Free Republic

HARRISBURG — A Chester County entrepreneur won the endorsement Saturday from Pennsylvania’s Republican Party in what could be a bruising, four-way primary election for the nomination to contest Democrat Bob Casey’s re-election bid for U.S. Senate. The endorsement was won by Steve Welch after an extraordinary show of power by Gov. Tom Corbett, who began calling state party officials to tell them of his support for Welch less than two weeks ago. (snip) The endorsement of Welch will be viewed by grassroots party members “as a poke in the face,” Rohrer said. Welch has been criticized by his rivals for...

With little hope of performing well in Florida next week, Rick Santorum may be cutting his losses. The Republican primary, as predicted, has become solidly a two-man contest between Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney. Santorum is struggling to compete in a state that is much larger, much more expensive and has a more diverse electorate than the previous three contests. The former Pennsylvania senator told reporters in Florida that he was leaving the state after Thursday night's debate for a fundraiser in Pennsylvania and to prepare his tax records to make public at home in Virginia, according to an NBC...

U.S. Rep. Todd Platts, R-York, announced this afternoon he will not seek a seventh term in office. During his time in office, Platts developed a reputation as a political moderate, who strongly supported the military and veterans. He routinely advocated more transparent government. In 2010, Esquire magazine named him one of the top-10 members of Congress. In the last year, Platts has drawn fire from the York 912 Patriots, a Tea Party group that criticized Platts for supporting the bank bailouts and the stimulus program. Platts, 49, is stepping away before a new district map for the state goes into...

IN the five days since his almost-victory in the Iowa caucuses, Rick Santorum’s critics have tried out an unusual line of attack against the former Pennsylvania senator. Not content with the many targets that Santorum’s record presents, they’ve gone after the way he and his wife, Karen, handled the premature delivery and death of their fourth child, Gabriel, in 1996. At 19 weeks of pregnancy, Gabriel was found to have a potentially fatal fetal abnormality. After a risky intrauterine surgery, Karen Santorum came down with an infection that ended up triggering labor. The baby lived for just two hours, and...

On Wednesday’s edition of Now with Alex Wagner, the eponymous host asked MSNBC commentator Meghan McCain if her party was in crisis. McCain trashed the Iowa caucus and dreaded the rise of surging Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum. “My father did not become the nominee having anything to do with the Iowa caucus. I find it completely irrelevant. If Rick Santorum becomes the nominee of this party, I mean, it is going to be bedlam and hysteria like you have never seen.” With her over-the-top prognostication for the pending apocalypse in that scenario, McCain appeared to be channeling Bill Murray...

In Monday afternoon Fox News interview, ex-Alaska Guv praises Santorum again and adds "Donald Trump has a lot to offer." Palin: "I did praise Rick Santorum and I'll praise him again...

Mitt Romney's top ten is made up of Goldman Sachs, followed by Credit Suisse (Switzerland), Morgan Stanley, Barclays (UK), Bank of America and JP Morgan. In contrast Romney's co-frontrunner in Iowa, Ron Paul, has a top three donor list made up of the US Army, US Navy and US Airforce.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) - A new poll shows Pennsylvania Republicans favor Newt Gingrich as the GOP Presidential nominee. In the Susquehanna Polling and Research poll released Tuesday, the former House Speaker has a 17-point lead over former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. In a hypothetical match-up with Republican voters, Gingrich leads the race with 35 percent, followed by Romney with 18 percent. Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum was the favorite among 18 percent of voters, while eight percent said they planned to vote for former Texas congressman Ron Paul. Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachman received six percent of the vote and Texas...

Rick Santorum, a former Pennsylvania Senator, is getting some love from conservative luminaries Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck as he struggles to win the hearts of voters in Iowa weeks before the presidential caucuses there. "If voters start shifting gears and deciding they want ideological consistency, then they're going to start paying attention to say, Rick Santorum," the former Alaska governor said as a guest on Fox News Thursday evening. Palin continued with praise for his "hard-line" positions on cutting taxes, dealing with Iran and abortion. Santorum, understanding the implications of her remarks, immediately tweeted his appreciation. "Thank you @SarahPalinUSA...

