Free Republic

A newly-elected Republican Congressman is facing criticism after hiring a same-sex "marriage" supporter as his first Chief of Staff. Congressman-elect Tom Emmer is set to replace Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-MN, when the 114th Congress convenes in January. Just days after winning the race, however, Emmer picked one of his campaign consultants, outgoing state Rep. David FitzSimmons, as his highest-ranking staffer. FitzSimmons is one of four Republicans in the Minnesota House of Representatives to vote for same-sex "marriage" last year. "The state has gone through a lot of controversy over this issue recently, and state Rep. FitzSimmons was a major player...

This map, which originated with National Journal, has been making the rounds on Twitter. It it similar to the one that was popular a few years ago that showed the United States as red or blue, by county. But this map shows the Congressional districts based on the just-completed election:

Imagine the student association at your university wages a Twitter campaign to get the two candidates for the U.S. Senate seat to agree to a debate on campus. The challenger agrees but the incumbent senator declines.. Disappointing? Yes. But guess who the student newspaper on that campus lavishes praise upon? The candidate who declined to debate. How does that happen? When the incumbent senator who declined the debate has the magic "D" next to his name as happened in Minnesota when Al Franken declined the invitation of the student government to debate his opponent. The student newspaper, the Minnesota Daily,...

The comedian-turned-senator is running an unusually low-key reelection campaign, trying to avoid scrutiny. Will Republicans get the last laugh?In reality, polls from both parties show Franken with only a tenuous advantage over his challenger, Republican businessman Mike McFadden. President Obama's job-approval numbers are weak in Minnesota, with a Suffolk University poll conducted in April revealing a 43 percent rating. The same survey shows Franken polling at 44 percent against McFadden, with his net favorability at 46 percent/41 percent. (A robo-poll, conducted this week by SurveyUSA, showed Franken up 51 percent to 42 percent, with a 56 percent approval rating.) But...

For some reason, Al Franken has not appeared on many lists of vulnerable Senate Democrats. But he is no shoo-in for re-election in November, as John Feehery reminds us in the Wall Street Journal: In several polls the incumbent, a former Saturday Night Live star, can’t break the 50% mark. Given his narrow victory in 2008 (which some say wasn’t a real victory), it’s probably not that surprising that Mr. Franken is still a polarizing figure. But after six years in the Senate, one might expect that the incumbent would have built a more comfortable cushion for himself. When I...

Here in Minnesota, where we managed to elect Jesse Ventura as Governor and Al Franken to the US Senate within a decade of each other, the state Republican Party held its convention this past weekend. Minnesota has a caucus-plus-primary system, in which the two parties attempt to settle its nominations with convention endorsements for state-wide offices. Often, the fight continues through to a late-season primary, drawing resources away from the general-election campaign. Democrats hold all of the state-wide offices, including Franken as the incumbent Senator and Mark Dayton as Governor, so their nominations have long been settled.Republicans batted .500 on...

Former Alaska governor and vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin has endorsed GOP U.S. Senate candidate Julianne Ortman, who is running in a crowded field of Republicans angling to unseat Democratic Sen. Al Franken. In a post of her Facebook page, Palin slammed Franken, a former “Saturday Night Live” star and liberal radio host, calling his political career a “joke.” Palin also heaped praise on Ortman, a state senator, calling her a “conservative champion” and a “fighter for life and for our Second Amendment rights.” “Let’s give voters a contrast this fall: a clown vs. a Mama Grizzly, an Obama 100...

Half of the residents of Minnesota now disapprove of President Obama’s performance, according to a new poll. Results of The Star Tribune survey represent the first time that his approval rating has turned negative in the state since the president took office in 2009. Obama’s job approval rating in the poll has fallen to 43 percent. Men had an especially unfavorable opinion of the president. According to the poll, 60 percent of Minnesotan men disapproved of his job performance, compared to 40 percent of women in the state. People under 34 had the highest approval rating for Obama, with 59...

Party caucuses are going on tonight in precincts across Minnesota. Caucuses are an old-fashioned civic tradition, more noted for boredom and long nights than anything else, but tonight there was some excitement at a DFL caucus in Minneapolis. A fight broke out: A very tense night at a caucus site in Minneapolis where DFLer Mohamud Noor is challenging longtime DFL state Rep. Phyllis Kahn. The heat in one Minneapolis location resulted in police being called out. With 300 people at the Byan [sic] Coyle Center, a fight broke out and people rushed the stage. After the melee, the Minneapolis police

Don’t get too excited about the latest St. Cloud State University poll in Minnesota, but it does at least offer a glimmer of hope for a Minnesota Republican Party that still finds itself in financial and organizational straits. Just a year after getting blitzed in the 2012 election, Minnesotans find themselves less than enchanted with Democratic officeholders. And 2014 incumbent Sen. Al Franken fares the worst of all:CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO In the poll released this week, 44% of Minnesotans polled said Governor Mark Dayton is doing excellent or pretty good. That’s a 9% drop from last year,...

As of today, Jim Graves is going to indefinitely suspend his campaign for Congress from the 6th District. Translation: He is not running. He is dropping out of politics to concentrate on his family and his business. ~SNIP~ “Basically, after all that’s gone on, and with Michele Bachmann now stepping down, I’ve been talking to my friends and family and frankly, the feeling is, ‘Mission Accomplished.’ She wasn’t representing the people of the 6th District appropriately, and now she won’t be representing them. There’s no way anyone could run and win who would be worse than Michele Bachmann. So we...

New York Magazine: 'Michele Bachmann Retires As President of Crazyland' By Noel Sheppard Created 05/29/2013 - 10:39am With the announcement that Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) will not seek re-election next year, the liberal media are out in force trashing this woman Wednesday. New York magazine's Jonathan Chait quickly did his part with a piece intelligently titled "Michele Bachmann Retires As President of Crazyland": Bachmann faced a dire threat of losing reelection. But to think she was chased out of her job is an error born from thinking of Bachmann as merely another member of Congress. Bachmann is more than that:...

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann says she will not run for re-election in 2014, ending her tenure as the representative from Minnesota's sixth congressional district after four terms. In a video released on her website early Wednesday , Bachmann says that, in her opinion, if presidents can only serve eight years that length of time is sufficient for her to serve in Congress.

Minnesota U.S. Sen. Al Franken leads all potential GOP opponents by comfortable double-digit margins, according to a Public Policy Polling survey released Tuesday. Among those tested by the Democratic polling firm was U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, who he leads 55-38, a 17 point margin. Franken leads conservative talk show host Jason Lewis by the same 17 point margin (54-37), as well as state Sen. Julianne Ortman (52-35). Narrowing the gap slightly against the first-term senator were businessman Mike McFadden and Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek, who came within 15 points apiece (both at 51-36). Sen. Julie Rosen trailed by 16...