Free Republic

No one expected this race to be this close. Incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Warner and Republican Ed Gillespie are nearly tied in Virginia’s Senate race, according to early returns. With 99 percent of precincts in, Warner leads with 49.1 percent to Gillespie’s 48.5 percent. Speaking to supporters late Tuesday, Gillespie said he wasn’t ready to concede. “We’re going to be patient here. And I believe we need to be respectful of the voters.” “This race is not going to be decided until the last vote is counted,” adviser Mark Obenshain added at the election night celebration. Gillespie shocked observers by...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)There are 65 prominent people who might run for president in 2016. The Democratic and Republican fields contrast sharply. Hillary Clinton is the clear front-runner, while there is no front-runner on the Republican side. Twenty-three Democrats have been mentioned as a candidate or are eyeing a bid, according to an analysis by The Hill. The GOP side has 42. Most of the people on this list won’t run, and some have adamantly claimed that they’re not interested. But many politicians have changed their minds on seeking the White House. Before mounting his 2008 bid, then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said he...

Representative Bob Goodlatte took to the Sunday morning chat circuit, specifically ABC’s This Week, to assure his fellow Americans that there was no need to impeach the President and no plans to do so in the foreseeable future. The Corner has the details. Representative Bob Godlattte (R., Va.) does not believe President Obama has done anything that would merit impeachment under the Constitution. “We are not working on or drawing up articles of impeachment,” Goodlatte, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, told George Stephanopoulos on This Week Sunday. “The Constitution is very clear as to what constitutes grounds for impeachment...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer chose an interesting path and offered puzzling critiques since he tossed his name in the hat for a potential presidential run in 2016. But comments the Democrat made about Rep. Eric Cantor and Sen. Dianne Feinstein in a lengthy profile published by National Journal have probably knocked him off that path. In the piece, Schweitzer shared his perceptions on Cantor's sexuality while discussing the Virginia Republican's shocking loss last week against an unknown primary candidate. “If you were just a regular person, you turned on the TV, and you saw Eric Cantor talking, I would...

Like former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) and former Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), Dave Brat sends a shock through the New York/Washington axis. His victory shows a classic denial of political reality by the political establishment. It comes because the establishment holds fast to "the way we were" and won't let go. 'Twas ever thus, but all the money, all the influence, all the mainstream propaganda from Hollywood and the Eastern press cannot hold it back. The new century rises to new themes; the old falls away to ruins. I have been saying here that what we have been seeing...

They are Very Concerned about the extremists taking over or something. Here’s the NY Times Editorial Board The forces of political nihilism not only remain alive and well within the Republican Party, but they are on the rise. Witness the way they shook Washington on Tuesday by removing from power Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, who had been one of the most implacable opponents to the reform of immigration, health care and taxation. His crime (in addition to complacent campaigning)? He was occasionally obliged, as a leader, to take a few minimalist steps toward governing, like raising the debt...

As the fallout from Rep. Eric Cantor’s (R-VA) stunning primary loss continues to settle, one of the many entrenched interests feeling suddenly insecure about their position in the American hierarchy is big business. For some, like the aviation giant Boeing, Cantor was a reliable friend. With his loss, that company’s prospects, along with its share price, have crumpled. “Mr. Cantor’s loss is much more than just symbolism,” the Times reported on Saturday. “He has been one of Wall Street’s most reliable benefactors in Congress. And Mr. Brat used that fact to deride the majority leader as someone who has rigged...

Top Jeb Bush adviser Mike Murphy, who did not even pay attention to Dave Brat's campaign like Breitbart News did, has falsely been claiming that Cantor's embrace of amnesty for illegal immigrants was not the reason he lost last Tuesday. Liberal writer Mickey Kaus had enough of Murphy's nonsense and slammed him on Twitter on Friday evening. Kaus became Brat's de facto press secretary and top advocate on Twitter in the last months of the campaign because Kaus, like Brat, opposes amnesty for illegal immigrants because it would hurt American workers. He mentioned to Murphy that talk radio host Laura...

Eric Cantor, next Republican National Committee chairman? Former RNC chair Michael Steele thinks it's a possibility after the House majority leader was defeated Tuesday in a Virginia Republican primary. "With the upcoming presidential election, there's a lot of interest in Eric Cantor serving as national chairman of the RNC," Steele said Saturday on MSNBC's "Up With Steve Kornacki.""In fact I think he'd be interesting because he started dialogues on poverty and some other issues that were sort of outside of what Republicans have traditionally talked about. So he could bring a very interesting voice into that space," he said. (VIDEO-AT-LINK)

DES MOINES — It’s not often that a Democratic Party top national strategist travels to Iowa to lament an election loss of a prominent conservative Republican leader. But that happened Friday when Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz warned that the defeat of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a Virginia Republican who is the second most-powerful U.S. House leader, could be a harbinger of deeper political extremism, gridlock and obstructionism....

