Free Republic

Garrison Keillor doesn't beat about the Bush when he explains why he wrote "Homegrown Democrat.'' "I want to strengthen and encourage my fellow Democrats because I think they have been so extensively beaten up on, especially on radio, with Rush Limbaugh and 10,000 imitators,'' Keillor said in an interview before he left town for season-ending performances of his "A Prairie Home Companion" radio show. "There are people in this country who cannot comprehend why anyone would vote for a candidate other than George W. Bush. My book is addressed to that. This is an intuitive book, not a closely reasoned...

CLOQUET, Minn. -- Reaching out to rural voters who overwhelmingly backed George W. Bush four years ago, John Kerry kicked off a holiday weekend bus tour through three Midwestern states Friday by asking residents here to help "bring an end to the Bush administration and march forward." Kerry lashed out at Republicans who have accused him of offering unfairly grim assessments of the economy, seizing on Friday's announcement from the Labor Department that the economy had added 112,000 jobs in June, far fewer than economists had predicted. "They say this is the best we can do," Kerry said, repeating a...

CLINTON'S PRESIDENCY: WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN Sat Jun 26, 8:00 PM ET By Cynthia Tucker Bill Clinton hopes to be acquitted by history. Fortunately for him, though, no subject of history is ever around to hear its verdict. Scholars will probably wonder what drove legions of conservatives to hate Clinton with such fury that they wasted years and spent a king's ransom trying to drive him from office. They will no doubt note that Clinton accomplished much despite the "vast right-wing conspiracy": He righted the nation's finances after decades of dangerous deficits. He drove the initiative that stopped a pogrom...

Bill and Teddy Will Be Heavyweight Opening Acts for Kerry - Hollywood contingency will be strong at Democratic Convention By Maria L. La Ganga, Times Staff Writer BOSTON — Former President Clinton will get the coveted primetime speaking slot on opening day of the Democratic convention here, while hometown favorite Sen. Edward M. Kennedy will speak during primetime on Day 2. Ben Affleck, Sean Astin, Larry David and two Baldwin brothers, Billy and Alec, are set to headline a sizeable Hollywood cast that also will be on hand, helping John F. Kerry accept his party's nomination for president next month....

Teresa Heinz Kerry, through a network of investments in blue-chip corporations, venture capital funds and municipal bonds, controls a family fortune worth an estimated $1 billion, an analysis of public records shows. The $1 billion figure is double the estimates of her wealth that are widely cited in news stories about her husband, Sen. John F. Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president. The couple would rank as the wealthiest to occupy the White House, far surpassing such storied presidential fortunes as the Kennedys'. Their assets are so vast and far-reaching that they mirror the U.S. economy and will probably...