Free Republic

My post of this morning was published with a couple of Senate races not finally decided. But the Republican candidates (Rep. Denny Rehberg in Montana and Rep. Rick Berg of North Dakota) have now conceded to the victorious Dems. (incumbent Sen. Jon Tester in Montana and Sen.-elect Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota). This nets out at a two-seat pickup for the Dems and a 55-45 majority heading into 2013 (assuming that, as expected, the Senate's two independents, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Sen.-elect Angus King of Maine will caucus with the Dems). The net gain is especially impressive since the...

The current Congress hasn't finished its mischief. It still has the opportunity to do bad things in the upcoming lame-duck session, a period when members of Congress who are already defeated will have the opportunity to vote without concern for voter approval. The globalists have been plotting to use the volatility of this lame-duck session to achieve some of their internationalist goals that they couldn't get passed during the last four years. In particular, they would like to lock us into treaties that slice out various parts of our national sovereignty, a concept that they have been trying to promote...

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - Democratic Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill holds a slim lead of 2 percentage points over Republican challenger Todd Akin - essentially a deadlock - in a race being closely watched following Akin's controversial comments on "legitimate rape," a poll released on Saturday showed. McCaskill had been seen as one of the most vulnerable incumbent Democrats but has led Akin in most polls since he said in August that women could biologically defend themselves against pregnancy caused by "legitimate rape." Akin said later he misspoke when he made the remark, which led to widespread rebukes even from...

By now you've probably grown inured to Harry Reid's oafish hyper-partisanship, but it's still fun to flag instances where it blows up in his face.  In advance of last night's Massachusetts Senate debate, Sen. Scott Brown told local reporters that he might be forced to skip the face-off with rival Elizabeth Warren if his official duties required him to remain in Washington to cast votes.  Reid interpreted this as a sign of trepidation and accused Brown of running scared and deliberately using the Senate calendar as a handy excuse to duck the debate.  Reid ostentatiously canceled the remainder of the...

It's trapping season. The targets are Republicans, whom the Democratic-friendly media (the trappers) hunt in order to smear -- especially the Romney-Ryan ticket -- forcing them off message. The bait in the latest case is the issue of abortion in cases of rape. The hunter's target was Rep. Todd Akin, a Missouri Republican, who is running for the Senate against Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill. Thirty-nine years after Roe v. Wade and subsequent Supreme Court rulings legalizing abortion, one might think a pro-lifer like Todd Akin would be able to see he was walking into a trap when a St. Louis...

WASHINGTON - Chris Chocola likes taking on his party's establishment and beating them at their own game. That's what he does for a living and he's helped pull off some big upsets. In 2007, the former two-term Indiana congressman took the reins of the Club for Growth, a free enterprise group that supports pro-growth candidates who favor low taxes, oppose job-killing government regulations, and seek fiscal policy reforms to expand and strengthen our economy. When Chocola, who has a business background, became its president, the Club was a relatively small organization, supported by about 35,000 contributing members. Under his leadership,...

From Mike Allen’s morning newsletter today: Tommy Thompson, the Republican former Wisconsin governor and George W. Bush’s first HHS secretary, has told friends he plans to run for the open Senate seat in Wisconsin. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) said Friday that he won’t seek a fifth term in 2012. Thompson’s announcement gives Republicans a popular former two-term governor of state to seriously challenge for this toss-up seat. There’s no chance Thompson would run against Paul Ryan, so the former Wisconsin Governor will await the Budget Chairman’s official announcement on the race before jumping in. Ryan has suggested in private conversations...