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The retirement of Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn poses a challenge for Republicans that extends beyond the party trying to preserve his Senate seat.

Before firing off that next email to an elected official, you’d better cross your fingers and hope the politician is not feeling anxious about your message. A judge in Oklahoma Friday ordered the co-founder of the Sooner Tea Party to be tried on felony blackmail and computer crimes charges for sending an email to a state senator who said he felt threatened by its tone, The Associated Press reported. The judge ruled that probable cause exists that Al Gerhart committed the crimes when he sent an email allegedly designed to intimidate Oklahoma state Sen. Cliff Branan, the Republican chairman of...

A little known pro-gun lobby that’s well to the right of the National Rifle Association has complicated efforts to reach a solution on gun control legislation, top Democrats have said in recent days. The Gun Owners of America has been around for decades, operating mostly in obscurity, dwarfed by the lobbying and fundraising prowess of the NRA. The group’s big gripe is that the NRA is too squishy and willing to compromise, and its recent efforts to scuttle gun control legislation appear to be scaring away Republicans amenable to background checks. The results have frustrated Democrats trying to strike a...

Here’s the first hard evidence we’ve seen that the big meeting of the minds on guns that the media’s been touting might be overhyped. Plain and simple, says Coburn, if Democrats demand that records of private gun sales be kept, the compromise is dead. But wait. Kept by who? By the seller, or by the federal government? A Senate aide familiar with the process said Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace erred in the question he posed to Coburn. The aides said there is no discussion of allowing the federal government to keep any records of background checks or sales,...

Republican 2nd Congressional District runoff opponents Markwayne Mullin and George Faught continued to tussle Thursday over something said by Mullin last August and used by Faught in a recent campaign spot. The setting this time was Mullin's Broken Arrow plumbing business, where a representative for Faught showed up to hand out a statement from Faught after Mullin essentially called Faught a liar at a Thursday afternoon press conference. Mullin's campaign team eventually shooed the Faught operative off the grounds, but not before he'd passed around copies of Faught's statement. At issue is Mullin's use of the term "single payer" during...

Thrown open last summer when U.S. Rep. Dan Boren announced plans to step down and not seek a fifth term, six Republicans are looking to flip the only Democrat-held seat in the state's congressional delegation from blue to red. “This really is the big prize for the Republican Party in Oklahoma this year,” said Oklahoma's Republican Party Chairman Matt Pinnell. “It will be the biggest race in Oklahoma this year, outside of the presidential race. This is a battleground congressional race.” The six Republicans are three-term state Rep. George Faught, 49, of Muskogee; business owner Markwayne Mullin, 34, of Westville;...

The mainstream media enjoys analyzing how the candidates performed but rarely replays the meat of an answer given by a candidate. The substance of what Newt Gingrich said in reply to the questions asked by CNNs John King will help Oklahoma voters make their decision of who to vote for in the March 6th Presidential Primary. The first question asked was regarding the candidates’ plan to bring down the national debt. Gingrich’s response was to create jobs and spur economic growth. He also suggested that the Federal government open federal land and offshore areas to energy production. He also mentioned...

ENID — The number $1.43 trillion will work well for Republicans in the 2012 election, said Matt Pinnell, chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party. He made the remarks about the federal budget deficit at a meeting Tuesday of Garfield County Republican Women in the Gantz Center at Northern Oklahoma College Enid. Pinnell is the youngest state party chairman in the United States. “It is the highest budget deficit in history,” he said. That and other budget and unemployment numbers are the ones Republicans believe will defeat President Barack Obama next year. Republicans are keeping their campaign simple because they believe...

Gubernatorial candidates Democrat Jari Askins and Republican Mary Fallin agreed on one thing at Thursday night's OSU-Tulsa gubernatorial debate: Sarah Palin is presidential material. Joe Kelley, KRMG talk radio host, asked both candidates whether Palin was presidential material. "I personally admire Sarah Palin and her true grit, her hard work, her tenacity, her willing to say whatever's on her mind," Fallin said. "She's earned great admiration, especially trying to put up with some of the things she's had to go through with even the national media. "I appreciate what she does. She certainly has been a leader in talking about...

