Free Republic

WASHINGTON � Sen. Barbara Boxer left little doubt she was having a particularly good time Wednesday. Wearing sunglasses, California's junior Democratic senator made her way to a stage on the east lawn of the Capitol, then stood in front of a huge U.S. flag and waved to a throng of supporters as U2's "It's a Beautiful Day" roared through the loudspeakers. "What a great day!" enthused the senator. "This is like giving birth again!" Boxer was celebrating her alliance with Massachusetts Democratic Sen. John Kerry to introduce a long-awaited bill that, if approved, could land her in the history books....

California Sen. Barbara Boxer in an interview this week dismissed the uproar over whether likely Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama will be able to attract the white working class or women in November. "Nobody's ever said to me, I'm not voting for you because you're Jewish, and I don't believe they vote that way, or because you're a woman," Boxer said. "They want to know what I believe in, what I care about, not the color of my skin or my religion. I just really get insulted by that, to be honest. I really do." As a super delegate,...

Arnold Schwarzenegger is a lame duck Republican governor, albeit a fairly popular one who touts his environmental credentials and has ambitious plans on health care, infrastructure and education reform. Barbara Boxer is a U.S. senator who has gained some clout on environmental issues now that Democrats have regained control of the Senate but who, as usual, has a less-than-commanding approval rating among California voters. As it happens, Schwarzenegger's and Boxer's current terms expire simultaneously three years hence, raising the intriguing scenario that the one-time action movie star -- barred from seeking the presidency because of his Austrian birth -- would...

Washington -- Sen. Barbara Boxer promised to pressure the Bush administration to adopt California-style global warming regulations, telling reporters today the Supreme Court "handed us a gift" with its recent landmark decision authorizing the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce greenhouse gasses as a pollutant. The decision "put the wind at our backs," the California Democrat said, vowing at the National Press Club to haul administration officials before her Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to ask them what immediate steps they will take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which are produced by the consumption of fossil fuels. "I will hound...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's political rehabilitation and re-election has Democrats wondering whether he'll take on Sen. Barbara Boxer when her term comes up in 2010. Termed-out state Sen. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, has already raised the question, and so has former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown. The thinking? "His wife is part of the Kennedy clan, and so it would be natural for a glamorous Kennedy star to elevate himself to the U.S. Senate as the next Barack Obama,'' Brown said. After all, "here's a guy investing $15 million to $20 million of his own money in the governor's race,'' Brown said....

California Sen. Barbara Boxer has a message for those planning to join in on the pro-immigration work boycott planned for May 1 -- cool it. "You've made your point,'' Boxer told us Friday. "And while I support your right to boycott, I don't think it does anything more than what you have already achieved with the earlier demonstrations. "It's time to put the focus and heat back on Washington to get a fair and balanced plan passed." The idea behind the planned immigrant worker boycott is to show the country -- through massive "no shows" at work and school --...