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TN/OK: Polls Close In Special Elections The polls have closed in Tennessee. The first results are in for early voting and absentee and can be found here. The polls have also closed in Oklahoma. The first results are also in for early voting and absentee and can be found here.

So here we were in 2007 worrying about who would take the Reagan "mantle of conservatism" forward. John McCain, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Duncan Hunter, Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul and others were already in the race to become the next GOP nominee for president. And you know what? Conservatives were freaking out! Was this really the crop we had to choose from? None of these guys, with the exception of maybe Duncan Hunter or to an extent Ron Paul, really understood what conservatism was. Then a grassroots draft campaign was initiated to bring someone into the race that really understood...

i think we could form a more perfect union if we could find peace in the nation and abroad.we should not be dictators.dictatorship ended in the early 1960's.some say cummnuism is where you share your countrys' wealth.i'm more in favor sharing wealth with the united and free world.

NASHVILLE — Over the weekend, Republican National Chairman Michael Steele ventured into Tennessee House Speaker Kent Williams’ backyard in upper East Tennessee and pledged to oust Williams next year. The Kingsport Times-News quoted Steele as saying: “I got a bull’s eye right on his back and we’re taking him out.” Williams is the second-term legislator and Elizabethton restaurateur who stunned fellow Tennessee Republicans when he joined the House’s 49 Democrats in voting for himself for speaker Jan. 13 to defeat his own Republican Caucus’ nominee. For that, the Tennessee Republican Party declared he was no longer a member of the...

Bradley County Sheriff Tim Gobble has the field in Tennessee’s 3rd Congressional District largely to himself for now as he runs for the 11-county district’s first contest with no incumbent in 16 years. “We feel like we’re starting to build a little momentum, and hopefully we’ll be able to carry that through the election,” said Sheriff Gobble, who last week visited with Hamilton County Republicans and attended a U.S. Department of Energy forum in Oak Ridge. Other would-be candidates continue to weigh their options on the seat that incumbent U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., says he is giving up to...

Jeff Woods reports the reaction of some lawmakers upon hearing that Rep. Eric Swafford had joined a fringe movement that questions President Obama’s citizenship: “I actually asked Eric for his [birth certificate] this morning. I told him I wanted to see his. He said he had it in his office. I think it’s shenanigans. I don’t see how some of these people get elected. I’m just tickled to death I’m not in a leadership position in the Republican Party. That heart attack I had yesterday would have been for real probably.” Later, Miller launched into a tirade against the state...

The Tennessean reports that three more Tennessee Republicans are demanding President Barack Obama show them his birth certificate and other vital documents to prove he’s an American. Tennessee Reps. Eric Swafford, Stacey Campfield, Glen Casada and Frank Nicely have all agreed to be plaintiffs in future legal action from a Russian immigrant in California who has challenged whether Obama meets constitutional criteria to be president. Advertisement The lawsuit from the Defend Our Freedoms Foundation, which has not yet been filed, will be among several court challenges to Obama’s citizenship. Tennessee Republican Reps. Stacey Campfield (R-18th), Glen Casada (R-63rd) and Frank...

With veteran Third District Congressman Zach Wamp planning a race for governor in 2010, potential candidates for his seat in Washington are already lining up. Rep. Wamp just won a new two-year term, but the seat comes open again in 2010 - when Rep. Wamp says he plans to shift his focus to the governor's seat. Observers say Republican state Sen. Bo Watson might be a likely candidate. Another possibility is the county's other state senator - Democrat Andy Berke. Sen. Berke would be in the middle of a four-year term, while Sen. Watson's Senate seat is on the ballot...

Despite election wins that shifted control, it could be difficult NASHVILLE - The 106th General Assembly convenes this week with Republicans controlling both the House and Senate for the first time in 140 years and the state facing the biggest financial shortfall in all of Tennessee history. The session, which officially begins at noon Tuesday, will be devoted largely to Republican moves to transform the election victories that provided the party a shaky 50-49 majority in the House and solid 19-14 advantage in the Senate into governing power. They may have some problems in the process. The state faces an...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Democratic House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh is calling on Tennessee Republican leaders to renounce former state GOP leader Chip Saltsman in the wake of a music parody of President-elect Barack Obama. . . . He sent committee members a CD this Christmas featuring a 2007 song called "Barack the Magic Negro." The parody is sung to the music of "Puff, the Magic Dragon."

NASHVILLE - Republican state Rep. Kent Williams says he is considering voting for the state's Democratic constitutional officers. Republicans gained majorities in both the House and Senate in last month's elections, giving them a combined 69-63 advantage when a joint session convenes next month to decide who will be the state's comptroller, treasurer and secretary of state.

