Free Republic

Right Wing News emailed more than 230 right-of-center bloggers and asked them to send us a ranked list 1-5 of the candidates that they would most like to take the Republican nomination for President in 2008 and the 1-5 candidates they'd least like to see as the Republican nominee in 2008. Representatives from the following 58 blogs responded... Aaron's CC, Absinthe & Cookies, The American Mind, The Anchoress, AtlanticBlog, Atlas Shrugs, Backcountry Conservative, La Shawn Barber, The Baseball Crank, Betsy's Page, BlameBush!, Boi From Troy, Byrd Droppings, Commonwealth Conservative, DANEgerus Weblog, Dodgeblogium, Dr. Sanity, Eckernet, Euphoric Reality, Gateway Pundit, GayPatriot,...

Governor says he’ll serve 4 years if re-elected Gov. Mark Sanford “absolutely” will not run for president in 2008. In a wide-ranging interview with The State newspaper in his State House office last week, Sanford said he would not be a candidate for president in the 2008 Republican primary. Sanford will seek re-election as governor in 2006. “Should I get re-elected,” Sanford said, “I absolutely am serving all four years, because we just have some huge issues here in South Carolina that are just an immense challenge.” Sanford has said in the past that he was not planning to run...

Gov. Mark Sanford’s visit this week to the Republican battleground state of Arizona has tongues wagging anew over whether he is preparing for a run for the White House. Sanford was in Phoenix on Tuesday and Wednesday. He gave a speech to the Goldwater Institute, a conservative think tank, Tuesday night. Sanford raised money for his 2006 re-election while he was there. He was feted at a fund-raising breakfast the next morning at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel by Barry Goldwater Jr. and Republican state leaders, according to a Phoenix newspaper. A Sanford spokesman said the governor was in Arizona at the...

Which of the following presidential hopefuls would stand the best shot at defeating Hillary in '08:

COLUMBIA — Being nice, the speaker of the S.C. House initially made reference to the more generic term "farm animals." But in the end, the host gave up altogether, abandoning any attempt to avoid use of that four-letter "p" word ("pigs"), as he and the governor got in a little good-natured needling during Tuesday's legislative press conference. South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford raised eyebrows and a bit of a stink last year when he showed up at the South Carolina Statehouse carrying two rather lively piglets in his arms as a protest of the state's $5.5 million "pork barrel" spending...

Sanford run could hurt S.C. By LEE BANDY Staff Writer South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary could lose its national luster if Gov. Mark Sanford decides to run for the White House in 2008. Other GOP contenders, knowing they would have no chance in a candidate’s home state, simply would bypass South Carolina and take their campaigns — and millions of dollars — elsewhere. “It would devalue the primary,” says Robert Botsch, a political science professor at USC Aiken who does not participate in partisan efforts. “There’s little to be gained by challenging a favorite-son candidate.” Worse, he adds, “It would...

Sanford: Lower tax rate is top goal By AARON GOULD SHEININ Staff Writer Q&A WITH THE GOVERNOR Lowering the S.C. income tax rate is his chief priority for the legislative session that opens today, Gov. Mark Sanford told The State. This will be Sanford’s third legislative session as chief executive, and he says changing the culture of government is, in many ways, more important to him than advancing legislative ideas. In the interview, Sanford, a Republican, also refuses to rule out a potential run for the White House in 2008, but he dismisses the idea as not being “on my...

The Mark-Sanford-for-president buzz won’t die. It keeps rearing its head in the strangest places. Now there’s an extensive “Draft Mark Sanford for President — 2008” Web site. Sanford’s people insist they have nothing to do with it. The owner is Sean Wisnieski, a 19-year-old political science student at Frederick Community College in Frederick, Md. In a disclaimer, he says the site does not “necessarily reflect or represent” the governor. Sanford says he’s “amused,” “curious” and “flattered” — but a run for the White House is the furthest thing from his mind. Often, politicians get carried away by the “bright lights”...

