Free Republic

Overall Georgia Senate Primary Runoff Results

In recent days the Weekly Standard and Washington Free Beacon have brought to light a now-scrubbed recommended reading list for students that had resided on Sen. Rand Paul’s website. Why the focus on a book list, and why was the book list scrubbed? The answer to the second question could lie in the answer to the first: the foreign policy recommendations in the reading list take a variety of controversial stances, suggesting that the U.S. is to blame for the rise of Islamic supremacism in the Middle East, that the “Israeli Lobby” controls U.S. foreign policy to America’s great detriment,...

Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan) continued his refusal to debate challenger Dr. Milton Wolf prior to the upcoming August 5 primary election date on the grounds that “Wolf is not qualified to hold such a high office.” “I’ve been in this political racket for nearly 50 years,” the 78 year-old Roberts pointed out. “I didn’t just leap into the national arena as my first venture into joining the governing elite. I served on the staff of Senator Frank Carlson and Representative Keith Sebelius for over 12 years before I ran for Congress in 1980. Then I put in 16 years in...

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) is calling for a wrongful death lawsuit against Russian assets on Friday after a commercial airline crashed in Ukraine near the Russian border. “I want to hear [during President Barack Obama’s speech today] that the Department of Justice will bring one hell of a wrongful death suit against Russian assets that are located in the United States to make sure there’s a significant cost paid by Russia for this action of shooting down an international airliner with a weapon system that is directly related to the Russian armed forces,” Kirk said on CNN.

Noah Rothman wrote up Quinnipiac’s gubernatorial poll yesterday, prompting me to wonder over at Townhall whether the polling outfit was holding back its Senate numbers for separate release. We now have our answer. A virtual deadlock, and advantage Gardner: The closely-watched U.S. Senate race is tied with 44 percent for U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner, the Republican challenger, and 42 percent for Sen. Mark Udall, the Democratic incumbent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Another 10 percent are undecided. This compares to the results of an April 24 survey by the independent Quinnipiac University showing Sen. Udall at...

The tell-tale sign Republicans expected to lose the Senate in 2006 appeared June 28 of that year. That was when the GOP turned to stunts to save themselves. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., brought to the floor a constitutional amendment banning the burning of the American flag. Flag-burning had not been a serious issue for years. But after Hurricane Katrina, and with the Iraq War going poorly, Republicans were desperate to change the subject. “Flag burning is a form of expression that is spiteful or vengeful,” said the late Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., whose chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee...

The final outcome for the Senate could be anything from a minor Republican gain to a GOP romp. At the moment, the state of play seems manageable from a Democratic perspective, but the party’s position is perilous. A tiny shift could tip the canoe and spill a lot of Democrats overboard.

Actually, per Breitbart, he’s working on two bills. One would repeal DACA, Obama’s 2012 executive order that suspended deportations for qualifying young illegals. The other, a more urgent priority, would block Obama from expanding DACA. That means no executive amnesty for the Central American children who’ve come here recently (although they could, I assume, still be allowed to stay under asylum laws) and, maybe, no executive amnesty for the five million adult illegals whom O has promised immigration activists he’ll help.Given the post-Romney terror within the GOP leadership over being demagogued as anti-Latino, I wonder if the bills will...

In a unanimous decision last month, the Supreme Court struck down a Massachusetts buffer zone law prohibiting pro-life free speech outside abortion clinics. The decision was a huge victory for pro-life sidewalk counselors who provide women with abortion alternatives. In their ruling, the Supteme Court struck down a Massachusetts law that created a 35-foot “buffer zone” restricting pro-life advocates from speaking with people entering abortion facilities. massachusettsSaying the abortion buffer zone is “inconsistent with the First Amendment,” the Supreme Court ruled that that the buffer zone violated the First Amendment because it “restricts access to ‘public way[s]’ and ‘sidewalk[s],’ places...

Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey, who ran as a pro-life advocate when he won a Senate term in 2006 and 2012, but who has disappointed pro-life advocates with repeated pro-abortion votes, continues to abandon his pro-life views.A couple years ago, he voted against a measure to revoke taxpayer funding from the Planned Parenthood abortion business. Today, Casey voted for a bill to “overturn” the Supreme Court decision protecting Hobby Lobby from being forced to pay for drugs that may cause abortions.Michael Ciccocioppo, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, told LifeNews he is disappointed that Casey continues to abandon is publicly-stated...