In the space of less than a week, 23-year-old Zachary Werrell went from unknown to boy wonder to angry toddler, depending on who was talking. Werrell, who graduated last year from Haverford College, was lauded for having engineered Tuesday's shocking political defeat of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. And, as campaign manager of insurgent David Brat, he was criticized Wednesday for scrubbing his Facebook page, which included provocative comments comparing the shooting of Trayvon Martin with abortion. Multiple efforts to reach Werrell were unsuccessful. His teachers at Haverford, the rigorous, liberal-arts-and-Quaker-values institution on the Main Line, described Werrell as a...

For years, the White House saw House Majority Leader Eric Cantor as a chief driver of Republicans' staunch opposition to nearly all of President Barack Obama's agenda. Now, Cantor's stunning primary loss seems likely to make politics even more difficult for Obama. Rather than opening a pathway for the president, Cantor's defeat could push Republicans more to the right and harden the House GOP's hostility toward the White House, virtually dooming Obama's efforts to pass a legacy-building immigration bill or other major legislation....

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's (R-VA) campaign spent more money at one posh steakhouse before his shocking Tuesday primary defeat than his opponent Dave Brat spent on his whole campaign. Cantor's campaign spent $124,177 at Bobby Van'S Grill and Steakhouse and $44,460 at Blt Steak for a total of $168,637. According to Open Secrets, Cantor raised $5.4 million while Brat raised $206,663. While Cantor spent nearly all of his haul ($5.1 million), Brat spent $122,793 for his entire campaign, which was less than what Cantor's campaign spent at Bobby Van's alone ($124,177).[continued]

The No. 2 Republican in the U.S. House is a goner. And amid the ashes of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s shocking defeat Tuesday, comprehensive immigration reform smolders. This is not to say that immigration reform would have passed if the Virginia Republican had not been the first House majority leader to lose since 1899. Immigration reform was already endangered. But Cantor’s defeat to tea partier David Brat was so intertwined with immigration -- “amnesty” and “illegal aliens” – that the few fence-sitters in the GOP-led House are going to flock back to the politically right side of the divide....

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) conceded Tuesday night that “obviously, we came up short” in fending off the Tea Party challenge from economics professor Dave Brat. With 98 percent of precincts reporting, Brat had 55.6 percent to Cantor’s 44.4 percent. “I know there’s a lot of long faces here tonight and it’s disappointing, sure,” Cantor said. “But I believe in this country, I believe there’s opportunity around the next corner for all of us.” “So I look forward to continue to fight with all of you for the things that we believe in for the conservative cause because those...

Virginia Congressional Candidate has a disgraceful past (and present) Some of you may know of Mike Dickinson from his god awful twitter rants. Same may recognize the man who dailykos.com calls “the next Alan Grayson. Still others may recognize him from his appearance on Fox News’ Hannity, where he was eviscerated by the host. Just speaking to him and giving him facts will normally just earn you a block from his account @VoteMike2014. Others aren’t so lucky. Mike Dickinson recently agreed to an interview with this website as we profiled the Virginia congressional candidates in the 7th district. Mr. Dickinson...

On Tuesday, Mike Dickinson, the Virginia Democrat seeking the House seat currently held by Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., compared the Tea Party to the terror group al-Qaeda on Twitter and claimed that Sarah Palin, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., are the U.S. equivalent of Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the 9/11 terror attacks. Ultimately, Dickinson called the Tea Party and Sarah Palin "pure unamerican (sic) trash." "The tea party is Americas version of Al-Qaeda. Ted Cruz/Sarah Palin/Rand Paul all on same level as Bin laden (sic)," he claimed. "Tea party and Al-Qaeda: both resort to...

Sarah Palin: Ex-veep nominee backs three Dixie Senate hopefuls. Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin (R), whose support often helps propel underdog conservatives into the winner’s circle, has now endorsed three Republican US candidates who are challenging establishment-backed contenders. The latest is in Mississippi, where Palin has given her imprimatur to state Sen. Chris McDaniel (R) in his challenge to six-term US Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS). Before that, Palin endorsed Oklahoma House Speaker T. W. Shannon (R) over US Rep. James Lankford (R-OK), and Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel (R) in a multi-candidate field to succeed US Sen. Johnny Isakson...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Video: Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has concluded that the state's ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional and he will no longer defend it in federal lawsuits.Public opinion on same-sex marriage has shifted so dramatically in recent years that Democratic groups now see the issue as a critical way to mobilize voters in a slew of races up and down the ballot. Just a decade ago, widespread opposition to gay marriage did just the opposite, allowing Karl Rove to mobilize conservatives in 13 states and help reelect George W. Bush as president. The changing political dynamics were on full display...

Anyone remember the Charlie Rangel Tax Scandal?,And what about the Jon Corzine "Missing Billion Dollar"loss? Harry Reid gets away with bribing members of congress with tax dollars.The list goes on and on and now they are after Governor McDonnell over receiving a few gifts? Maybe it's because he is a "Republican"? possibly running for President, just like Chris Christie?,who are they going to try to take out next? Cruz and Rand?