Free Republic

Democrat representatives really are getting quite testy anymore… Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, a Democrat from Texas, has been caught on video getting visibly angry with a constituent questioning him– the questioner simply made a point about the Congressional Budget Office’s numbers on ObamaCare. However, Rodriguez was not going to take that without giving his two cents– along with slamming his papers on the table.

We've made a few updates to the Master List this week with some candidates dropping out and a few corrections. But nothing major. The Districts where there were changes are flagged by a RED MARKER in the far left column. There were a few changes in our "Expert" ratings by Sabato, Election Projection and CQ Politics. It is worth noting that we have seen nothing from Rothenberg or Real Clear Politics for several weeks. What's up with these guys? But Cook has been making small but fairly regular updates. Here's the summary of the changes to our Experts' ratings: There were...

It's clearly half-time in the Primary Season and a Holiday Weekend to boot so we have naturally had a slow news week for the House Races. But we can report that Election Projection still sees a movement in the Dems favor that seems to be escaping the rest of the civilized world who see quite the opposite. As a result, our Index has been sent just a bit in the wrong direction - from last weeks -.353 to this weeks -.357. That's not much but it is due entirely to changes that Election Projection made in a few of the...

Herseth Sandlin Faces Best GOP Opponent Yet By Anna Palmer, CQ-Roll Call Republicans have unsuccessfully tried to knock off South Dakota Democratic Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin ever since she was elected six years ago in the rural, conservative state. But with what could be a big Republican wave and an anti-incumbent narrative building — not to mention a strong GOP nominee in state Rep. Kristi Noem — party operatives believe they have the right mix of factors to beat the Congresswoman this year. Democrats, meanwhile, are already trying to paint Noem — an anti-abortion, pro-gun, anti-gay-marriage conservative — as a...

Facing GOP challengers, Dem fundraisers get spread thin Posted By Dan Hirschhorn On June 30, 2010 @ 3:00 pm Things seemed a lot simpler for Democrats last summer. The political climate had yet to turn violently against them. Viable Republicans had yet to come forward to challenge a host of potentially vulnerable Democratic incumbents. Money wasn’t needed everywhere, so there was plenty to go around. Fast forward a year. Kathy Dahlkemper has an opponent. So do Chris Carney and Tim Holden. Paul Kanjorski faces the same guy he’s had to knock off twice. Even Patrick Murphy, Democratic poster-child of the...

We've updated the Master List to reflect a few changes in the candidates running in the Republican primaries in New York. We've also updated NC-08 following Tuesday's runnoff where Harold Johnson emerged as the Republican nominee. There were fewer changes than last week in the ratings by our "Experts" and , due to some strange updates by Election Projection, the Dems had a better week than normal. But the Republicans still made a small net gain in our "Index" which moved from last weeks -.357 to this weeks -.353. A small change but in the right direction. Here's the summary...

For House Democrats: More Favorable Terrain Than ‘94 Rhodes Cook, Senior Columnist June 24th, 2010 Editor’s Note: Following last week’s article by Prof. Alan Abramowitz comparing 1994 and 2010 on the basis of open seat races, noted political author and Wall Street Journal online columnist Rhodes Cook delves into the differences between the “political terrain” of 1994 and that facing Democrats today. His smart commentary and scholarly analysis serves as a call to look beneath the surface and he offers a much-needed glimpse at the partisan and regional factors which will make or break this year for both political parties....

GOP Faces Possible NY 23 Repeat June 21, 2010 3:09 PM By Reid Wilson GOPers stung by a divisive intra-party battle last fall face the prospect of a split party, once again, in the race for an upstate NY House seat that should favor the minority. Last Nov., Rep. Bill Owens (D) won Army Sec. John McHugh's seat with just 48.3% of the vote. Still, it was enough to win after Assemb. Dede Scozzafava (R) and accountant Doug Hoffman, running on the Conservative Party line, split the GOP vote. After Hoffman attacked Scozzafava's moderate -- GOPers backing Hoffman labeled her...

After Rep. Bob Etheridge (D) was seen in a video confrontation earlier this week, a new Civitas Institute poll shows challenger Renee Ellmers (R) with a slight edge in their race for Congress, 39% to 38%.

National Environment Puts Boucher, Chandler at Greater Risk By John McArdle, CQ-Roll Call As the national political environment continues to tilt toward Republicans, a growing number of Democrats are likely to face tough re-election fights this fall. Two of the latest examples are Democratic Reps. Rick Boucher (Va.) and Ben Chandler (Ky.), who are being targeted by national Republicans and face credible challengers in their respective conservative-leaning, coal country districts. To reflect the competitive nature of the battles both Democrats are expected to have this fall, CQPolitics is changing the race ratings in both Virginia’s 9th district and Kentucky’s 6th...

