Free Republic

A prominent black pastor, upset over the direction the Democrat Party has taken, is asking Christians to change political affiliations. Bishop E.W. Jackson of S.T.A.N.D. (Staying True To America's National Destiny) has launched a project called "Exodus Now," which calls for a "mass exodus of Christians from the Democrat Part." "We believe that the Democrat Party has shown itself to be anti-Christian, anti-Bible, anti-family, anti-life and anti-God, and it's time for Christians to come out," Jackson explains. "We are focusing particularly -- not exclusively, but particularly -- on black Christians who in our view have been held captive by the...

A former Democratic congressman who supported President Barack Obama’s 2008 election is becoming a popular figure in the Republican Party, and he’s coming to the Roanoke Valley this weekend. Former Alabama congressman Artur Davis is scheduled to speak at the inaugural Roanoke Republican Victory Dinner Saturday night at the Holiday Inn Tanglewood. The dinner is a fundraiser for the Roanoke County Republican Committee. Davis served four terms in Congress and made a failed bid for Alabama’s Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2010. He gained national attention by seconding Obama’s nomination at the 2008 Democratic National Convention and served as a co-chairman...

(CNN) - A former four-term Democratic congressman from Alabama and one time strong supporter of President Barack Obama will campaign for Mitt Romney Wednesday. A Romney campaign aide confirms to CNN that Artur Davis will stump for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in the battleground state of Virginia.

In 2010, the Alabama legislature went Republican for the first time in 136 years. In 2011, Republicans won the Mississippi statehouse and Louisiana’s legislature—for both, a first since Reconstruction. That leaves Arkansas as the Holdout State. But Arkansas is wobbling. If its legislature falls to Republicans this year—the odds are 50-50 or better—all 11 states of the old Confederacy will be in GOP hands. And the political current that is transforming the South from a Democratic bastion into the bedrock of Republican strength nationally will be nearly complete. In Arkansas, the ever-so-slow Republican trend accelerated in 2010. Republicans not only...

Buford, Ga. – There was no mistaking the man who walked through the glass doors of the hotel complex on the shores of Lake Lanier. The trademark shock of white hair remains neatly groomed. The hawk-like nose still juts out over a tight jaw. The eyes are clear and bright. But the stride is gone. Zell Miller walks gingerly now, always with a cane. The former governor and U.S. senator describes himself as an 80-year-old man with 100-year-old legs. “I very, very seldom go anywhere,” Miller said in an interview. Miller’s appearance on Friday was a rare return to a...

The Democratic Party’s troubles in the Deep South are by now well known, but to get a good flavor of how dismal the landscape looks in Alabama at the moment, consider this passage from a Birmingham News story today about the early outlook for the 2014 governor’s race. Ask veteran Democratic politicians who they think might run for governor in 2014 and you get mostly empty stares or belly laughs, like the one Rep. John Rogers, D-Birmingham gave when he was asked the question. "What Democrat is going to run for governor?" Rogers asked. "Well, maybe me and I think...

Seven former democrats are now with the ranks of the republican party after making their formal switch Wednesday. Mississippi Republican Party Chairman Joe Nosef said since democrats took control of the White House, more than 50 state and local democrats have moved to the GOP. Leake County Sheriff Greg Waggoner is one of those making the party change. Waggoner said he feels the Democratic party has fallen out of line with the country's moral standards. "This is enough. We've gone too far. We've gone down the road of moral decay too far. It's time to stop it. It's time to...

@SethAMandelYesterday, Alana noted the latest fallout from Cory Booker's critique of the Obama administration on "Meet the Press" and the subsequent, utterly ridiculous "hostage" video he recorded after the Obama campaign reminded him that independent thinking is strongly discouraged in the Democratic Party. Booker's communications director, Anne Torres, resigned, citing “different views on how communications should be run.”It wasn't clear whether Torres objected more to Booker's defense of capitalism or the cringeworthy apology video–which would have been embarrassing for any communications shop to have on its record–or whether this was merely the last straw in a simmering dispute (possibly about...

Former Democratic Rep. Artur Davis of Alabama is officially leaving the party for the GOP, he announced Tuesday. "Wearing a Democratic label no longer matches what I know about my country and its possibilities,” Davis wrote on his website after lamenting that "this is not Bill Clinton’s Democratic Party". … Davis has been rumored as a possible GOP congressional candidate in Northern Virginia, and in the statement he doesn't rule out the possibility, although his long statement indicates if he runs it could be for either the House or the statehouse and would be in 2014 or afterwards. The one-time...

Former Alabama Democratic Rep. Artur Davis has turned in his Democratic Party card as he prepares to register for the GOP in Virginia. The switch was rumored for some time following his departure from Democratic politics in 2010. Davis left political circles after his unsuccessful run for governor in Alabama. He lost in the 2010 primaries, and generating hostility from some fellow Democrats who disliked his effort to avoid identity politics. The winning Democrat was trounced by the Republican candidate in the general election. “If I were to run [for office], it would be as a Republican … [because] wearing...

