Free Republic

It’s only a small matter of time until the Obama administration finally, rapturously releases what its hopes will be the crown jewel of its rise-of-the-oceans-slowing climate-change agenda: Regulations capping the emissions from existing power plants, a.k.a., stamping out coal plants across the country. This set of regs is going to be even more complicated and controversial than the regulations for only new power plants the administration released last year, and as the AP obliquely explains, we’re likely to start seeing those “necessarily skyrocketing” energy prices Obama once mentioned pretty quickly here: Electricity prices are probably on their way up...

As Sen. Mark Begich (D., Alaska) seeks to shore up his energy policy credentials, a now-bankrupt green energy company to which he steered federal subsidies could cloud his message. Begich received campaign contributions from a lobbyist for an Alaska geothermal plant after helping the company obtain federal financing. The company is now bankrupt, but Begich continues touting his support for alternative energy. The senator, who is facing reelection in November, will address the Alaska Wood Energy Conference on Wednesday. The conference brings together leaders in the state’s biomass industry. He has also promoted fossil fuel development, including effort to open areas of...

To many Democrats, ObamaCare is a four-letter word. Most Democrats in competitive elections are seeking to avoid the topic, opting not to tout the controversial law on their campaign websites. In a review of battleground races, The Hill found that out of 50 Democratic candidates with active campaign websites, only 11 mention the healthcare law by name, either as "ObamaCare," "Affordable Care Act," or "ACA." Fourteen more mention the law, but not its name, and half the candidates omit it entirely from their websites. President Obama has trumpeted that more than 8 million people have enrolled in ACA-related plans. Meanwhile,...

Dear Friend of Liberty, Obama acolyte Mark Begich needs to go. It's time for a senator from Alaska who will provide proper oversight and stand up to the abuses of Washington. The Obama Administration is simply out of control. The spectacle we are watching in Nevada with the Bureau of Land Management's land grab and cattle round up is, sadly, unsurprising. The BLM's insistence upon driving ranchers off the land their family has inhabited for the last 140 years, just so the EPA can “save” a supposedly endangered turtle, is almost as brilliant as sending SWAT teams to invade small...

Several Democratic senators reportedly plan to introduce as soon as Thursday a set of principles and legislation aimed at fixing parts of ObamaCare amid concerns the law could cost Democrats House seats and possibly the Senate in November. Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va.; Mark Begich, D-Alaska; Mary Landrieu, D-La.; Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D.; Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.; and Sen. Angus King, I., Maine, will introduce proposals to improve the law, The Wall Street Journal reported. Begich and Warner have called for allowing "copper" plans on the government-run health exchanges. The new insurance plans would offer lower premiums and higher out-of-pocket costs than the...

President Obama’s populist economic pitch is fizzling. The White House hoped to hammer Republicans this year on an array of pocketbook issues centered on hiking the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, an effort meant to appeal to independents and rally Democrats to the polls. Three months in, Obama’s approval ratings are flailing in the low 40s, and Senate Democrats haven’t even been able to unify their 55 members on a minimum wage bill. That’s made it tougher to contrast the positions of Democrats with Republicans in an election year that is shaping up to be about the healthcare law...

Alaska is one of seven states which have a Democratic-held Senate seat up this year and which voted for Mitt Romney in 2012. Nate Silver of 538 and Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post's The Fix rate the seat, held by former Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, as the least likely Republican turnover of the seven; 538 rates Begich's chances at 55 percent. Stuart Rothenberg rates it as toss-up/tilt Democrat, while Charlie Cook, slightly more bearish on Begich's chances, rates it as one of five pure toss-ups.Others may move in that direction given the latest polling from Rasmussen Reports. It shows...

Alaska Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell (R) has parted ways with his Senate campaign manager and top consultant following months of campaign struggles. ADVERTISEMENT Treadwell, once the front-runner for the GOP nomination to face Sen. Mark Begich (D), has posted weak fundraising totals quarter after quarter and has been eclipsed in the GOP race by former Alaska Department of Natural Resources Director Dan Sullivan (R). "I have had to make one of the toughest decision to this point in our campaign, I parted ways with Adam Jones, Campaign Manager. Rick Gorka, part of the communications team is also leaving," Treadwell said...

