Free Republic

Rush Limbaugh WASHINGTON – He's been the target of Fairness Doctrine advocates. He's been the target of aggressive prosecutors. He's been targeted by Customs officials. And now Rush Limbaugh, the king of radio talk-show hosts, is being targeted by activist Ralph Nader who is asking the Federal Communications Commission to investigate claims General Motors "payola" is influencing him to say nice things about the U.S. automaker.

The bipartisan glow that swathed the state Capitol this year may give way to partisan rancor, as combative conservative Michael Villines prepares to lead Assembly Republicans in the next legislative session, political observers say. Villines, a Clovis Republican who was raised in San Jose, seized power by riding the support of conservative lawmakers, who rejected the more accommodating leadership of former minority leader, San Diego Assemblyman George Plescia. But the move may end up marginalizing the Republican caucus. "They've gone for a guy who was in (Gov. Arnold) Schwarzenegger's face in opposing the bond measures, and rendered themselves a little...

Candidates for other state offices had no coattails to ride SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may have rolled to a landslide re-election Tuesday, but his momentum and restored popularity didn't appear to help any other Republicans running statewide. Democrats swept all of the other constitutional offices on the ballot except insurance commissioner, where Steve Poizner, a self-funded multimillionaire, defeated an underfunded and weakened Democrat, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante. In the days before the election, strategists and candidates wondered whether the Republican governor's resurgence would be strong enough to provide coattails, a political tide that could carry other Republicans to victory...

LOS ANGELES - This could be the year Republicans make a comeback in California, countering an expected national tilt toward Democrats. Republican candidates are running strong in races for half the state's eight constitutional offices. The state GOP is hopeful that Tuesday will bring a dramatic change from the Democratic sweep four years ago. When Arnold Schwarzenegger rode the recall wave to the governor's office in 2003, he became the lone Republican holding statewide office. The Democratic hold on the top spots was eroded further in 2005 when Schwarzenegger appointed former Republican legislator Bruce McPherson as secretary of state to...

Assuming Arnold maintains his leads in the polls and pulls off a double-digit win, he'll almost certain bring Steve Poizner and Bruce McPherson into office with him. Chuck Poochigian's a good man, but that's a longer shot against Jerry Brown, and Claude Parrish is an even longer shot than that. But somewhere in the middle are the McClintock and Strickland campaigns, both of whom could end up riding Schwarzenegger coattails to victory as well. There are too many variables at this point to predict a likely margin of victory for Schwarzenegger, so instead allow me to submit the Schwarzenegger Coattail...

SACRAMENTO — If the polls are correct, Gov. Schwarzenegger is on his way to a big win Tuesday. But is he popular enough to pull other Republicans across the finish line? In what is being billed nationally as the year of the Democrat, California might buck the trend. At least that's the hope of Republican strategists, who for weeks have talked about a so-called coattail effect: the theory that a big win for the popular Republican governor could mean good things for the GOP in other statewide races. Republican analyst Dan Schnur has even compiled a "coattail index." It says...

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected in 2003, California Republican political power was at its nadir. But three years later Republicans are beginning to look at whether Schwarzenegger can help carry some Republican down-ticket candidates across the finish line in November. The question is how two very different trends, one national and one unique to California, will play out on Election Day. Democrats seem poised to make big gains nationally. But in California, Democrats find themselves trailing badly in the governor's race, potentially slipping in legislative races, and losing their grasp on two or three additional statewide offices. Angelides spokesman...

Senator Edward M. Kennedy says he is not too worked up about the shape of the presidential race right now despite the fact that his junior colleague from Massachusetts is trailing in the polls. Meeting with reporters this morning, Mr. Kennedy, an ally of Senator John Kerry, exhibited his long memory about political events. He recalled that the polls were swinging wildly in the 1968 race between Richard M. Nixon and Hubert H. Humphrey and that Mr. Humphrey gained 10 points in a matter of days as the race went into the final stretch, though he ultimately lost a close...

PARK HILLS - Northern Kentucky Republican Trey Grayson admits that to win his race for secretary of state, he needs coattails from the top of the GOP. In the Republican Party you can't go any higher than President Bush, and Grayson is thrilled to be scheduled to share the stage this weekend with the president in Paducah. "The president's visit will be a huge boost to my campaign and to the Republican ticket," said Grayson, 31, a lawyer running for the first time on the statewide ballot. Bush plans a two-city Kentucky campaign swing Saturday, with stops scheduled in Paducah,...

Vulnerable House Democrats are worried that Howard Dean’s negative coattails will whisk them out of office in 2004. The incumbent lawmakers — especially those from culturally conservative Southern states — are concerned that if he is nominated, the former Vermont governor’s antiwar, pro-gay positions will create a national mood that will make it more difficult for Democratic incumbents to keep their seats, let alone win back the House. While many of these Democrats have proved their ability to win in seats that Republican presidential nominees typically carry by 10 or more percentage points, they are beginning to wonder how much...

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — New York Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will speak next month at the Riley Institute's "Women & Politics: Transforming Public Leadership" conference at Furman University. Clinton and CBS News correspondent Lesley Stahl will kick off the two-day conference Oct. 6. Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund, will speak at the final lecture Oct. 7. The event is sponsored by the Richard W. Riley Institute of Government, Politics and Public Leadership. Riley served as South Carolina governor and U.S. Secretary of Education. "It'd be certainly significant that Hillary Clinton is coming here...

Some say that it is because of what he took away from the Left when he won the presidency. Their anger at that is, indeed, fiery. But, that is not what is going on, here. The key to what is going on here lies in the results of the mid-term election. But, the first thing you have to understand is not why they're doing it, but rather why they can. -- LL We're talking about the Mainstream Media here. The American press mega-structure that is owned and staffed by the American Left. The Oregonian, the Seattle Times, the New York...

<p>The results are seen as a 'wake-up call' for political parties. By Muriel Dobbin -- Bee Washington Bureau Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Wednesday, August 21, 2002 WASHINGTON -- There was encouraging news for Republicans and a warning for Democrats in a poll released Tuesday showing that President Bush is making inroads among prospective Latino voters.</p>