Rep. Mary Fallin (R) won the Republican nod in Oklahoma's open-seat gubernatorial race, clinching the nomination outright in a four-candidate field. On the Democratic side, Lt. Gov. Jari Askins appeared headed toward a victory over state Attorney General Drew Edmondson, who had held a double-digit lead in polling heading into the primary. Fallin, a two-term congresswoman and former lieutenant governor who has been endorsed by national Republicans including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, won the GOP nod outright with 59 percent. Her main rival, state Sen. Randy Brogdon, won 34 percent while two other challengers, businessman Robert Hubbard and retired...

Attorney Kevin Calvey and youth camp director James Lankford topped the Republican field vying to replace Rep. Mary Fallin (R-Okla.). Calvey and Lankford took 34 and 32 percent of the vote respectively in the seven-way race for the 5th district nomination and will head to a runnoff. Fallin left her Oklahoma City seat after two terms to run for governor. She claimed the GOP gubernatorial nod earlier in the evening. The Associated Press, meanwhile, declared attorney Billy Coyle the winner of the Democratic nomination with 57 percent of the vote. On the GOP side, state Rep. Mike Thompson (R) finished...

TN/OK: Polls Close In Special Elections The polls have closed in Tennessee. The first results are in for early voting and absentee and can be found here. The polls have also closed in Oklahoma. The first results are also in for early voting and absentee and can be found here.

INHOFE, ADERHOLT ISSUE STATEMENT ON WORLD AIDS DAY AS THEY DEPART FOR CODEL TO AFRICAPaulson To Spend Second Installment of $700 Billion Bailout?Update: President Signs Inhofe Legislation Commemorating Army New Capitol Visitor Center Now OpenIn the News...Plane carrying Inhofe makes emergency landing (Tulsa World)Enid302 N IndependenceSuite 104Enid, OK 73701(580) 234-5105Map this | Directions ToWashington D.C. OfficeMcAlester215 E Choctaw AveSuite 106McAlester, OK 74501(918) 426-0933Map this | Directions ToWashington D.C. OfficeOklahoma City1900 NW Expressway StSuite 1210Oklahoma City, OK 73118(405) 608-4381Map this | Directions ToWashington D.C. OfficeTulsa1924 S. Utica AvenueSuite 530Tulsa, OK 74104(918) 748-5111Map this | Directions ToWashington D.C. OfficeWashington453 Russell Senate...

U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe and Rep. John Sullivan officially endorsed Republican Fred Thompson for president on Wednesday. Thompson's presidential campaign made the announcement for the two Oklahoma Republicans. Inhofe had gone public with his support of Thompson last June, even before the attorney-turned-actor-turned-politician had entered the race. Sullivan confirmed his endorsement Wednesday. "I am proud to support Senator Thompson," he said in a written statement. "He is a backer of fiscally responsible spending, positive immigration reform and correcting our nation's broken health-care system." Inhofe cited Thompson's leadership and proven record of supporting conservative values. "As Americans get to know Fred...

Lt. Gov. Mary Fallin won an easy victory for the Republican nomination for the 5th District congressional seat on Tuesday, defeating Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett in a run-off primary. Fallin had 26,744 votes, or 63.1 percent, and Cornett had 15,665 votes, or 36.9 percent. The mayor conceded with a little more than two-thirds of the vote counted.

Lt. Gov. Mary Fallin’s first-place finish in the July 25 Republican primary for Oklahoma’s 5th District seat, with 35 percent of the vote, didn’t automatically make her the front-runner for her Aug. 22 runoff against Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, who took 24 percent in the first round. But the endorsements Fallin received Monday from all four of the other candidates who ran in the primary — and who received a combined 41 percent of the vote — may do the trick. In order of their finish in the primary, state Corporation Commissioner Denise Bode, state Reps. Kevin Calvey and...

Fallin says her agenda in Congress will be guided by three basic principles. "Make no mistake: I am a person who believes in faith, family and freedom," she said. "That's what I'll speak out for in Congress and that's how I'll vote."

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