Free Republic

Some veteran Republican House members are pushing back against conservative deficit hawks who are pushing for endlessly deep spending cuts, saying the right wing of the party is creating unnecessary divisions for the GOP majority. While the 54 Republicans who voted against the most recent stopgap spending bill didn’t derail the legislation, some GOP lawmakers are becoming increasingly wary of a faction that rejects substantial spending cuts because they want deeper ones or the inclusion of divisive social policy riders. Many of the critics are close to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who struggles more each day to keep his majority...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court on Friday threw out about 1,000 provisional ballots that had been improperly filled out by voters in a tight congressional race. In a 4-2 decision, the court struck down Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's directive that said the votes should be counted. Voters had improperly filled out the outer envelope on the disputed ballots, which had been among about 27,000 left to be counted in the undecided 15th district congressional race between Republican Steve Stivers and Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy. The decision allows Franklin County voting officials to count the other remaining...

MD-1: Democrat Frank Kratovil leads Republican Andy Harris by 2,003 votes in this district that includes all of Maryland's Eastern Shore and parts of three counties west of the bay. Harris's campaign thinks there are about 10,000 outstanding provisional and absentee ballots. In order to win, the remaining ballots need to go 3-2 for Harris. Earlier today, the Associated Press and CNN called the race for Kratovil. Harris hasn't conceded, and Kratovil cautioned against premature celebration. CA-4: Tom McClintock netted another 118 votes over Democrat Charlie Brown in their nail-biting race to represent California's Fourth District, stretching from the Sacramento...