Free Republic

.....For weeks industry activists have been quietly rooting behind the scenes for a Perry victory in the Republican primary -- simply because they think he would be easy for President Obama to beat. ....."What if it's a Romney/Christie ticket?" said one insider. "(New Jersey Gov. Chris) Christie could be wrongly seen by some as the Bill Clinton of the Republican Party." Los Angeles veteran political consultant Bill Carrick had a bit of advice today for his fellow Democrats: "Everyone has to get over their complaining and suck it up and go to work." What does that mean for Hollywood? "People...

...Campaign managers know that most of the population will not take the time to do their own independent research on the candidates, preferring to make up their minds after absorbing a myriad of sound bites that they can regurgitate to others.... How many times are we going to hear that Perry wants to secede from the Union? Democrat bomb-throwers think they have him corralled on that one. The fact is, during a rally in Austin, Texas, some attendees were yelling for secession. The governor's response was that he appreciated their frustration with the current administration, but essentially assured them that...

I'm sure most of you have been checking your old date books to determine whether you've ever had sex with Rick Perry. Of course, you might not remember, since Perry's talents as a paramour likely mirror his narcissistic approach to public policy. That sort of foolishness is brought to you courtesy of Robert Morrow, the Austinite who garnered national coverage last week with his full-page Chronicle ad requesting leads on the new presidential candidate's sex life. For the record, Morrow placed his ad (and alerted other publications) on his own; this news desk read it when our readers did. Morrow's...

The Obama campaign team is asking Texans to share complaints about Gov. Rick Perry, and compiling the critiques for possible use in Perry-bashing ads and other material - a sure sign the president's advisers are taking no chances. "Your feedback will help hold him accountable on the campaign trail, inspire fellow Texans to get involved, and introduce his record -- his actual record -- to voters across the country," Hector Nieto, the campaign's Texas director, told Texas supporters by email blast today. "Your words will remind him that even as he runs, he won't be able to hide -- a...

Early Thursday afternoon, Derek Willis posted on the paper’s "Caucus" blog a request surely enticing to the paper’s online liberal readership: "Help Us Investigate the Sarah Palin E-Mail Records." Ken Shepherd at NewsBusters says enlisting newspaper readers to pore through the email trove "indirectly amounts to free oppo research for the 2012 Obama campaign." On Friday, the State of Alaska will release more than 24,000 of Sarah Palin’s e-mails covering much of her tenure as governor of Alaska. Times reporters will be in Juneau, the state capital, to begin the process of reviewing the e-mails, which we will be posting...

More than 24,000 e-mail messages sent to and from Sarah Palin during her tenure as Alaska's governor will be released Friday. Join The Post in digging through them. We are looking for 100 organized and dilligent readers who will work alongside Post reporters to analyze, contextualize, and research the emails. Think of it as spending some time in our newsroom. Our hope is that working together, we can efficiently find interesting information and extract new stories that will lead to further investigation. We don’t know what we’ll find, but we want you to be ready and open for the challenge....

<p>As Washington bureau reporter Matea Gold reported, the state of Alaska is scheduled to release more than 24,000 pages of Sarah Palin's emails Friday from her time as governor.</p> <p>The emails will span the beginning of Palin's term, in December 2006, through Sept. 30, 2008, which is when media outlets requested them. It has taken since that time to fulfill the records request.</p>

An insider with President Obama's re-election campaign says it is not digging into Chris Christie's past to find dirt on the New Jersey governor but did not deny that somebody loyal to the president may be. An Obama 2012 campaign source told Fox News that the campaign is not involved in efforts described in a New York Post story published Monday that says Obama operatives are "compiling a dossier" of material that could be used to damage Christie if he does a 180-degree shift and decides to run for president. (snip) An Obama 2008 insider told Fox News that such...

To understand Scott Walker’s rise from state representative to county executive to front-runner for the office of Wisconsin governor, one must first know the meaning of a simple two-letter acronym: P.K. The Milwaukee County executive and Republican nominee has reached the precipice of the state’s highest office with a message and approach that has roots in a rural Wisconsin church and the man who ministered there. That’s because Walker was — and is — a preacher’s kid. It’s a label that carries the burden of expectations, especially in a small town. More than a few have wilted under it or...

The Democratic National Committee formally has asked the Pentagon for reams of correspondence between military agencies and nine potential Republican presidential candidates, a clear indication that Democrats are building opposition-research files on specific 2012 contenders even before the midterm elections. An internal Army e-mail obtained by ABC News indicates that the DNC has filed Freedom of Information Act requests for "any and all records of communication" between Army departments and agencies and each of the nine Republicans -- all of whom are widely mentioned as possible challengers to President Obama. The agencies are asked to respond to the request by...

