Free Republic

He is the latest Tea Party favourite to burst through in the increasingly heated race for the Republican presidential nomination and see their poll numbers rocket them to frontrunner status. However, unlike previous rightwing darlings such as Texas governor Rick Perry and Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann, wealthy businessman Herman Cain, 65, can claim to be cut from a very different sort of cloth from the average Republican candidate. First, he is not actually a politician. Cain, whose CV includes being a radio show host, a navy ballistics expert, a Baptist minister and a Federal Reserve official, has never held elected...

The race for the Republican presidential nomination finally seems to be gelling. On Wednesday night, candidates debated at the Reagan Library in California — the first of five scheduled debates over the next five weeks. They are competing for a nomination that increasingly seems worth having. In July and August, President Obama’s job approval was dropping like a stone. On July 4, the RealClearPolitics.com average of recent polls showed it narrowly positive, 47 to 46 percent. On Tuesday, it was negative, 43 to 51 percent. Obama’s approval hasn’t topped 46 percent in a public poll since mid-July. It hasn’t topped...

All right, I confess … this race doesn’t really have any fronrunners, does it? Let’s define this more carefully. Of the Republican candidates who get the most serious consideration for a presidential bid at this stage of the race, who is the only one not to have supported (or at least flirted with) cap and trade? According to Dave Weigel, it’s Mitch Daniels: One of the conventional wisdoms of presidential campaigns is that governors are better candidates than senators; they’ve got executive experience! The downside of that experience, when it comes to an issue like this, is that governing is...

The New York Times' story detailing Connecticut Attorney General Dick Blumenthal's (D) misstatements about his service in Vietnam -- he received five deferments and never served in the country, according to the paper -- has the potential to fundamentally reshape the Nutmeg State Senate race. Writes Raymond Hernandez: "What is striking about Mr. Blumenthal's record is the contrast between the many steps he took that allowed him to avoid Vietnam, and the misleading way he often speaks about that period of his life now, especially when he is speaking at veterans' ceremonies or other patriotic events." Oomph. Blumenthal campaign manager...

For the second year in a row, American Idol voters have chosen the underdog over the frontrunner. Viewers, odds makers, pundits, more than half the audience - even Simon Cowell - were all stunned when the seemingly untouchable frontrunner fell to the underdog. Again. They shouldn't have been surprised. Rooting for the underdog is what American Idol - and what much of our public discourse - is all about. In any given week, more people tune in to watch amateur underdogs sing (often poorly) on American Idol than buy the Top Ten albums on Billboard's Chart - combined. It seems...

Poll Before Governor Bobby Jindal's Speech Says She Was; Now it is Certain (snip) A CNN/Reseach Opinion Poll conducted just before Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal gave his Republican Response to President Barack Obama's Address to Congress reflected the current state of the GOP with regard to who Republicans consider to be their best hope for the presidency in 2012,Is Governor Sarah Palin Still the Frontrunner for GOP Nominee for President in 2012? Date: February 27, 2009 and it did not look good for Bobby Jindal. (snip) According to the poll, only 9% of Republicans think he is the person to...

The Republican presidential field debated in South Carolina last night. After his win in New Hampshire, much of the press coverage focused on the performance of Sen. John McCain. As the AP reports, "The debate unfolded as one poll showed McCain getting a bounce from his New Hampshire triumph and moving narrowly ahead of Huckabee and Romney in South Carolina." The Wall Street Journal headlines its story "Debate Tests McCain's New Status," and notes Mitt Romney lost no time going "for his main rival in Michigan, Mr. McCain. Mr. Romney noted the Arizona senator has said some manufacturing jobs lost...

Sen. John McCain, given up for dead a few weeks ago as he ran a cash-starved, disorganized campaign, today is viewed by canny Republican professionals as the best bet to win the party's presidential nomination. What's more, they consider him their most realistic prospect to buck the overall Democratic tide and win the general election. Indeed, if Mike Huckabee holds on to win the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, the road forward could be clear for McCain. Mitt Romney's lavishly financed, meticulously organized campaign has always operated with a thin margin of error based on winning Iowa and the New Hampshire...

ASHLAND, N.H., Sept. 3 -- Former senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee will grab most of the headlines this week as he enters the race for the White House, but Mitt Romney likes where he stands in the contest for the Republican nomination. "When I started running seven months ago, I was at 5 percent in the national polls," the former Massachusetts governor said at a question-and-answer session here. "Now I won the Iowa straw poll; I'm ahead here in New Hampshire, ahead in Michigan, ahead in the Nevada." The energetic Romney, who is shown jogging in a television ad that...

I had a chance to interview Bob Bennett today while in Boston. He had some interesting things to say about Romney and those Senators who "support" him:Click for video.

Nothing says “frontrunner” quite like a giant red bullseye painted on your chest. And Mitt Romney is morphing into the frontrunner of the GOP race - at least in Iowa and New Hampshire, anyway - two of the most important states in the nomination process. Two months ago in April, Romney was being compared to Phil Gramm all over the blogosphere. Sure he’s got the money, they said, but he doesn’t have the support. He’s still in single digits in national polls, they said, and he isn’t even doing that well in Iowa where he needs to win. Two months...

No Front-Runner, Democrats Plot Strategy 2 hours, 11 minutes ago By RON FOURNIER, AP Political Writer WASHINGTON - The campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination will pit the tortoises against the hares, three patient plodders hoping to overtake three confident sprinters after the race's first lap. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean are the pacesetters. Following the traditional nomination path, they are seeking victories Jan. 19 in Iowa or eight days later in New Hampshire to build momentum for the first multistate showdown Feb. 3. Sens. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut,...