We've updated the Master List to reflect a few changes in the candidates running in the Republican primaries. But the major change to this weeks Master List is in the ratings by our "Experts". Election Projection made big and favorable changes and we had a couple from Cook and CQ Politics. Here is the summary: There were a total of 20 updates this week to the 91 Congressional races that we believe are truly in play this year. 19 were favorable to the Republicans 1 was favorable to the Democrats This moved our index even further in the Republican direction:...

Morrison backs Griffin By ALEX ISENSTADT | 6/19/10 12:30 AM EDT Arkansas congressional candidate Tim Griffin has won the backing of former Democratic Senate candidate D.C. Morrison, an early victory for the Republican in his general election campaign against Democrat Joyce Elliott. Morrison, a conservative Democrat who won a surprising 13 percent of the vote in Arkansas’s May primary, announced his support for Griffin at a Friday lunch at the Political Animals Club in Little Rock. Griffin also spoke during the lunch. In an interview with POLITICO Friday, Morrison said he had decided to endorse Griffin over Elliott because he...

Less than a month has passed since former Honolulu City Councilman Charles Djou (R-HI) won the special election for the 1st Congressional District seat vacated by Neil Abercrombie. But in that brief window, Djou has already boldly injected himself into the debate over the repeal of the military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy.

Another open seat House race where the Republican leads — at least on a generic ballot: Republicans have an excellent chance to win [Washington state's] 3rd Congressional District race this year and state Rep. Jaime Herrera would command a big lead in the Republican primary contest if it were held today, but a sizeable segment of voters remain undecided two months before the Aug. 17 primary election, according to a new poll. The survey by Moore Information, an Oregon polling firm, sampled 300 likely voters in the 3rd District by phone on June 13 and 14. In response to the...

While Will Hurd is a good guy, this is not his fight. Thankfully, Quico Canseco not only has the work experience needed to bring jobs and prosperity to CD23, but he also has the surname that many Hispanics are looking for. Hispanics are a proud people, and considering that only about 4 percent of elected officials are Hispanic nationwide, it is a real task for us to vote against an incumbent Hispanic, even though we are natural conservatives who are just waiting for the Republican Party to accept us and our values with open arms.

Must see this young man, a local HERO, an airforce pilot & a conservative running for congress in Illinos! Let's take Illinois back!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrjL_fxAJug&feature=related Adam the hero http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TvCyQasadw&feature=related His campaign site: http://www.electadam.com/ PASS this on to people in ILLINOIS!

The Illinois primaries are on February 2, not too far away. You're starting to see the papers in that state make endorsements in the primary, and today the Chicago Sun Times endorses one guy who the NRCC thinks is one of their rising stars: Democrats are not supposed to win in this traditionally Republican district that runs from the southern suburbs to small towns to farm fields. But Democrat Debbie Halvorson did win two years ago, swept into Washington with the Democratic tide, which explains why four GOP contenders, now running in the Republican primary, are eager to take her...

I am voting for Vaughn Ward in the May 25th primary election. The opposition to Mr. Ward is waging a ‘campaign of criticism’ against him. This strategy appears in socialist Saul Alinsky’s, “Rules for Radicals”. One of Alinsky’s tactics is to continually ‘criticize’ opponents in order to destroy their credibility, instead of focusing on their positions on major issues—for example, the attack on Vaughn’s wife for holding a job at Fannie Mae. However, the positions of Vaughn’s opponent, immigration attorney Raul Labrador, are troubling. State Representative Labrador advocated for the Dream Act amnesty at the City Club of Boise, on...

Trusting candidate Raul Labrador to represent the values of most Idaho voters is like believing Obamacare will reduce the federal deficit. The facts unravel the spin. Fact: Immigration attorney Labrador fought to keep Javier Sotelo from deportation. He was convicted of smuggling illegal aliens and document fraud. The government introduced evidence at his immigration trial that Sotelo was wanted for murder in Mexico. Labrador could have recused himself after learning this, but did not. Fortunately, for Idaho citizens, Labrador failed. Fact: Labrador represents illegal aliens in his practice. Fact: Attorney Labrador has worked for the Idaho Dairymen’s Association, ardent supporters...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Chalk up another win for the tea party. And another embarrassment for the Republican establishment. Tea party favorite and two-term state lawmaker Raul Labrador defeated Vaughn Ward, a Marine reservist heavily recruited by national Republicans, in Idaho's primary on Tuesday. Ward's loss comes on the heels of several other races in which GOP establishment candidates stumbled as the anti-Washington mood takes hold. National Republicans had coached Ward and had made him one of their first named recruits, known as "Young Guns." He also had the backing of former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. On Wednesday, the GOP...