Free Republic

WASHINGTON — Abortion rights leader Kate Michelman is thinking of jumping into the Senate race in Pennsylvania as an independent. Michelman is appalled by Democratic Party leaders’ selection of anti-abortion candidate Bob Casey Jr. as their choice to try to unseat two-term Republican Sen. Rick Santorum. For Michelman and other supporters of the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion decision, the final straw came in late January when Casey endorsed President Bush’s Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. Analyst and pollster Terry Madonna at Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania said, “If she runs as an independent, they’ve given Santorum...

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards' presidential ambitions are being taken seriously by Washington insiders. Not as seriously as those of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. But seriously. The National Journal surveyed 90 Democratic members of Congress, consultants, activists and party officials to name the five people they thought had the best chance of capturing their party's nomination in 2008. By far, the Democrats named Clinton, the New York senator and former first lady. But Edwards came in second, followed by Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.The same survey also asked...

WASHINGTON — The Republican National Committee knows who its next leader will be, but the Democratic National Committee is still debating its choice. Democratic activists with great sway in the DNC are moving toward Howard Dean (search). Aides to the former presidential candidate say the race isn't wrapped up yet, but it's almost there. The former Vermont governor courted Democratic mayors this week with promises to look to their victories for guidance. "If you want to win, you've got to start at the bottom, and that's where we're going to start — with local races, then with your races and...

WASHINGTON — Howard Dean yesterday officially jumped into the race to head the Democratic National Committee, by blasting rivals who say Democrats should talk more about "values" to court Republican red states. "That word, 'values,' has lately become a code word for appeasement of the right-wing fringe," Dean wrote in the a letter to the 447 DNC members who'll pick their new chairman Feb. 12.