The room was a little fuller than it had been in years this past Monday night at the joint fundraiser for the State Senate and House Republican caucuses. In what one legislative leader said was a “record setting” night for the event, the caucuses raised about $350,000 and saw around 550 people come through the door at Flyte. “It was a fantastic event,” said Rep. Jason Mumpower, House GOP Minority leader and likely future House Speaker. “We had old friends and a lot of new ones.” The new friends were apparently the source of a great deal of amusement to...

The year is almost over, and 2008 was a wild one in Tennessee. While our state was largely left out of the national political picture this year, the state topography was changed drastically in last month’s balloting. After a year of change and consternation here in the Volunteer State, here are three things we know about the political players in Tennessee that hold lessons about the past and clues about the future of state politics here. 1. Gov. Phil Bredesen has absolutely no electoral coattails. If there was any doubt left lingering after 2004 as to whether Tennessee’s very popular...

Tennessee Republicans served notice Wednesday that the legislature is under new management, all but promising to replace the three state constitutional officers and challenging Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen to open talks on state budget issues. Although Republicans won a one-vote majority in the state Senate two years ago, they built it to a 19-14 margin Tuesday and, unexpectedly, won a 50-49 majority in the House, which Democrats held 53-46 until Election Day. Legislative historian Eddie Weeks confirmed it's the first time the GOP has held a majority of both chambers since 1869, during Reconstruction after the Civil War. Both parties...

Former Tennessee Senator and one-time Republican presidential candidate, Fred Thompson tells Newsmax TV that the polls showing Obama leading are closing rapidly in all the bellwether states and McCain has reason to be optimistic. Hear his views on Republican defectors and John McCain's qualities.

WASHINGTON -- In an economy that appears to favor Democrats and in a year when Republicans are expected to lose seats in the U.S. Senate, one of them almost certainly will not be Tennessee's. Popular two-term governor Lamar Alexander is seeking re-election this year with a low-key campaign reminding voters that he has proposed concrete solutions, sometimes opposed by President Bush, even as he's climbed to the third spot in the Senate's GOP leadership. His opponent, Nashville lawyer Robert D. Tuke, is lesser known and stresses Alexander's partisanship and ties to Bush and, most recently, to an unpopular vote bailing...

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ROGERSVILLE, Tenn. - A Republican candidate in a campaign central to GOP efforts to gain a majority in the state Senate next session has been accused by a member of his party of having an extramarital affair with her. Republicans have expressed confidence that Church Hill attorney Mike Faulk could oust Sen. Mike Williams, who left the GOP last year to become an independent and sometimes sides with Democrats on key votes. A victory by Faulk on Nov. 7 in the rural, conservative and overwhelmingly Republican state Senate District 4 would be key for the GOP in breaking a 16-16...

UPDATED at 9:20p.m. Roe, Davis running close in 1st District primary UPDATES with early returns in 1st District, Blackburn leading, Davis and Wamp winning. From the Associated Press: By WOODY BAIRD Associated Press Writer MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Early voting returns show congressman David Davis and challenger Phil Roe running close in the Republican primary for the Tennessee’s 1st District seat. With 21 percent of precincts reporting in the northeast Tennessee district, Roe was barely ahead with 8,901 votes to Davis’ 8,843. Each candidate had just over 49 percent of the vote. The 1st District GOP primary and the 9th...

Freshman Rep. David Davis (R-Tenn.), who won a crowded Republican primary in 2006 with just 22 percent of the vote, is in a two-man race this year with one of his vanquished foes. Johnson City Mayor Phil Roe (R) finished fourth in 2006 with 17 percent of the vote, but has quietly become one of the few challengers in the country this year to out-raise an incumbent. He reported collecting $120,000 between January and March, compared to $80,000 for Davis, who still holds a 2-to-1 advantage in total cash. Better still, with the 2006 runner-up to Davis deciding against another...

Shelby County Register Tom Leatherwood said today he will challenge U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn in this year’s Republican primary for the 7th Congressional District seat she has held since 2002. His entry gives Blackburn her first intra-party challenge since she won the congressional seat by defeating six opponents in the GOP primary of 2002, including three prominent Shelby County Republicans -- lawyer David Kustoff, state Sen. Mark Norris and Memphis City Council member Brent Taylor. “Yes, I’m in (the race),” Leatherwood told The Commercial Appeal today. “This is something that began to brew with me maybe a year or so...