The familiar Washington narrative on the scrum for the U.S. Senate has been rinsed, recycled and delivered once again: Republicans are primed to pick up the six seats necessary to capture control of the upper chamber. The midterm atmosphere sure looks ripe, the polling appears favorable but, as it did in 2010 and 2012, the most competitive batch of races will likely come down to candidate quality. It’s the key component that stifled GOP chances before, and could very well again. .... .... A closer look at the most competitive contests demonstrates why a Senate majority in 2014 is again...

**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...

**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.

Washington (CNN) - When it comes to the 2014 midterm elections, Harry Reid and Mark Begich don't appear to be on the same page. Reid, the Senate majority leader and Democrat from Nevada, says "Barack Obama is personally a very popular guy." Asked by CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash if he would encourage some of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats up for re-election this November to invite the President to appear with them, Reid said "Yes. And they will." But Begich, the Democrat from red-state Alaska who faces a challenging bid for second term in the Senate, feels differently....

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Sen. Mark Begich's campaign is pushing back against an ad featuring a woman who speaks of him like he's her senator when she's actually an actress. Begich campaign manager Susanne Fleek-Green called the ad from Americans for Prosperity a "phony attempt to snooker Alaskans."

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...

Sen. Mark Begich says he supports extending open enrollment for individuals to buy health insurance under the federal health care law. The Alaska Democrat, in a statement, says he wants to work with the Obama administration to ensure individuals aren't unfairly penalized if technical issues continue with the online insurance marketplaces. Spokeswoman Heather Handyside says Begich wants to see how things with the site play out over the next several weeks and consider what makes sense. Glitches have plagued the site since open enrollment began Oct. 1. The law requires most Americans have insurance starting next year or face fines....

With President Obama speaking about his new federal health care law in Maryland Thursday, Republicans plan to hit vulnerable Democratic senators for supporting a government spending bill that included funding for Obamacare. The National Republican Senatorial Committee plans to blast Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La.; Kay Hagan, D-N.C.; Mark Pryor, D-Ark., Mark Begich, D-Alaska; and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., for opposing a Republican effort to defund Obamacare in a new government funding bill. All are expected to vote later this week to strip the defunding provision from the bill. "This weekend we will see the Republican Party stand with the American people...

The recent dispatch of EPA storm troopers into tiny little Chicken, Alaska, is just one further bit of proof of what happens when this or any administration places itself above the law and it should concern every single American. This past week, the EPA sent a heavily armed force to the gold mine in Chicken, Alaska, population 17, to conduct a raid. All told there are 73 armed groups within the federal government, including the Library of Congress. Gov Sean Parnell has ordered an investigation into the incident and both senators, Lisa Murkowski, (R) and Mark Begich, (D) have added...

There's a lingering sense in Alaska that the field of GOP Senate candidates isn't done growing yet. But we won't know for sure until after Labor Day at the very earliest, when the latest potential candidate returns from military deployment to Afghanistan. Alaska Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Dan Sullivan, a Republican, will spend the next six weeks in Afghanistan on military duty, the Associated Press reported Monday night. Sullivan is in the Marine Reserves and deployed to Central Command twice in the last nine years, according to his office biography. Sullivan's most recent assignment means he will be out...

And so it begins: Sarah Palin suggested she would run for the U.S. Senate seat in Alaska, and 72 hours later has fired the first volley against her potential opponent, one Sen. Mark Begich — a Democrat, former Anchorage mayor and spirited Palin-basher. He’s already questioned whether the former governor was even a resident of Alaska, then dismissed her as a viable candidate. Naturally, Mrs. Palin was charmed by the challenge, immediately deeming Mr. Begich the “Alaska chameleon” for his political track record. “You have voted for Obamacare, for massive tax increases, for carbon taxes which could cost Alaskans 21,000...

Democratic leaders are wooing staunchly pro-gun candidates to run in pivotal Senate races at the same time they are discussing a strategy for bringing gun control legislation back up for debate. The two-pronged effort has prompted Republicans to accuse the Senate Democratic leadership of hypocrisy, but Democrats say it is simply smart politics. The question is whether two of the Democrats’ most promising potential candidates in Montana and South Dakota will pay a price for the leadership’s political maneuverings in Washington. Or will recruiting candidates who do not support President Obama’s gun control agenda have any effect on Democratic fundraising...