Free Republic

Organizing for Action (OFA) executive director Jon Carson said his group will now pour resources into opposing Senators who opposed gun control--especially Democrat Senators. This means Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Mark Begich (D-AK), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), and Mark Pryor (D-AR) are marked for defeat by their own party. While OFA does not engage "in electoral politics," they can go from now until the 2014 elections doing what they will to create a divide between these Senators and their constituents. Said Carson: "This is one of those moments where we have to prove that in the face of a setback we're...

The Republican plan to block debate on Senate Bill 649, which requires background checks on almost all gun purchases and transfers, failed spectacularly Thursday morning when sixteen Republican Senators joined almost all of the Democrats to vote in favor opening debate on the bill. Among those voting to defeat the filibuster were 9 Democrats with “A” ratings from the National Rifle Association, and 12 A-rated Republicans (out of 16 Republican “ayes”). Two Democrats, Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK), joined the majority of Republican Senators who tried to prevent debate, much less a vote, on the bill....

Sen Mark Begich declared a “sea change” in the politics of gun control immediately after the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., telling his local newspaper that he would not hesitate to buck the powerful National Rifle Association. Over the past two weeks, while Congress has been in recess, Begich said he was approached repeatedly by constituents who echoed NRA views, telling him not to, in his words, “mess with our gun rights” or “ban anything.” The NRA’s recent successes on Capitol Hill — as well as a string of victories in state legislatures across the country — demonstrate the effectiveness...

Senate votes on climate change and the Keystone XL oil pipeline laid bare divisions among Democrats — and underscored why the White House, not Congress, will be where the critical climate decisions reside in President Obama’s second term.Several votes during the freewheeling debate over a nonbinding budget plan provided a political barometer of where the chamber, including vulnerable Democrats, stand on the topics. Advocates of the proposed pipeline scored a symbolic victory Friday when 62 lawmakers voted for an amendment backing the project to bring oil from Canadian tar sands projects to Gulf Coast refineries. Seventeen Democrats supported Sen....

With the usual note that the source is not reliable, the Washington Post reports big money Democratic donors such as Buzzfeed’s Kenneth Lerer have given the Democrats an ultimatum.. Pass gun controls or you get no more money from us On the other hand, if the Dimmos do pass gun control they will almost certainly suffer the consequences in both Congress and at the State level. Which puts Andy Jackson’s Jackass Partei on the horns of the dilemma. Briefly quoting the item linked above: Lerer also said he would be intensifying his contributions to Democratic Senate candidates in the next...

Stopping veteran Dem retirements is top priority for Reid, SchumerBy Alexander Bolton - 11/25/12 06:00 AM ET One of the highest immediate political priorities for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Democratic political guru Charles Schumer (N.Y.) is to persuade veteran colleagues not to retire in 2014. Democratic sources identify four senators as most likely to retire: Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). Another possible veteran retirement is Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.), who has yet to announce his decision. But Democratic aides expect him to run...

Dem Keystone support creates tougher fight for Reid, ObamaBy Alexander Bolton - 12/16/11 04:08 PM ET Republicans want to jam Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on the Keystone oil sands pipeline and the Democratic leader will have a tough time resisting, given support within his caucus for the project. GOP leaders have made clear to Reid that they will not approve an extension of the payroll tax holiday unless it includes language to speed up construction of the pipeline. Senate Republicans estimate as many as 14 Senate Democrats support the project. Labor unions have also voiced strong backing, complicating...

Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., is the lead player in a legislative effort, already endorsed by a handful of other senators, that would spend $60 million to develop a program that would charge consumers for the costs of installing drunk-driving interlock devices in vehicles. The proposal, S.510, was introduced this week in the U.S. Senate by Udall, who was joined by Sens. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Bob Corker, R-Tenn., Al Franken, D-Minn., Amy Klobuchar D-Minn., West John D. Rockefeller, D-W.Va., Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I. The legislation actually doesn't call for the technology to be installed in...

Maybe it was late and a rough night for the Democratic Party that caused this strange line of questioning and it was just the best way MSNBC “Hardball” host Chris Matthews could deal with it. On MSNBC’s Election Night coverage in the midst of a Republican takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives and with several U.S. Senate races still pending, Matthews deviated from the subject matter and asked Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, about the merits of former GOP vice-presidential nominee and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s 2012 presidential candidacy. ...more (w/video)...

Energy: An administration never enthusiastic about offshore drilling is using the Gulf oil spill as an excuse to suspend Arctic exploration. Who could've seen that coming? Now we'll be more dependent on foreign oil. Suspicions in some quarters that the administration was being deliberately lax in its response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in order to pursue a larger, anti-domestic energy agenda were met with derision. But if not deliberate, the effect is the same as the administration prepares to shut down our search for new oil. President Obama on Thursday announced a suspension...

I am going to start off with saying you can judge a man’s character by his past and the friends he keeps or kept. And when you look at both Senator Begich’s past and who his friends were, no one should be surprised with the new revelations on Anchorage’s budget deficit and how then Mayor Begich left out some important information when it came to signing union contracts that cost Anchorage taxpayers more money. When Begich ran against Ted Stevens for the U.S. Senate seat, Begich saw an opportunity because Senator Stevens was under investigation for not properly filing campaign...

WASHINGTON -- The head of the Alaska Republican Party today called on Sen. Mark Begich to step down from the U.S. Senate, saying that the state's voters would have re-elected former Sen. Ted Stevens had they known the U.S Department of Justice would abandon its prosecution of him. The party chairman, Randy Ruedrich, said that the only reason Begich won his race was because "a few thousand Alaskans thought that Senator Stevens was guilty of seven felonies." He added that he thought Begich should step down "so Alaskans may have the chance to vote for a senator without the improper...

Last fall, the senior Senator from Alaska was the poster octogenarian for political corruption. As of yesterday, Ted Stevens is merely another casualty of abusive prosecutors out to make a name for themselves. The Justice Department yesterday moved to set aside an October conviction on ethics charges and forgo any future trials for Senator Stevens. He walks free, in other words, an innocent man. In the motion, Justice said it "recently discovered" that prosecutors withheld from the defense notes about an interview last April with the state's star witness, Bill Allen, that contradicted his subsequent testimony. Under the Brady Rule...

Anchorage, Alaska (AP) -- Alaska's incoming senator is bullish on gun rights, wants to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling and believes less government is better. And he's a Democrat. But "definitely different than a New York Democrat," says Mark Begich. "I'm from Alaska." Begich, the 46-year-old, two-term Anchorage mayor, will take office in January after narrowly defeating 85-year-old Ted Stevens, the longest serving Republican in the history of the Senate. Part of Stevens' undoing in his bid for a seventh term was his conviction on federal felony charges last month. With Republican Gov. Sarah...