Free Republic

Commentary by Daniel Zanoza, Executive Director It has been an amazing experience. I have watched this year's race for the Republican presidential nomination with jaw-dropping awe. The Republican Party's elite, the dominant media and supposed conservative talk radio have done everything possible to marginalize Mike Huckabee--the only true pro-family Republican in the race--while doing so with a straight face. Here's a message I hope no pro-family voter will ignore or mistake for political gamesmanship. There is a movement at hand in the GOP to marginalize the pro-family element of the Republican Party. The attack is coming from the Republican elite...

But with a race this exciting, why don't reporters just sit back and enjoy it? Instead, there's this undercurrent of angst: The race is insane. Three contests, three winners. It's a deep, dark mystery. This has never happened before in recorded history. How can this not be over by February 5 so we can all go on vacation? The party is in crisis, maybe even in therapy. How can there not be a front-runner???

Fred Thompason is right - this is a fight for the soul of the Republican party - the party that elected Ronald Reagan and defeated Soviet communism. More than that, it is a fight to determine whether the conservative movement still controls a national party - or whether we surrender it with a whimper. Although not perfect, Thompson is the consistent "3am" reliable conservative in the race who actually believes what he says. So, we make our stand in South Carolina. This is the time to "put up" or "shut up." As I'm in Iraq (contractor, not a war-fighter), I...

Here's a great online op-ed laying out why Fred Thompson will win the nomination. Basically, Fred Thompson's federalist principles are connecting with evangelicals and the more conservative people in the Republican party. My favorite part: While James Dobson has had some snarky things to say about Senator Thompson, I really see his federalist stance as an attraction to evangelical voters. Even though Fred has said he wouldn't support a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, there are still evangelical leaders supporting him (Gary Bauer and Richard Land, to name a few). Evangelical Christians understand having a life philosophy that affects (in...

Mr. Thompson, I am writing this letter to ask that you seek the Republican nomination for President of the United States. The party needs you. Those of us who identify with the principles of modern conservatism need you. Your country needs you. Ok, I'll stop with the melodrama, but I really do want you to run. You've no doubt noticed that the race for the Republican nomination is turning into little more than a Ronald Reagan sound-alike contest. We have the former mayor of New York and the former governor of Massachusetts waxing (kind of) eloquent about shrinking the size...

WASHINGTON — A number of 2008 presidential contenders appear to be inching closer to making their first official steps as candidates. Republicans Tennessee Sen. Bill Frist, Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, New York Gov. George Pataki and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee are all in preparatory stages. Democrats Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama are also being watched carefully for suggestions they are making moves in the White House's direction. None officially has announced they are running, but either they or those close to them are saying...

BUTLER AIRS FIRST CAMPAIGN AD The ad entitled “A Little Help” features Keith Butler talking about why he is running for the U.S. Senate and the change we need from the career politicians and special interest groups in Washington D.C.

Analysis: In a Primary for Ohio Governor today, 4/4/06, Ken Blackwell defeats Jim Petro for the Republican nomination, while Ted Strickland overwhelms Bryan Flannery on the Democratic side, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted for WKYC-TV Cleveland, WCPO-TV Cincinnati, and WYTV-TV Youngstown. The primary is May 2nd. Blackwell, the current Ohio Secretary of State, gets 46%. Petro gets 32%. 22% are undecided. Men support Blackwell over Petro 2:1, but women are split. Strickland, who is not running for re-election as Representative from Ohio's 6th Congressional District, beats Flannery 60% to 15%, with 25% undecided. Filtering: 2,000 Ohio adults were interviewed...

NASHVILLE - Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Van Hilleary is criticizing a GOP rival for helping secure corporate underwriters for a 2004 legislative retreat affiliated with the Legislature's Black Caucus. The actions of former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker came up earlier this week during Hilleary's appearance on a conservative talk radio show in Nashville. Both Corker and Hilleary are vying to succeed Bill Frist. "Bob Corker's raising money for the ultra-liberal Black Caucus in Tennessee," said the show's host, Steve Gill, addressing issues first raised in a Hilleary campaign news release. "Is he running in the right primary?" "That's a good...

A few weeks ago I posted the question regarding Newt as a potential Presidential candidate.This week, as the result (or consequence) of a brief conversation with a scale master in Pennsylvania, the idea of Tom Ridge for 2008 was developed.He left Gov. of Pa. in relatively good graces ... he has (as far as I know) good paper ... he had a successful? stint as the first Homeland Security Director ... Marine (notice I did not say ex-marine ... Semper Fi!) ...And now the time comes to throw this out into (out into?) FreeRepublic.I'm inclined to like Ridge as a...

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The state's top elections official did not have authority to order counties to use one type of voting machine, Attorney General Jim Petro said Tuesday, a day before the deadline for counties to submit their machine choices. Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell arbitrarily rejected all but one kind of machine and was not given discretion by law to do so, Petro said. Blackwell and Petro are seeking the Republican nomination for governor. Last month, Blackwell ordered elections officials in the 88 counties to pick their preferred type of optical-scan machines, which read marks voters make on paper...

