Free Republic

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - It's crunch time in the presidential race. Nine Republican and six Democratic candidates will meet this week in their final debates before the lead off Iowa caucuses, and lively exchanges are expected. The back-to-back debates -- Republicans on Wednesday, Democrats on Thursday -- come as both races in Iowa are toss-ups with just three weeks left before the voting begins. On the GOP side, Mike Huckabee, has vaulted to the front, overtaking longtime leader Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor. Among Democrats, Hillary Rodham Clinton is locked in a three way race in Iowa with...

As a lifelong Democrat, I view with amusement their candidates' debate. My choice would be "none of the above." Regardless of the facts, people tend to believe what they want to believe. All the candidates propose what the people want to hear, rather than concrete proposals. The most realistic candidate is Dennis Kucinich, who witnessed UFOs flying. The problem is he looks as if he flew in on one. Of all the presidential candidates, there is one who stands out. He seems to have more intelligence, leadership qualities and would restore the image of our country to the rest of...

It seems that we are still waiting for the central casting candidate. Republicans are unsure and Democrats are beginning to disbelieve the “inevitability” argument around Hillary Clinton. We are a society that loves to build them up to tear them down. First, Fred Thompson was a buzz, and then we were waiting and waiting and waiting for him to get into the race. When he got in, we started thinking that he looked tired or was slow. We said he had a great website, but where was the meat? Now he has put the most detailed and most conservative solutions...

Mitt Romney will deliver a speech entitled “Faith in America,” addressing his Mormon religion, on Thursday at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Tex. His campaign is describing the address as an opportunity for Mr. Romney to “share his views on religious liberty, the grand tradition religious tolerance has played in the progress of our nation and how the governor’s own faith would inform his presidency if he were elected.” Mr. Romney personally made the decision to give the speech last week, feeling it was the right moment to do so, his advisers said. After he decided...

Editor's note, Sept. 1, 2005: Wayne Dumond, convicted of rape in Arkansas and murder in Missouri, died of apparent natural causes in prison Tuesday. The occasion prompts us to republish Murray Waas' prize-winning article for the Arkansas Times in 2002 about the extraordinary steps Gov. Mike Huckabee took to help win Dumond's freedom. He has since blamed others for Dumond's release to kill again, but his actions over many years demonstrated his support for Dumond and, ultimately, the instrumental role he played in the parole board's decision to free him. Special handling How the Huckabee administration worked to free rapist...

By now I'm sure the majority of you are aware of who most of the 2008 presidential candidates are. I'm also sure that by now you may be just a little bit sick and tired of the rhetoric that some of these folks are spewing forth. Not a day goes by that we aren't bombarded with the media's biased reports of certain candidates, whether good or bad. If you are one of the people who are undecided but want to really learn about a particular candidate, I would invite you to take a look at former Sen. Fred Thompson. When...

Remember the gay retired brigadier general who chastised Republicans for their stance on gays in the military at Wednesday's CNN/YouTube debate? Turns out Keith Kerr was packing a partisan sword. He's served as a member of an advisory team on gay and lesbian issues to the Sen. Hillary Clinton Campaign. In the words of CNN's debate crew: D'oh! And here's Anderson Cooper falling on his nonpartisan sword. So how did this slip under CNN's radar? Maybe CNN could have checked its own website. Instead, they paid for Kerr's airfare and hotel to St. Petersburg for the debate. This is a...

"I just want to give my buddies here a little air time." -- Fred Thompson sounding like Ronald Reagan (after showing a video about Romney and Huckabee that would take the bark off the trees, and being told the others would have time to respond) ... Thompson's video utilized YouTube clips that have been circulating for quite some time on YouTube. Only this time, they are also being broadcast on CNN. My bet is getting this negative information out is a lot better use of his time than merely putting out some puff-piece ...

It was a bit rich to hear Fred Thompson complain last Sunday that Fox News wasn't treating him nicely. He has appeared several times on the network in favorable soft interviews. And Sean Hannity was so solicitous after one debate, I thought he was going to ask Thompson for a snuggle. But even if Thompson has no real reason to be peeved, his aides should keep it coming when Thompson joins his colleagues on the debate stage in Florida tonight. Irritation could be just the thing to revive a campaign that is floundering. Here's why: He's got to do something:...

Some of the most interesting things to observe as we near the Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire Primary are voters’ opinions on which candidates are most “electable.” I have heard the case made by many voters, campaign workers, and pundits that Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) is the most electable (as a tough and experienced campaigner) and the most unelectable (as a divisive and polarizing figure). Others have said that former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), a white male protestant, is the Dems “sure thing” heading into ’08. On the other side, many claim that former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani...

