Free Republic

Lost amid the daily uproar over embattled Senate candidate Todd Akin's refusal to drop his Missouri bid is a growing effort by the GOP to spotlight a tightening presidential race in the Upper Midwest. The Republican National Committee has pounced on new polling data in Michigan and Wisconsin that show President Obama losing ground to Mitt Romney after the latter announced Paul Ryan as his running mate. And in what may -- or may not -- have been a coincidence, Vice President Joe Biden made a pair of campaign stops in Minnesota on Tuesday and will make several more in...

After a gaffe-filled week, Vice President Joseph R. Biden will go back on the campaign trail next week with visits to three relatively "safe" Democratic states. Mr. Biden will travel on Tuesday for campaign events in Minnesota, where President Obama leads presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney by an average of 10.5 percentage points in the Real Clear Politics average of polls. On Wednesday, the vice president will campaign in Michigan, where the Democratic ticket is ahead by an average of 7.7 points. And on Friday, Mr. Biden and his wife, Jill, will attend campaign events in New York state, where...

States that traditionally have been considered Democrat strongholds are now moving toward Mitt Romney, Bay Buchanan, a senior adviser to Romney, tells Newsmax. “When we came into this general election, it was assumed that the battleground states would be the same ones that they were in the past,” says Buchanan, who was treasurer of the U.S. under President Reagan. “Well what’s happened is a lot of the Democratic states are now looking like Mitt Romney could win them. They are now swing states.” That means that Democrats have to focus on an additional five states: New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and...

RESULTS OF SURVEY USA/KSTP Poll In an election for President of the United States in Minnesota today, 07/20/12, three months till voting begins, Barack Obama captures the North Star State's 10 electoral votes, defeating Mitt Romney 46% to 40%, according to a SurveyUSA poll for KSTP-TV in Minneapolis / St. Paul. Romney and Obama are effectively even among male voters. All of Obama's advantage comes from female voters, where Obama leads by 14 points. Romney edges Obama among Minnesota's Independents, but not by enough to offset Obama's 2:1 advantage among Minnesota's moderates. Romney leads in Northeastern MN, but Obama leads...

This thread is directed primarily at Minnesota Freepers - but obviously your support (at any level) is encouraged. This is a GOP primary taking place in state Senate District 33 in Minnesota. Geographically, it includes a number of the western and northwestern suburbs of Minneapolis. This is a good GOP district. The incumbent state senator is retiring. David Osmek, a member of the Mound City Council won the GOP endorsement with 81% of the vote - but he's being challenged by state rep Connie Doepke. As I'll point out to you, Doepke's record is decidedly a un-conservative one. Click on...

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will likely get more than face time with Virginia voters when he visits Portsmouth today. He's also expected to nab a key endorsement. Several Republican sources this week said Romney's campaign is developing plans to have U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota at the 1:15 p.m. event at Crofton Industries to announce her support for Romney. A darling of evangelicals and tea partyers, Bachmann briefly soared as a Republican presidential contender before withdrawing in January after a poor showing in the Iowa caucuses. An endorsement from her could lend some social conservative credentials to Romney...

WILLMAR — Starting with an opening prayer that called President Obama the “liar in chief,” the fourth annual Kandiyohi County tea party rally Monday night in Willmar featured a lengthy line-up of fire-brand speakers that encouraged participants to get involved with the 2012 election to oust Obama and Minnesota Democrats. If that happens there will be “happy days again in Minnesota and it’ll be because of tea parties like this,” said Tom Emmer, the GOP candidate who was defeated by Gov. Mark Dayton in 2010. Emmer said if he was now the Governor in the Republican-controlled House and Senate, Minnesota...

Republican Newt Gingrich packed a Bloomington hotel ballroom Monday night, attacking President Barack Obama's economic policies and arguing that a vote for rival Mitt Romney would mean the continuation of the same failed ideas and big government spending. On the eve of state's precinct caucuses, the presidential candidate's appearance at the Ramada Mall of America was his first campaign stop in Minnesota. About 500 supporters turned out to hear the former House speaker promise to cut spending and taxes, turn welfare safety nets into springboards and stand firm against America's enemies abroad if elected president. And,Gingrich said, the only way...

Newt Gingrich's presidential ambitions could hinge on the outcome of Tuesday's Minnesota caucuses, along with Colorado's caucus on the same day, says a story in the Huffington Post. Gingrich was leading in recent polls in Minnesota, but he's the only one of the four remaining Republican contenders not to visit the state in the week before the caucuses. The story says Mitt Romney is expected to fare quite well in upcoming contests in Nevada, Michigan and Arizona: But Colorado and especially Minnesota, both non-binding contests to be held on February 7, are different kettles of fish. And they are likely...