The Mountain West Conference and Conference USA have agreed to form a merged 22-team football league, hoping the move will help solidify both conferences and improve their chances at obtaining a Bowl Championship Series automatic qualifying bid. The league will have a two-division alignment and will play a championship game, Conference USA commissioner Britton Banowsky said during a conference call announcing the move on Friday. The two leagues would maintain their independent structures in all other sports under the arrangement, which could begin as early as 2012.

Obama and the Jews; It's Over – The Backstory Circulating in New York Newsrooms Tonight. The election results that are sending a Conservative Roman Catholic Republican to Washington over a Yarmulke-wearing Jew… in one of the most heavily Jewish congressional districts in America is sending shockwaves through New York newsrooms and Washington tonight. The 70-30 break among Jewish voters against Obama's candidate is monumental, and it has huge national significance. The Jewish voting block went huge for Obama in 2008. Voting D has been in their genes since FDR, but no more Obama’s blatant mistreatment of Israel, his total incompetence...

Gov. Rick Perry, a no-apologies conservative known for slashing government spending and opposing all tax increases, is about as Republican as you can get. But that wasn’t always the case. Perry spent his first six years in politics as a Democrat, in a somewhat forgotten history that is sure to be revived and scrutinized by Republican opponents if he decides to run for president. A raging liberal he was not. Elected to represent a slice of rural West Texas in the state House of Representatives in 1984, Perry, a young rancher and cotton farmer, gained an early reputation as a...

As Major League Baseball continues to discuss possible realignment, one idea that has come up is going to a league with 15 teams per league, reports ESPN's Buster Olney. Currently, the National League has 16 teams and the AL 14 for scheduling purposes. Should baseball go to two 15-team leagues, that would likely require interleague play every day of the season. Given baseball likes to treat interleague play as an event, that could dilute the appeal of interleague play to the point it would no longer be a moneymaker. However, there is still real resistance to the idea which has...

BATON ROUGE, La. — A Houma area state senator Monday became the Louisiana Legislature's newest party switcher to the Republicans. Sen. Norby Chabert, a first-term senator from Little Caillou, announced that he has moved from the Democratic Party to the GOP. The member of a longtime Democratic political family, Chabert holds the Senate seat once held by his father Leonard and brother Marty. He's the fourth Democrat in the Senate to switch parties in the last five months, as the fall elections near and the state continues a trend to the right. Chabert said the national Democratic Party and President...

BATON ROUGE, La. — A state lawmaker from central Louisiana has become the latest member of the Louisiana House to leave the Democratic Party for the GOP. Rep. Billy Chandler, of Dry Prong, announced his party switch Friday, adding another Republican to the House, which recently became a majority GOP chamber. Chandler says he's joined the Republican Party because the philosophy more closely matches his views and those of his constituents. He was elected in 2006 to the district representing parts of Grant, LaSalle, Rapides, and Winn parishes. The House has 53 Republicans, 46 Democrats, four independents and two vacancies....

State Representative Jonathan Perry wins a close race for the District 26 Senate seat against Nathan Granger. With all precincts reporting, Perry edges out Granger by two percentage points. Nathan Granger (D)--49%; 9,491 Jonathon Perry (R)--51%; 10,179

The latest refugee is State Rep. Bubba Chaney of Rayville, who made his switch official today. With Chaney’s move, there are now 53 Republicans, 47 Democrats and four independents in the House, with one seat open (the one formerly held by Democrat-turned Republican Fred Mills, who just won a special election for the Senate) and set for a special election next month. Chaney, who is serving his first term in the Louisiana Legislature, changed his party affiliation at the Richland Parish Courthouse late Monday afternoon. “I just didn’t feel that my philosophy as a traditional conservative Blue Dog Democrat has...

JACKSON, Miss. — Two Mississippi lawmakers switched from Democrat to Republican on Thursday but said the new party affiliation won't change the way they vote because they've already been siding with the GOP on many issues. Reps. Margaret Rogers of New Albany and Russ Nowell of Louisville announced their switch Thursday during a news conference at the state Republican Party headquarters in Jackson. With the changes, there are now 53 Republicans and 68 Democrats in the state House of Representatives, with one vacant seat.

Gov. Jerry Brown has barely taken office, but he's already presented an audacious plan for the state budget. It's audacious to presume that the voters will agree to an extension of the state's current tax rates for another five years, for one thing, but the assumption is based on an even bolder idea. Brown wants to transfer enormous responsibility for major services to local governments. His gamble - and it's a big one - is that the voters will agree to pay the taxes as long as they can connect them with the services in their own communities. The fact...