Free Republic

Yeah, Herman Cain won the Florida straw poll, crushing Mitt Romney and Rick Perry. And OK, a CBS poll recently found him tied with Romney among likely Republican primary voters. Sure, he also scored a resounding victory in another straw poll this weekend. And Rasmussen just today released the finding that 56% of GOP voters like Cain's 9-9-9 plan. So is that enough to make the Associated Press consider Cain a first-tier candidate? Nah. On MSNBC's "Daily Rundown" this morning, AP's political editor, Liz Sidoti, sniffed "we still consider him a second-tier candidate." View the video here.

A study published in the journal Behavioral and Brain Functions suggests that nicotine may alter activity in those areas of the brain areas that tamp down anger and other negative emotions when a person is provoked.President Barack Obama is a long-time smoker who was repeatedly unsuccessful in kicking the habit on the campaign trail, and the psychotropic effects of nicotine may be the secret to his oft-commented upon calmness and unflappability – this adulatory Associated Press article by Liz Sidoti being one of the more extreme cases in point ... What an orgy of adoration. Wonder if Sidoti enjoyed a...

Official: Obama plans to slash deficit in half By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer Liz Sidoti, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 5 mins ago WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has committed hundreds of billions of dollars to help revive the economy and is working on a plan to cut the federal deficit in half by the end of his first term. Obama will touch on his efforts to restore fiscal discipline at a White House fiscal policy summit on Monday and in an address to Congress on Tuesday. On Thursday he plans to send at least a summary of...

Thompson looking for another popularity burst, this attempt perfectly timed in Iowa By Liz Sidoti ASSOCIATED PRESS 9:05 a.m. December 16, 2007 DES MOINES, Iowa – Republican Fred Thompson, Hollywood celebrity and former Tennessee senator, went from hot to not in short order.Now, he's trying to create another popularity burst in the presidential race, this one perfectly timed.His voice and expression serious, Thompson told Iowa voters this past week: “I would ask people to think of one thing – when our worst enemy's thinking about what he can do to the United States of America, who do you want...

The newcomer to the Republican presidential field didn't stand out in his first debate of the 2008 race but he didn't blow it either. An intense spat between GOP rivals Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani over taxes and spending took some of the focus - and the heat - off Thompson and overshadowed the other six Republicans on stage; Thompson was literally stuck between the two as they sparred. "I've enjoyed watching these fellas. I gotta admit it was getting a little boring without me, but I'm glad to be here now," Thompson said - and by the end of...

WASHINGTON - Democrats won control of the House early Wednesday after a dozen years of Republican rule in a resounding repudiation of a war, a president and a scandal-scarred Congress. "From sea to shining sea, the American people voted for change," declared Rep. Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record), the hard-charging California Democrat in line to become the nation's first female House speaker. "Today we have made history," she said, "now let us make progress." The White House made plans for President Bush to call the speaker-in-waiting first thing in the morning; he will enter his final two years in...

WASHINGTON Democrats pursued their best chance in a dozen years to take control of the House from scandal-scarred Republicans on Tuesday in a midterm election marked by voter frustration with the Iraq war and President Bush. As the first polls closed, Rep. Harold Rogers, a 13-term Republican, and Rep. Ben Chandler, two-term Democrat, easily won re-election in Kentucky, as expected. Neither race was competitive. With a message of change, Democrats sought to pick up the 15 seats they needed to reclaim power after 12 years in the minority and clear the way for Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California to become...