RINO Chafee to face primary challenge in 2006? Chafee's critics by Robert Novak, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Sen. Lincoln Chafee, who declared he was not voting for George W. Bush's re-election and considered leaving the Republican Party, may face trouble in Rhode Island's 2006 GOP primary. Chafee's conduct upset Rhode Island Republicans, who may support Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey in a possible Senate bid. Laffey, who describes himself as a populist and is more conservative than Chafee, won re-election by a landslide in heavily Democratic Cranston after cleaning up its finances. Independent voters, comprising about half of Rhode Island's electorate,...

A national Coors beer boycott, nearly comatose except in some gay bars in California, has been resuscitated by the Senate campaign of Pete Coors. "Every time they (the campaign) make a move, it gains new energy," said Howard Wallace of San Francisco, who started the boycott in 1974 with gay politician Harvey Milk. The boycott began as a protest of the Coors Brewing Co.'s anti-union position, and quickly grew to include gay outrage over company lie-detector tests that asked whether prospective employees were homosexual. The boycott faded after the company reversed itself in 1995 and began supporting high-profile gay causes...

April 15, 2004, 8:38 a.m. Santorum’s Shame Say it ain’t so, Rick. No one can question Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum's free-market and pro-growth credentials. Santorum has been ranked as one of the most fiscally conservative Republicans in the Senate by groups like the National Taxpayers Union. He has led the fight for tax cuts and smaller government. And pro-growth contributors, for their part, did a lot of heavy lifting to help get Santorum into the Senate in the first place and into the leadership position he now holds. It was an investment that has paid off in spades. That is...

In a bizarre election marked by his opponent's past fondness for women's clothes, Burleson's Rob Orr convincingly captured the Republican nomination Tuesday for District 58 representative in the Legislature. Orr, who repeatedly denied leaking photographs that showed opponent Sam Walls dressed as a woman and that surfaced less than two weeks ago, won the runoff with 60 percent of the vote to Walls' 40 percent. Walls, the apparent front-runner after finishing first in the March 9 primary, said he is certain the cross-dressing revelations influenced the outcome of the election. But in an emotional concession speech at Johnson County Republican...

LANCASTER, Pa., March 29 — Representative Patrick J. Toomey, Republican candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania, has been ripping his opponent for being a "Ted Kennedy" liberal, too fond of taxes and spending, too close to activist judges and trial lawyers, too supportive of abortion rights and the United Nations. Never mind that his opponent, Senator Arlen Specter, is a four-term Republican who has been endorsed by the nation's conservative-in-chief, President Bush. Party cleansing, not party unity, is Mr. Toomey's goal. "The problem we've got is a handful of Republican senators who never really bought into the idea of the Republican...

E-mail Author Author Archive Send to a Friend <% printurl = Request.ServerVariables("URL")%> Print Version March 18, 2004, 8:15 a.m. Primary BaseArlen Specter reaches urges Democrats to vote in the Republican primary. Sen. Arlen Specter is wooing an unusual demographic of voters in the upcoming Pennsylvania Republican party: Democrats. According to the weekly alternative Pittsburgh City Paper, Specter held a breakfast fundraiser at Oakland's Concordia Club on Feb. 22 with a group of about 60 Jewish donors, mostly registered Democrats. The senator pointed out to the crowd that they still had time to register as Republicans, and then change their...

Despite opposition from some GOP stalwarts, Steven Wayne Smith says he remains best for the job. From a distance, it would seem that Steven Wayne Smith should be safely nestled in his seat on the Texas Supreme Court. He is a Republican incumbent in a state firmly controlled by the party, an avowed conservative sitting alongside eight other GOP justices whose philosophies fall mere shades apart on the political spectrum. But Smith has worn a target on his back since he upset Gov. Rick Perry's hand-picked favorite for the court in 2002. In his brief tenure, Smith has never been...

Feb. 6, 2004, 9:48PM Giving a name to GOP primary politics By CLAY ROBISON Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle In the end, an important political race may be decided by something as simple (and potentially dangerous) as which of two common names -- Smith or Green -- sounds better to most Republican primary voters. For political insiders, however, the race between Texas Supreme Court Justice Steven Wayne Smith and challenger Paul Green offers an entertaining look at how Gov. Rick Perry is letting his pique at Smith put him at odds with leaders from the far-right wing of his own party,...

In 2000, the American electorate was evenly divided. Now, as we enter another voting season, the Gallup Organization has released a study, based on 40,000 interviews, that shows that 45.5 percent of voters identify with or lean toward the Republican Party and 45.2 percent identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party. So is that it? After Sept. 11, the Iraq war and the Madonna-Britney kiss, could it really be that we are back to where we started? Since 2000, tens of millions of people have moved, divorced and converted; can it really be that everything in America changes except...