Fred Thompson's presidential campaign has been unorthodox since Day 1, and his decision to grab the "third rail" of American politics with both hands is a clear indication that he really is a different kind of candidate. Since agreeing to run, after a mild draft effort by conservatives looking to fill the void in the race for a candidate who shared their views and values, Thompson has pursued what can only be considered a nontraditional path. He has eschewed the traditional 24/7 campaign run by his competitors and expected by the Washington-based mainstream news media, which has labeled him poorly...

Mitt Romney appears to think that, in respect of the bizarre beliefs of his church, he has come up with a twofer response. Not only can he decline to answer questions about these beliefs, he can also reap additional benefit from complaining that people keep asking him about them. [Snip] It ought to be borne in mind that Romney is not a mere rank-and-file Mormon. His family is, and has been for generations, part of the dynastic leadership of the mad cult invented by the convicted fraud Joseph Smith. It is not just legitimate that he be asked about the...

Consider the latest economic outlook from the forecasting firm Global Insight. Though not yet predicting a recession, it sketches an economy that won't feel good for much of the 2008 election cycle:< Housing's slide continues. New home starts fall to 1 million, down from 2.1 million in 2005. By early 2009, home prices decline a cumulative 11 percent from their peak. On a median-priced home of $220,000, the loss is $24,000. Car and light-truck sales dip to 15.7 million, the lowest since 1998; they were 16.9 million as recently as 2005. Unemployment averages 5 percent, up from 4.6 percent this...

October 2007 may turn out to be the month that immigration became a key issue in presidential politics. It has not been, at least in my lifetime. The Immigration Act of 1965, which turned out to open up America to mass immigration after four decades of restrictive laws, was not one of the Great Society issues Lyndon Johnson emphasized in 1964. The Immigration Act of 1986, which legalized millions of illegal immigrants but whose border and workplace provisions have never been effectively enforced, was a bipartisan measure unmentioned in the debates between Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale. There was no...

Fred Thompson rolled onto Republican rival Rudy Giuliani's turf yesterday and rapped the ex-mayor's record on social issues as out of step with conservative voters. Following a Midtown fund-raiser, Thompson said Giuliani's pro-abortion, pro-gun control and pro-illegal-immigration positions as mayor are wrong for the GOP. "He believes in federal funding for abortion. I have a 100 percent pro-life voting record and voted against federal funding for abortion on a number of occasions," said Thompson. He said he has consistently supported the Second Amendment right to bear arms while Giuliani backed gun-licensing restrictions as mayor. "Rudy has supported a variety of...

Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson brushed off concerns Thursday about his single-digit showings in recent Iowa and New Hampshire polls, saying he expects a new television ad on immigration will help boost his numbers. "In the past, a lot of things have changed in the Iowa presidential elections - Howard Dean can tell you that," he said, referring to 2004 when Dean's third-place showing in Iowa derailed his campaign for the Democratic nomination. "So you've just got to do what you do and keep at it and understand that the end of the day is all that counts," he said....

Defense: Fred Thompson wants a million-man ground force and more modern equipment on the ground, in the air and on the water. The arsenal of democracy needs some retooling. After the Vietnam conflict, the U.S. military was depleted and exhausted. Then came Jimmy Carter and by the time Ronald Reagan came along we had planes that couldn't fly and ships that couldn't sail for lack of maintenance. The Gipper rolled up his sleeves and built his 600-ship navy, gave the Air Force the latest fighters and bombers and an Army capable of deploying half a million troops for Desert Storm...

I am responding to your Enewsletter Volume 5, Issue 7. I find it remarkable - and sad - that you would consider your position on the war in Iraq to make any sense at all. As a veteran who has served at more military posts than I can remember, I recall one constant feature of every such location. Somewhere on the base - frequently, in the mess hall - was a prominent posting of the MILITARY chain of command, extending from the President down to the commanding officer of the location. It included the position, rank, and NAME of the...

Washington (AHN) - Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson proposed Friday to reduce promised retirement benefits and to create a system of voluntary personal retirement accounts that can also help to finance the Social Security program. Under the proposal, retirement benefits for workers who are now 58 and older will not be affected. Employees who are now younger will get smaller monthly Social Security pensions because their benefits will be calculated based on the yearly increase in prices. Meanwhile, the personal retirement accounts will be funded with workers' contributions to be matched by funds from the Social Security trust fund. Workers...

Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson waded into the politically potent issue of Social Security on Friday and proposed overhauling the retirement system by creating 401(k)-style personal accounts. Tampering with Social Security is fraught with political peril and President George W. Bush's attempts to change it during his second term fizzled as lawmakers balked at his drive to create private investment accounts subject to the whims of the stock market. Thompson, a former senator from Tennessee, is seeking to show he is willing to take on tough issues if elected in November 2008, telling a news conference in Washington he is...