NASHVILLE - Tennessee Republican Chairman Robin Smith says she stands by the state party's use of "Barack Hussein Obama" in party criticism of the Democratic presidential candidate - even though John McCain says it's inappropriate. McCain, holding a big lead in the Republican presidential race, Tuesday apologized for criticism of Obama by a radio talk show host who introduced McCain at a rally. Asked if it was proper to refer to Obama by using his middle name, the Associated Press reports that McCain replied: "No, it is not. Any comment that is disparaging of either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama...

I ask the question because it isn't out of the question. They are good friends with a history. It would be a smart move on the Maverick's part to stilt up his lacking on conservative credentials. Could Thompson serve as the conservative concience? The ideological gravitas? Even...power behind the throne? How would the conservative base/blogosphere react? Serious thought from Scott Ott: Bring Fred Thompson on as vice president to serve as the Constitutional conscience of the administration -- an ideological gravitas behemoth -- who can do for President McCain what Dick Cheney has done for President Bush on foreign policy....

That's the name of a new anti-Huckabee web site started by former Thompson staffer Darrel Ng. Jonathan Martin has more on the site: Now that his candidate is out of the race, one Thompson staffer has gone the next stop and is actively working against Huck. Sorta. Darrel Ng, perhaps the heartiest and most dogged of Thompson's aides and somebody who logged many a mile on the Fred bus, has launched a website called "Boycott Chuck Norris." Yup, Ng now wants people to show their disregard for Huck by not patronizing any companies that use Norris as a pitchman. The...

A far as legal-brained firepower goes, the chief beneficiary of Fred Thompson’s decision to pull out of the presidential race is Mitt Romney. The Romney campaign Thursday announced that a host of conservative lawyers_and_scholars who were backing Thompson have joined the Romney camp. Among them is Victoria Toensing, who made her mark as an anti-terrorism_policy-maker at the Justice Department during the Reagan administration. Toensing is joined by her husband (and fellow regular on the cable news circuit) Joseph diGenova, the former U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C. To date, Romney’s conservative legal cabal has been notable for the presence of Catholic_scholars...

From: Gabrielle S. Avedian on behalf of Friends of Fred Thompson < Gabrielle.Avedian> Date: Jan 21, 2008 1:51 PM Subject: URGENT: Email campaign for Fred! To: “Gabrielle S. Avedian on behalf of Friends of Fred Thompson” < Gabrielle.Avedian> Hey all, First, I want to thank each and every one of you for the fantastic job of calling you’ve been doing to South Carolina all week. It has been a long, hard week and I know you have really sacrificed for this campaign. I truly appreciate all you’ve done and I know Fred and Jeri appreciate it also. BECAUSE OF YOU,...

Fred Thompson's political career might very well be over tomorrow. If so, take this post as a postmortem of his candidacy. It is obvious that Senator Thompson has squandered a great deal of good will during the interminable run up to the announcement of his candidacy and his less than stellar performance in the period September through mid-December. The easy analysis is that Thompson was lazy but I don't think it was laziness. I think it was a misguided attempt to run an issues oriented campaign. Thompson's Socratic style of addressing those early crowds was a good way to discuss...

As has been reported elsewhere today, Fred Thompson's mother is gravely ill right now. Our prayers ought to be with Sen. Thompson, his mother, his wife, and their family. This must be a very difficult time for them. All of this political stuff is of only secondary importance right now. That said, here is what I would do, politically, if I were Thompson: I would just lay low. Just wait. See what happens in Louisiana's caucuses tomorrow. See what happens in Florida next week. See who drops out of the race at some point. And then consider reviving my campaign,...

Fred on the Issues (from www.Fred08.com) National Security The first responsibility of government is to protect the American people, the homeland, and our way of life. Today we face the urgent threat of radical Islamic terrorists. Al Qaeda is committed to attacking us here at home, and wants to use weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to kill millions. We must never give them that opportunity. We must defeat the terrorists abroad, and that begins in Iraq and Afghanistan—the central fronts in this global war. We must show the world we have the will to fight and win. A weakened America...

Oh boy one has to believe that Huckabee will be getting some blow-back from this. These push polls have even brought out the South Carolina Attorney General to make this statement: “Last evening the Associated Press reported that that an out-of-state special interest group, Common Sense Issues, had launched a massive push polling effort disparaging John McCain and other candidates for president. In their push poll, Common Sense Issues makes several misleading claims regarding John McCain’s record.“Allow me to set the record straight. In the U.S. Senate, John McCain has been an unwavering voice for the rights of the unborn....