Raleigh, N.C. – Newt Gingrich holds a commanding 18-point lead over Mitt Romney in the Minnesota caucuses. Gingrich has more support than any two candidates combined – he garners 36% of the vote, with 18% going to Romney, 17% to Rick Santorum, 13% to Ron Paul, and 15% not sure. Gingrich also receives the highest net favorability rating at +34 (59/25) followed by Santorum at +32 (56/24), then Romney at just +14 (50/36) and Ron Paul holds a negative favorability rating with -9 (36/45). Both Gingrich (50-29) and Santorum (46-34) beat Romney in one on one matchups. Gingrich has a...

Mitt Romney's top ten is made up of Goldman Sachs, followed by Credit Suisse (Switzerland), Morgan Stanley, Barclays (UK), Bank of America and JP Morgan. In contrast Romney's co-frontrunner in Iowa, Ron Paul, has a top three donor list made up of the US Army, US Navy and US Airforce.

(VIDEO AT LINK) Albums on her iPod, debate rituals, and the secret sauce to Michele Bachmann’s presidential campaign. Meghan McCain joined Alex on NOW today to discuss her interview with the Minnesota Congresswoman—who touched on topics she doesn’t often discuss.....

He doesn't claim to know her post-presidential campaign plans, but fellow Minnesotan Norm Coleman, a Romney backer, believes Rep. Michele Bachmann has what it takes to be vice president. "She could serve well," he says of the Minnesota lawmaker who once led the polls for the Iowa caucus. "I think she's helped herself in this process." Bachmann isn't reconsidering her future other than believing she is positioned for a comeback against Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney in the GOP primaries. But even her critics are giving Bachmann good grades for her campaign, debate performances and fund raising despite some early...

Des Moines-With her youthful wardrobe — platform sandals, polka-dotted toenails and skinny, low-cut jeans — Sarah Palin does not look like the buttoned-up, middle-aged Republican presidential contenders who've been traipsing around New Hampshire and Iowa for weeks. But here she is, just like them, sweeping into both states this weekend to give speeches on her way to, well, what? If she is to run for president, she said last month, she will have to decide by the end of September. Many Republicans with ample presidential campaign experience say her window is closing fast. Polls suggest that her indecisiveness may have...

Somewhere between 6 p.m. Saturday and his morning announcement of the end of his presidential campaign, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty must have had a very sobering conversation. Pawlenty had been trying to find a silver lining in his third-place finish, far behind Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul, in Saturday's Iowa straw poll. His first comment — a very brief congratulatory tweet: "Congrats to Rep. Bachmann on win. Our campaign needed to show progress and we did. I'm eager for the campaign ahead." That was followed by an e-mail message to his supporters. "As I said all along we needed...

Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty continued his focus on reports that Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann suffers from serious migraines, saying Friday that his campaign is not “pushing” the story. “I checked with our staff,” Mr. Pawlenty said Friday. “They said they did not push the Bachmann story. In fact they reminded me that the sources for the story were her, apparently, her former staff.” Mr. Pawlenty’s comment comes just days after The Daily Caller reported the story, citing sources close to Ms. Bachmann. “All of the candidates I think are going to have to be able to demonstrate they can...

Yesterday, my blog partner Tina Korbe scolded Tim Pawlenty for making an argument that Michele Bachmann didn’t have executive experience or a record of Congressional accomplishment in her three terms in Washington as a comparison to his own experience as a governor in Minnesota. Even though Tina says that Bachmann’s record in Congress is “admittedly a little thin,” she writes that Pawlenty looked thin-skinned for pointing it out. My friend John Hinderaker wrote last night at Power Line that while he thinks that Pawlenty would make a better President than Bachmann, but that he “crossed a line” by pointing out...

A poll unveiled this week from American Research Group shows that three Republican presidential candidates -- U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska -- are gaining serious momentum in Iowa, site of the first presidential caucus. Bachmann, who declared her candidacy in June and has been surging in polls at both the national and state levels, topped the poll with 21 percent. Former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts placed second with 18 percent. Paul, who was the Libertarian candidate in 1988 and ran for the Republican nomination in...

A COUPLE weeks back, I argued that Michele Bachmann's lack of relevant experience makes it unlikely she'll win the Republican nomination. This elicited several thoughtful responses worth addressing, especially in light of Tim Pawlenty's recent digs at Ms Bachmann's lack of qualifications. Jonathan Chait suspects that "the Bachmann skeptics think she'll implode largely because she reminds them of Palin, when in fact she has a professional staff and is far more in control than Palin". Ms Bachmann does not in fact remind me much of Sarah Palin. I agree that her cannon is not as loose as Ms Palin's, and...

AMES, Iowa — Tim Pawlenty was first in line to enter the Republican presidential race. He is now fighting to avoid becoming the earliest major candidate to be shown the door. No contender for the Republican nomination has followed the conventional playbook more than Mr. Pawlenty, a former governor of Minnesota who began introducing himself two years ago during a prospecting trip to Iowa. Yet his path has been complicated by fresher faces, an unruly nominating contest and a handful of missteps that swallowed his summer momentum. The voting will not open for at least six months, but Mr. Pawlenty...