Free Republic

Mikhail Gorbachev, who ended the Cold War without bloodshed but failed to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union, has died at the age of 92, Russian news agencies cited hospital officials as saying on Tuesday.

Reporting from Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke to President-elect Barack Obama this week and would be willing to work for the Democratic administration once his term expires if asked, the Republican governor said in an interview broadcast this morning. "I will help in every possible way the administration to be successful," he told Fox News. "So whatever they need, I'm there." Latest news: Governor Arnold...L.A. Now: Arnold might go to Washington for Obama The only qualification, Schwarzenegger said, would be permission from his wife, Maria Shriver. "Before I make any move, the next move that I make, I'm going...

For the past four years, Duf Sundheim has been walking a tightrope between the really, really conservative wing of the California Republican Party and the party's "still pretty conservative but we like to win an election occasionally" bloc. But with the end of his four-year term just a few days away, the party chairman made it clear this morning that his money is on the pragmatists. --snip-- For people who don't spend a lot of time hanging around GOP activists, "broad coalition" is the code phrase for blacks, Latinos, moderate Republicans, decline-to-state voters and the occasional conservative Democrat. Who, as...