As we move on to South Carolina team Thompson is doing something a little different and fun. They are putting up a fun set of videos from their tour down there. They are getting video snapshots of folks who have flipped to Fred from other Candidates. Here is Riley, who flipped from Romney to Fred. Karen flips from Romney to Fred: Ann flips from Huckabee to Thompson: Jason goes from Romney to Fred: Well you get the idea. There is plenty more here. Meanwhile Fred layed the smackdown on the field on Fox News last night. So much so that...

Welcome to our Phone for Fred online phone bank! Person to person contact is the most effective way to make a difference in an election. We created the Phone for Fred program for all of you Friends of Fred who want to volunteer and do more for Fred! We need your help in the early primary states. Our Phone for Fred online phone bank makes it easy for you to make a difference! Fred only needs a small commitment of time and you will soon see that your phone calls and person to person contact will help Fred win!

"United States policy must continue to stand with the Cuban people and against those who have oppressed, terrorized, and murdered so many Cubans over the past half-century. This was my position when I served in the Senate; it is my position today; it will be my position as President. Fidel and Raul Castro are unaccountable dictators who can serve no role in Cuba’s future. We must continue supporting the growing internal opposition in Cuba while also denying the regime any source of funding that could prop up this cruel, illegitimate government. This means keeping current sanctions in place, and increasing...

Sorry, Rudy: In an interview to air this Sunday, state Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long tells WNBC's Gabe Pressman the party is likely to give an early nod to Fred Thompson if he manages to "break through" in South Carolina. "As a Conservative, as the chairman of the New York state Conservative Party, my favorite candidate, naturally, is Fred Thompson," Long said. "He did very well this week in the debate. Certainly, I think in South Carolina. If he does well there, if he breaks through in South Carolina, he changes the face of this Republican race again. He becomes...

Fred Thompson has raised over $200,000 online since his boffo debate performance last night, says spokesman Todd Harris. For a candidate who is putting everything on South Carolina, the showing could not have come in a better place (Myrtle Beach) or on a better network (Fox) or at a more critical time (just over a week before the South Carolina primary). The debate got front-page previews in both the Charleston and Myrtle Beach papers yesterday, and many conservatives were already likely tuning in to their favorite station. The South Carolina papers had similarly prominent coverage of the debate this morning....

The long awaited endorsement from BackSpin is out: Fred Dalton Thompson. Every primary and caucus voter should watch Fred's message to Iowa voters: Rudy, Romney, and Huckabee all have their weaknesses, and their strengths, but the most important quality in a candidate is going to be the ability to communicate conservative principles. We as Republicans have to stop trying to win elections 'on the cheap.' For too many years, we have taken the lazy road to campaigning. We try to sell voters on tax cuts, because that's an easy sell, and then we try to offer all the candy that...

At 9:00 pm ET Fox News will broadcast the Republican Presidential debate from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. As usual, I’ll be liveblogging it on the Fred File. Hope to see you then.

LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. - When former House Speaker Newt Gingrich decided in late September he would not run for president this year, Bob Walker went looking for another Republican he could support. He found Fred Thompson. "I'm interested in somebody who is seriously considering the issues not just as a political gimmick, but has real, long-term ideas in mind for fixing some very large problems we face immediately and down the road," Walker says. "I came to the conclusion that Fred Thompson was the guy in the race who had that kind of serious attitude," says Walker, a Lititz resident...

Marc Ambinder declares Fred the winner: On points, Fred Thompson won the debate. Every answer was thoughtful and well-crafted; his tone matched the tone of the question; he wisely refrained from interjecting in the back and forth squabbling. He very deftly reminded viewers that he served on key Senate national security panels and is bringing his experience to bear. Even his insults were subtly and gently constructed In some ways, Thompson did McCain’s bidding. You skeptical readers can tell me that if Thompson had finished a solid fourth in Iowa, I might not be writing about Thompson at all, that...

Apparently, small government Republicans [Huckabee’s] aides are wary of New Hampshire. “It’s all no tax, no government there,” said Bob Wickers, a top strategist. “It’s not ideal.” But they believe that the message of economic anxiety that he preaches will help in Michigan’s primary on Jan. 15 and in states in the South, which have high poverty rates in addition to strong groups of social conservatives.” Mike Huckabee is skipping New Hampshire because it’s too fiscally conservative. Instructive, yes? Huckabee’s brand of identity politics is as dangerous as anyone else’s - after nearly eight years of a fiscally liberal Republican...

