Free Republic

Nate Silver has made a name for himself getting his presidential forecasts spot-on perfect. So when he speaks about U.S. Senate races, people listen. His latest thinking on Kansas’ much-talked-about Senate race? Independent Greg Orman has a 61 percent chance of beating Republican incumbent Pat Roberts. His expected winning margin is 3 percentage points. Silver bases his predictions on all manner of polls and political data. Despite his prediction in the Kansas race, Silver says Republicans have a 58.5 percent chance of winning a majority. And Democrats have a 41.5 percent chance of keeping their majority. That goes against conventional...

Kansas Democratic Senate candidate Chad Taylor’s effort to get his name taken off this fall’s ballot will be heard in the state’s supreme court, according to reports, the latest twist in a suddenly fast-changing race thought to be a shoo-in for Republicans. Last week, Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach ruled that Taylor will have to remain on the ballot since he did not demonstrate that he was incapable of serving if elected, a requirement under state statutes. Taylor went on to file a lawsuit against Kobach, claiming an election official helped him prepare the necessary documents to withdraw from...

"I think if you're undocumented and you are here, you should have to register with ICE, you should have to pay a small fine or perform community service as an acknowledgement that you've broken the law. Then you should have to hold down a job, pay taxes, obey our laws. And if you do all those things, I think you should be able to continue to live here and work here."

I decided to run for the United States Senate to represent Kansas as an Independent because I know that Washington is broken. We’re sending the worst of both parties to Washington and we know it. For too long, we’ve elected politicians who continue this broken system that caters to special interests and the extremists in their own parties rather than solving problems of the people who elect them. Unfortunately all that’s led to is a Congress that can’t get anything done. (SNIP) Finally, our policy must also be fair to taxpayers. The 11 million undocumented individuals in America should be...

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and CNBC's Suze Orman were two of the winners at Saturday night's GLAAD Awards in New York City. Olbermann won for "Outstanding TV Journalism Segment" for his Special Comment about gay marriage. "Accepting the award, Olbermann magnanimously apologized for not having done the segment prior to the Prop. 8 vote," writes Queerty.com's Ben Harvey.

Hartford, Conn. -- The party Sen. Joe Lieberman created to mount his independent re-election campaign has been seized by one of his critics, and the secretary of state's office said Wednesday that it won't challenge the takeover. After the senator's Nov. 7 victory under the Connecticut for Lieberman Party banner, John Orman switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Connecticut for Lieberman and voted himself chairman. Orman, a political science professor who ran briefly against Lieberman last year, said only critics, bloggers and anyone named Lieberman can join the party, which he said would be a watchdog of the senator's...

I'd be the last person to tell you that money can buy happiness, but I'm fascinated by recent reports insisting that money isn't a major factor in whether or not people are happy. Please. Positive psychology (that's what academicians call the study of human happiness) is a hot field of research, and the folks at the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania have come up with an interesting questionnaire that's been getting a lot of press. Yet nowhere in the 24-question Authentic Happiness Inventory does the issue of money -- or, more important, our desire for financial security...