Free Republic

Tim Pawlenty’s Facebook site asks people to drop by at 3 ET for “a special message exclusive to Facebook supporters.” CNN reports that the former Minnesota governor will announce his first official step into the 2012 presidential race and become the third Republican to launch an exploratory committee: Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is expected to announce Monday the formation of a presidential exploratory committee, several sources tell CNN. Such a committee allows candidates to start raising money and is seen as the first concrete step towards a run for a party nomination.The formation by Pawlenty has long been expected...

Exploratory Oil Drilling Done Off Cuba Sunday July 25, 2:15 pm ET By Marc Frank and Anthony Boadle HAVANA (Reuters) - Drilling of an exploratory well in Cuba's virgin Gulf of Mexico waters that could make the Communist nation an oil exporter and undermine the U.S. embargo has been completed, a senior official said. Work on the well by Spain's Repsol YPF (Madrid:REP.MC - News) began in June and captured the attention of the industry and governments due to its potential economic and political consequences. "The drilling has ended and the Spanish company is assessing the results. We don't know...

I was wondering if anyone was knew the Texas laws for Exploratory Committees. I know the federal laws, I was wondering if they were the same or not.

A decade ago, when the Democrats set out to reform healthcare, they turned to one person above all others: Ira Magaziner. The New England management consultant, charged in the early 1990s with helping then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton reform the nation's healthcare system, had a reputation as a genius — at least until his proposals went down to resounding defeat. As the Democratic hopefuls once again broach the subject of healthcare reform, there is no single super-wonk healthcare adviser — no new Ira Magaziner — in sight. The healthcare experts named by the leading Democratic presidential hopefuls are "all big...