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is already attacking the politician who appears to be his chief rival in New Hampshire, Arizona Sen. John McCain. On MSNBC's Morning Joe, Romney attempted to spin the Iowa caucuses as a defeat for John McCain, lumping McCain with Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton as the big losers. "The Washington insiders are being rejected," Romney said. Romney placed a distant second to former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. McCain and Fred Thompson were in a virtual tie for third. Romney continued to say that placing ahead of big-name candidates Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, and McCain in Iowa...

Ed Rollins is a nasty, nasty piece of work. Here he was tonight on Fox News: Rollins: The wise men like you who say Huckabee doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in heck - well, he can still go out and take his message to the people. And we’ve seen all the wisdom doesn’t live in Washington, and all the wisdom doesn’t live in the press corps.” Wallace: You can accuse me of a lot of things, but I would note we’ve had Mike Huckabee on Fox News Sunday several times— Rollins: —and we’re very grateful for the opportunity to take...

It looks like the Politico website has another fascinating scoop full of un-substantiated and un-named sources. That is that John McCain's campaign is literally hanging by a thread. He is low on money and fallen to a fourth place tie with Ron Paul in Iowa. Sources (unnamed) say that a McCain shellacking in Iowa will likely drop him out of the running in New Hampshire where is organization is running on fumes. In Iowa McCain has gone from 13% and high hopes of pulling a surprise to falling to 10% and a tie with a surging Ron Paul. UPDATE: ARG...

Johnny Dollar’s got the video of that irascible Ed Rollins shooting off his mouth. Nothing serious. Usually when Rollins shoots off his mouth he finds himself in the unemployment line or wounding the candidate he alleges to support with friendly fire. The Man Who Helped Reagan Win 49 States ™ indeed. Yea. Take “Reagan” out of that bio and what’s left of Vallejo’s finest? Ed Rollins - guiding the gay, yet somehow married to Arianna, Michael Huffington to Senate defeat? The mastermind behind billionaire Ross Perot’s Presidency? Claiming that he bribed black ministers to suppress the black vote to help...

Well, that's the rumor from Zogby polling. Musing on the Thompson campaign, there was an interesting post earlier this week by Paul Marks at Samizdata: "Fred Thompson: Too Sane to Be President?" Marks writes that the media equates a passion for campaigning with a passion for governing and serving one's country -- I'd note that "Campaign Carl" Cameron of Fox News has been particularly derisive of Thompson in this regard -- but that they're actually two different things. Marks: "But what sort of person is passionate about the political process? Not getting things done - but the process of gaining...

Ok, yeah I have small children. But that’s beside the point. I think Fred Thompson has a strong shot at 2nd place in Iowa. I don’t want to get my hopes up too high because it is more likely that he will finish 3rd. But if, as I am getting from the news coverage, this McCain, Huckabee, Romney food fight on the airwaves in Iowa is souring voters to those candidates, Fred Thompson could be the beneficiary of that sentiment. Going negative in Iowa has always carried risks and Iowa is the place where dark horses rise to the top....

In a last attempt to convince Iowa Republicans to vote for him this coming Thursday, Fred Thompson has put a video on YouTube in which he speaks to them for 17 minutes. In a last attempt to convince Iowa Republicans to vote for him this Thursday, former Senator Fred Thompson has put a video on YouTube in which he speaks to Iowans - and Americans as a whole - for more than 17 minutes. Instead of putting out a 30 second ad, Thompson decided to take voters seriously and to carefully to explain to them why he’s the man to...

This morning Fox and Friends concentrated on three candidates in relation the Iowa caucuses on Thursday night: the two lead candidates in the polls, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney - and John McCain... this was in spite of the fact that Senator McCain is not in Iowa (he is in New Hampshire) and that Fred Thompson is ahead of John McCain is most of Iowa polls. This is a part of pattern: last night Fred Thompson was on Fox News Sunday, but in the panel discussion, later in the show, the panellists ignored Fred Thompson. He is attacked by people,...

The man who America is not particularly interested in electing president doesn't really want the job, anyway. And while it's possible he's just playing hard-to-get, statements like this one the other day aren't helping: "I'm not particularly interested in running for president..." - Fred Thompson He defends his remark, saying it's out-of-context, but who would go into an interview and tell the employer that they hated the process that goes along with getting hired?

David Yepsen has a horrifically bad column in the Sunday Des Moines Register. In it, he distills each candidate down to the usual cliches of the leftist/"centrist" newspaper agenda: Mike Huckabee The former Arkansas governor and Baptist minister has soared in the GOP race following his second-place finish in the Iowa Republican straw poll in August. He has rallied party social and religious conservatives as well as supporters of a big national sales tax to replace the income tax. He's a witty speaker and an affable politician whose criticisms of the nation's economic policies sound a lot like the populist...