one of the University of California campuses is actually featuring some free market stalwarts in a conference. Naturally, it is in the off-season at UC-Hastings College of Law. Hey, it’s a start. The 2010 Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy features: * Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform; * John Fund of The Wall Street Journal; * Allison Hayward, J. D. and * Ward Connerly, an old friend of Accuracy in Academia’s who was with us when Columbia University threw us off campus for attempting to hold a conference entitled “Is there a place at...

President Obama's approval rating has fallen to 45%, below the 46% that Bill Clinton recorded just before his party's disastrous 1994 election. A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll continues an unbroken string of bad news for Democrats in the upcoming mid-term elections. President Obama's approval rating has fallen to 45%, below the 46% that Bill Clinton recorded just before his party's disastrous 1994 election. Only a third of the country believes the economy will improve in the next year and Republicans continue to hold a lead in generic ballot tests and in the 70 or so House races that...

Democratic insiders say Rahm Emanuel will leave shortly after the mid-term elections. President Obama and Rahm Emanuel, his controversial chief of staff, may be parting ways. London's Daily Telegraph newspaper reports that Democratic insiders say Mr. Emanuel will leave shortly after the mid-term elections. Differences in style between the cerebral Mr. Obama and the confrontational Mr. Emanuel are said to have played a role. In addition, Mr. Emanuel is reported to be frustrated at the inability of the White House to "knock heads together" to fashion political compromises. Mr. Obama sent a signal by choosing the respected but hard-charging member...

Why did a Democratic congressman manhandle two young people? A congressman who stands six feet, six inches tall leaves a Washington D.C. fundraiser for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. North Carolina Democrat Bob Etheridge is approached by two young people with video cameras, who ask: "Do you fully support the Obama agenda?" The congressman's response -- in what are said to be the unedited videos posted on BigGovernment.com -- is nothing short of bizarre. "Who are you?," he asks, as he grabs one of the cameramen by the wrist and neck. "I have a right to know who you are," Mr....

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer's gloomy November forecast. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer gave a gloomy assessment of his party's prospects at a media breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor this week. When reminded that political handicapper Charlie Cook is predicting a loss of 30 to 40 seats and perhaps more for House Democrats this fall, Mr. Hoyer didn't push back. "It's an accurate view of what the polls reflect right now. Yes. I have great respect for Charlie Cook." Democrats would lose control of the House if they drop 40 seats. Mr. Hoyer went on to say he...

House Democrats Are About to Become Unemployment Statistics House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer's gloomy November forecast. By JOHN FUND House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer gave a gloomy assessment of his party's prospects at a media breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor this week. When reminded that political handicapper Charlie Cook is predicting a loss of 30 to 40 seats and perhaps more for House Democrats this fall, Mr. Hoyer didn't push back. "It's an accurate view of what the polls reflect right now. Yes. I have great respect for Charlie Cook." Democrats would lose control of the House if...

General Electric's Obama-backing CEO Jeffrey Immelt celebrates Ronald Reagan. General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt hasn't been popular with conservatives of late. GE was a major backer of the cap-and-trade climate bill that passed the House last year, in part because the capping of carbon emissions would boost demand for its wind turbines and solar panels. Then there are GE's media properties. It owns MSNBC, the cable news channel that employs liberal frothers such as Keith Olbermann. GE also owns CNBC, whose top on-air talent was ordered last year to a secret meeting with Mr. Immelt and NBC President Jeff Zucker...

The "deem and pass" rule has set off complaints among Democrats.

The Senate may trick the House into passing its bill. Nancy Pelosi is trying to shoo House Democrats into voting for the Senate health care bill, but members are more worried than ever that the Senate won't then implement the necessary changes through the reconciliation process to make the final bill acceptable. They have good reason for concern. Now they're hearing from Senate colleagues that the GOP can be expected to make Senate reconciliation as difficult and drawn-out as possible through delaying tactics. President Obama may wind up just signing the Senate bill into law no changes whatsoever -- preserving...

A full 48% of voters want Congress to start over, and 25% want lawmakers to stop working on health care altogether. When Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander opened the Republican response to President Obama's remarks at yesterday's health care summit, he asked Democrats to renounce the idea of using parliamentary maneuvers such as reconciliation to pass health care with a simple majority vote. Mr. Obama tried to swat him down by claiming Americans wanted a straight up-or-down vote on his health care bill and don't care about what methods are used to get it. "You know, this issue of reconciliation has...

"Mr. Bayh knows something about high-water political floods. As a 24-year-old law student he helped run his father's 1980 Senate re-election and saw him go down to defeat under the Reagan landslide. In 1994, Mr. Bayh was governor of Indiana and thankful he wasn't before the voters when they revolted against Bill Clinton. "Every 14 or 16 years we seem to have to relearn this lesson," Mr. Bayh said. "I do have a sense of deja vu, and the movie doesn't have a happy ending." He isn't the first observer to note the misfortune that befalls modern Democrats when they...

"Sarah Palin is the honorary Queen Bee of the Tea Party convention. The Tea Party convention held this past weekend in Nashville wasn't the biggest such gathering (600 people) or the most representative (the ticket price was more than $500) but it did give the national media a pretty good angle on the views and direction of this disparate movement. First, it's clear the group has no leader, although Sarah Palin is certainly the honorary Queen Bee in the eyes of many attendees. Her Saturday night speech was given rapturous applause. Second, the Tea Partiers are unlikely to succumb to...

<p>Democrats privately lay into President Obama for his lack of a health-care strategy.</p> <p>President Obama's session with Democratic Senators yesterday was carefully scripted, with the questioners all selected in advance by the Democratic leadership to address issues such as partisan gridlock and GOP obstructionism. Senators Evan Bayh and Blanche Lincoln, both of whom are facing serious opponents this fall, went off message with concerns about the liberal drift of the administration, but all other questioners stuck to their talking points.</p>