DNC Requests Records Related to Palin, Romney, Seven Other Possible 2012 Contenders. The Democratic National Committee formally has asked the Pentagon for reams of correspondence between military agencies and nine potential Republican presidential candidates, a clear indication that Democrats are building opposition-research files on specific 2012 contenders even before the midterm elections. An internal Army e-mail obtained by ABC News indicates that the DNC has filed Freedom of Information Act requests for "any and all records of communication" between Army departments and agencies and each of the nine Republicans -- all of whom are widely mentioned as possible challengers to...

(CNN) - Whispers about Nikki Haley's Sikh heritage burst into public view in the final days of South Carolina's Republican gubernatorial primary when state Sen. Jake Knotts called the Indian-American legislator a "raghead." Knotts offered a pseudo-apology and was roundly condemned for the remark. Haley went on to win the primary in dominant fashion, capturing nearly 50 percent of the vote in a four-way race. She now faces Rep. Gresham Barrett in the June 22 runoff election. But while Haley's commanding win last Tuesday proved her electoral viability - she won 42 of the state's 46 counties in the primary,...

Emerald Goals Green Our Cities Our goal is to achieve significant reductions in the carbon footprint and energy consumption and increased energy savings and efficiencies. To this end, we encourage cities to: Substantially increase the energy efficiency of citywide building stock over ten years while prioritizing poor communities. Buildings are the largest national source of energy consumption, costing $400 billion annually in energy bills and comprising 80 percent of local carbon emissions in some cities. Yet, efficiency gains between 30 and 50 percent are possible using existing, cost-effective technology. Reducing energy consumption requires a comprehensive retrofit of building stock. The...

Filegate, Consolidated Cases, DISMISSED While this Court seriously entertained the plaintiffs' allegations that their privacy had been violated--and indeed it was, even if not in the sense contemplated by the Privacy Act--after ample opportunity, they have not produced any evidence of the far-reaching conspiracy that sought to use intimate details from FBI files for political assassinations that they alleged. The only thing that they have demonstrated is that this unfortunate episode--about which they do have cause to complain--was exactly what the defendants claimed: a bureaucratic snafu. Chief Judge Royce Lamberth USDC District of Columbia

Someone sent me the link and it seemed to be relevant for a Texas politics thread. DU content is unwelcome at FR, but there is DUFunnies so maybe this thread will survive. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6563121

NEW YORK – Imagine going to work each day and hearing people call your mother a Nazi. Nazi Pelosi. Alexandra Pelosi, the filmmaker daughter of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, heard it frequently last fall in speeches meant to fire up the crowds at McCain-Palin campaign rallies. She attended many such events to make a film about the people who attended, those who fought against a Barack Obama presidency. "Right America, Feeling Wronged," debuts Monday at 8 p.m. EST on HBO. The work wasn't easy. Pelosi was spat upon at the Iowa State Fair, leading her to enlist her husband as...

Just for fun and potential political ammo, I have decided to engage in a phone ambush of some Obama supporters. So I need some ideas on what to ask them in taped conversations. Of course I will only do what is legal and I will be abiding by the spirit and letter of the law. I can't help but think the RNC Opposition Research team has missed a heap of stuff out there. Anyways if Joe the Plumber's background is fair game ya would think the candidates' background is also fair game.

Yes he did. On his show tonight, Dan Abrams drew attention to a quote from John McCain in an interview with Sean Hannity that flew under the radar for the past 3 months: HANNITY: -- and then I understand you didn't get any medical help for nine days. You spent two years of this five-and-a-half-year period in solitary confinement. What does that do to a person, to spend that much time in solitary confinement? MCCAIN: I think it makes you a better person. Obviously, it makes you love America. I really didn't love America until I was deprived of her...

<p>Mitt Romney says he "saw" his father "march" with Martin Luther King Jr. Rudolph Giuliani claims he is one of the "five best known Americans" in the world. According to John McCain, the Constitution established the United States as a "Christian nation."</p>

Are the Clinton secret police back on patrol? It looks like they may be making a late campaign comeback. In a week-end column, Robert Novak alleged that “agents” of Hillary Clinton are “spreading the word that she has scandalous information” about Barack Obama, but decided not to use it. (How considerate of her!) Obama has come out swinging, accusing the Clinton campaign of trying to swift-boat him and demanding that Clinton either release the information or admit that there is none. The Clinton camp is shocked that anyone would ever think that it would use such tactics! Clinton campaign Communications...