Free Republic

ASK GEORGE ALLEN IF HE'S RUNNING for president, and Virginia's junior senator demurs like any politician facing re-election this year. "When we get to the future, I'll determine the future," he told reporters recently. But make no mistake -- George F. Allen is running for president. Or he just happens especially to enjoy primary states. In March and April, he visited Iowa, New Hampshire, Texas, South Carolina, and North Carolina. He's courting bigwigs at state party conventions, and throwing his name in the hat for presidential straw polls. Facing two serious Democratic challengers while his re-election poll numbers hover around...

"Republicans do not need, and should not attempt, to muzzle their opponents."Nancy Pelosi? Harry Reid? Howard Dean?Try Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), presumed 2008 presidential candidate, in a laudable attempt to return the Republican Party to its historic role as opponent of political-speech regulation. While Newt Gingrich has been railing against 2002's McCain-Feingold legislation in recent months, Allen's attack on the GOP's current effort to regulate so-called 527 groups -- independent organizations banned from coordinating with candidates or parties -- makes him the first top-tier '08 candidate to come out swinging against campaign-finance "reform."Whether it's enough to force a serious confrontation...

If Hillary Clinton is such a shoe-in for her party's 2008 presidential nomination, then a new Florida poll is something for Democrats to worry about.More than 30 months before the 2008 election, Sen. Clinton can't get more than 50 percent of the vote when matched against two unknown Republican candidates?And, given Florida's key role in the Electoral College, the new survey will almost certainly provide more fodder for one of the most popular parlor games in New York and Washington, D.C. these days - "Can Hillary Win?"That's because there is almost a consensus developing among many of the Democrats who...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The historic Peabody Hotel's grand ballroom felt more like a locker-room Saturday morning as the Southern Republican Leadership Conference kicked off its second day. But was the game plan just for 2006? As the morning's first speaker, Sen. George Allen woke up the slightly sleepy GOP crowd with a speech quite familiar to Virginians who have watched him win races for the House, the governorship, and, most recently, the Senate over the last 20 years. He harkened the words of his heroes: Ronald Reagan, Thomas Jefferson, and his dad, the late football coach George Allen, Sr. He...

(Angus Reid Global Scan) – Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is the top presidential contender for GOP supporters in the United States, according to a poll by Rasmussen Reports. 31 per cent of Republican voters would prefer Giuliani as the party’s nominee in 2008.Arizona senator John McCain is second with 28 per cent, followed by current state secretary Condoleezza Rice with 19 per cent. 12 per cent of respondents would support other contenders or are undecided.Giuliani garnered national and international attention in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In 2000, McCain won seven Republican presidential primaries in...