<p>WASHINGTON—Senate Democrats' effort to push back against the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby decision stalled Wednesday when their bill to restore employers' responsibility to provide contraception coverage under the health law was defeated on a procedural vote.</p> <p>In a 56-43 vote, which was largely along party lines, Democrats came up short of the 60 votes needed to advance their legislation. It sought to prevent companies from relying on a religious-freedom law to avoid complying with the Affordable Care Act's requirement to cover all forms of contraception approved by the government without charging workers a copayment.</p>

       This Candidate Has A History Of Taking On The Obama AdministrationHear what Dan Sullivan, the U.S. Senate candidate from Alaska, had to say In this week's "On the Campaign Trail" podcast, we are joined by Former Alaska Attorney General Dan Sullivan. Dan discusses his campaign for U.S. Senate in Alaska where he hopes to be the Republican nominee to unseat incumbent Democratic Senator Mark Begich. Dan has dedicated his life to serving Alaska and America. He has served on active duty and in the reserves in the U.S. Marine Corps for 20 years as an infantry officer....

Senate Democrats held a hearing today on a bill that wipes out virtually every pro-life law across the country, including state laws that came into play in Pennsylvania that held late-term abortion practitioner Kermit Gosnell accountable for killing babies who were born alive and killed during a gruesome late-term abortion procedure.S.1696 is deceptively titled the “Women’s Health Protection Act” even though it revokes protections for women and their unborn children. Instead, the bill would be far-reaching in how it would topple virtually every pro-life law passed in states across the country.During the hearing, Carol Tobias, president of the National Right...

Well, yet another Clinton White House expose has hit the stands, and this one not only further betrays their disingenuous and calculating nature, but makes clear that Hillary had powerful enemies within the Democratic party long before the Obama wing ever raised it's (horned) head... One person described as not keen on the idea of Clinton joining the Senate is Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), who was so fearful of being up-staged he coached Rep. Rick Lazio (R-LI), Clinton’s eventual Republican opponent, on his 2000 campaign, according to Lazio. “I thought he was generally . . . he was supportive,” Lazio said of Schumer....

WASHINGTON – The federal Highway Trust Fund, which contributes to road building and maintenance projects across the country, is expected to run out of money in early August, leading some states to issue plans to halt construction in case the well runs dry. The House and Senate are considering dueling packages and have not reached an agreement on how to address the fund’s impending insolvency. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has advised governors that reimbursements may slow to a trickle if the chambers can’t agree in time. Foxx told the states his department “will continue to take every possible measure to...

I read this at NRO: Senate Democrats’ Religious-Freedom Deprivation BillUnder the guise of “protect[ing] women’s health from corporate interference,” the bill that Senate Democrats are proposing in response to the Hobby Lobby ruling would deprive religious entities of all religious-liberty protections against having the HHS mandate directly imposed on them. Specifically:1. The bill would apply to employers generally, not just (as the bill’s short title would suggest) to “corporate” employers. Subsection 4(a) would make it unlawful for any “employer that establishes or maintains a group health plan for its employees” to “deny coverage of a specific health care item or...

The Senate Appropriations Committee reviews President Obama's request for funding to address the child immigration crisis. (Live stream)

Republicans from Washington to Little Rock are privately distressed that Rep. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., – a candidate once hailed as their most talented U.S. Senate recruit of the cycle – has lost his luster in his challenge to second-term Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor. The overarching problem: While Cotton’s resume is sparkling, his persona is flat. He speaks with authority, but lacks warmth. His wooden delivery is more often academic, lacking an everyday, common touch that’s still essential in a place with slightly less than 3 million people, the smallest state in the south. His slender frame and boyish haircut makes...

Missouri GOP Chair:"Investigate Mississippi Primary Racism."Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus has been asked to open an investigation into the Mississippi Senate GOP runoff election—by a member of the RNC.In an interview with The American Spectator, Missouri State Republican Chairman Ed Martin says he believes what happened in Mississippi is symbolic of a “battle for the future of the party.” Martin says that RNC colleagues he has spoken to “are looking for Reince Priebus to show leadership” on the issue. “Leadership” defined as opening an investigation into what Martin and others see as race-baiting tactics used to win the primary runoff...

The Newborn Screening Saves Lives Reauthorization Act is waiting in the US Senate for a vote. Last week, before the House voted on it, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann went to the floor of the House and said parent consent should be required. But it passed without consent requirements. Now, the U.S. Senate is planning to vote on the Houseʼs newborn screening bill and send it to the President. The Senate wants to hotline it, but we want to stop it unless it has written informed parent consent for the government storage, use, analysis, and sharing of newborn DNA. Call your Senators...