It is incredible but George W. Bush has not even been sworn in for his second term as president and the political chattering in Washington has already switched to 2008.Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist made the opening move. He was the first prominent Republican to publicly express reservations about Arlen Specter becoming chairman of the Judiciary Committee after the later questioned whether a nominee who supported overturning Roe v. Wade could be confirmed for the Supreme Court. Every head inside the Beltway turned and asked, why would the normally reserved Leader get so far out front against a fellow member...

To: South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford In the face of soaring deficits and skyrocketing federal spending, America needs a leader who can say "NO!" to Washington tax-and-spenders. During his six years in Congress, Mark Sanford earned straight "A" ratings from the National Taxpayers Union. When he was elected Governor of South Carolina, he cut taxes by a third and convinced the legislature to pay off 90% of the state's debt. He even vetoed parts of his own party's budget, saying there was simply too much unnecessary spending. When the legislature overrode 105 of his 106 line-item vetoes, he protested by...

ONLINE GROUP SEEKS TO DRAFT S.C. GOVERNOR TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT IN 2008 Contact: Sean Wisnieski Address: 28 W Orndorff Dr Brunswick, MD 21716 Phone: (301) 834-4473 Email: draftsanford@yahoo.com URL: http://draftsanford.cjb.net/ Brunswick, MD -- A Web-based group is seeking to convince Mark Sanford, the Republican Governor of South Carolina, to run for President in 2008, insisting that he is the GOP's best choice for President. The site, founded by 19-year-old political science student Sean Wisnieski, has received thousands of hits since its inception in June of 2004; nearly 100 activists have signed the online petition. "We're building a healthy network...

<p>The 2004 elections are scarcely off the lips and minds of the more informed of the populace, and the New Year is not here, yet the minds of many have already turned to 2008, where the figure of Hillary Clinton looms large on the horizon, to the Republicans a socialist specter and the Democrats a saving seraph come to redeem their party from oblivion. Already, the wretched partisans of the GOP have begun the drumbeat for the coronation of John McCain or Rudy Guiliani, the only men, they assure us, who have a prayer of beating Hillary. Coming in a close third, Jeb Bush can easily visualize himself as the third Bush to take his seat in the Oval Office. These are the men, the party hacks claim, alone can beat Clinton. Yet, let us consider these two men closer, in the light of sound, learned, reason. BetWWTS.com is offering odds of 1/5 on Rudy Guiliani and 7/1 on John McCain. John McCain, four years from now, will be seventy-two, Rudy Guiliani, in 2008 will be sixty-four. Neither of these men is particularly healthy, and both have a history of cancer. The reader may well say, so did John Kerry. Yes, Kerry had a decided history of prostate cancer, a fact that received scant attention from the mainstream media. In 2008, both men's personal health will be under the intense scrutiny of the leftwing media. Moreover, both these men have Achilles heels, of a diverse, but equally dangerous nature.</p>

Your Life is a Journey But where is it taking you? You had friends and laughter, adventure and romance. Remember the halcyon days of your youth? But then the friends went away, the laughter faded, the adventure ended and the romance was over. It was time to go to work. Do you ever feel like you're wearing ankle irons, condemned to row forever with the other galley slaves in the dim life below ship's deck? "I too have had my dreams: ay, known indeed the crowded visions of a fiery youth which haunt me still." - Oscar Wilde One of...

Sanford run for White House likely By LEE BANDY Staff Writer If there were any doubts that Gov. Mark Sanford will run for president, he certainly erased them with his State of the State address before a joint session of the General Assembly. The Capital City was abuzz. Veteran political observers said it sounded more like a State of The Union address. “Did you hear that speech? “ asked state Rep. Jim McGee, R-Florence. “Looks like to me he’s running.” House Majority Leader Jim Merrill, R-Charleston, who worked for Sanford when he was a congressman, is more certain. “He’s definitely...