Rick Santorum‘s bid for the Republican presidential nomination is not going well. While rivals such as Rep. Michele Bachmann, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and now businessman Herman Cain enjoy bursts of popularity, the former Pennsylvania senator can’t seem to get his campaign out of the gate. Endorsements from leading Republicans – say, Sarah Palin - would certainly help. “Her being out of the race and potentially getting involved in a campaign with somebody else could be a big lift,” Santorum said on ABC’s ‘Top Line.” “We’d like your endorsement by the way,” he joked, staring straight to the camera. Palin...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Here's Josh in Pittsburgh. Welcome, Josh. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello. CALLER: Hey, Rush. I am in ninth grade, and I'm a very active Tea Party member. I'm involved with some local congressmen, and when I heard about Ryan Rhodes' comments to the president -- RUSH: Yes? CALLER: -- I was very encouraged to see that I am not alone as a young Republican when it seems that most people my age are very, very liberal and Democratic, and it was nice to see that. But. Then when I heard about the elder...

Give your environmental wacko friends something to think about while you promote America's energy independence! (See link.)

York, PA - Just as in 2008, York County will be the site of a pitched battle during the 2012 presidential race, according to local party chairmen. And though the election is more than a year away, both sides are already marshaling their forces. York County Democratic Chairman Bob Kefauver said the national re-election campaign for President Barack Obama has two workers in York County. One is a Dillsburg resident, and the other is an intern from the University of Pennsylvania, Kefauver said. York County Republican Chairman A. Carville "Peck" Foster said local Republicans have not been contacted by a...

A poll unveiled this week from American Research Group shows that three Republican presidential candidates -- U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska -- are gaining serious momentum in Iowa, site of the first presidential caucus. Bachmann, who declared her candidacy in June and has been surging in polls at both the national and state levels, topped the poll with 21 percent. Former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts placed second with 18 percent. Paul, who was the Libertarian candidate in 1988 and ran for the Republican nomination in...

This is a personal experience so indulge me. Also, I still have a bit of Guinness hangover, so forgive the vague details. However, what I do write is the truth from the events that took place. Last night, after doing a performance at the Iota Club in Arlington, VA, I needed to relax, to get rid of the adrenaline built up from performing. So, a buddy who came to see me perform invited me to go to a hookah bar nearby. For those who do not know what hookah is, it is a communal pipe, cooled by water, that you...

Sarah Palin draws crowds with her hide-and-seek bus tour. Michele Bachmann says Palin’s plans won’t dissuade her from her likely presidential bid. Iowa GOP activists travel to New Jersey to implore Gov. Chris Christie to run, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry weighs a campaign. The Republican presidential field is far less settled than it seemed just a week ago, and it shows few signs of jelling soon. With campaigning off to a slow start in early-voting states, half a dozen potential candidates are mulling whether to jump in. So keen is the interest, among journalists at least, that two news...

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was met by a gaggle of reporters outside of Philadelphia's Independence Hall Tuesday, on day three of her "One Nation" bus tour. The question du jour: Will she or won't she run for president? The would-be-candidate once again refused to "put a timetable" on when she will announce her decision, but when asked by CBS affiliate WKYW if she could beat President Obama, Palin replied, "To put it concisely - yes." Palin also noted her belief that most of the Republicans in the field "have a very good chance" of beating the president, and specifically...

Of all the complaints about Sarah Palin and her bus tour, this one’s easily the strangest. CBS reports that the media has begun to grumble that Palin’s decision to keep them out of the loop on the tour’s stops have created a dangerous working environment for reporters: Since Palin and her team won’t share where the potential candidate is headed, reporters and producers have little choice but to simply stay close to Palin’s bus. This has resulted in scenes of the Palin bus tooling down the highway followed by a caravan of 10 or 15 vehicles – including a massive...

Sarah Palin revealed this much today during a surprise stop in Dillsburg today: she has no plans to appear on Dancing with the Stars. “She assured me she wasn’t,” laughed Carroll Twp. resident Richard Weigel, who questioned her on the subject. That was right after Weigel asked if she planned to make Coffee Express in Dillsburg the site of a presidential run announcement. Palin assured Weigel any such announcement will have to wait for another time and place. Weigel, 69, was among about a half-dozen people sitting in the tiny coffee shop when Palin's tour bus rolled up around 10:30...

GETTYSBURG, Pa. — Sarah Palin has apparently decided that she can treat the media any way she wants — and they will be there regardless. And she might not be wrong. On Monday night, the media following the former Alaska governor were hot and sweaty, sitting in 100-degree weather at the Gettysburg battlefield, when they got the word: Ms. Palin was at the Courtyard by Marriott a few minutes away. Within a half-hour, about a dozen reporters were lined up at the Courtyard counter, asking for rooms overlooking the hotel’s parking lot. As a reporter noted, one could keep an...