Free Republic

The day of reckoning for Obama is finally here. Apparently. Or maybe not. According to some experts Republicans will win historic victories in the 2014 midterm elections, picking up more seats in the House and the Senate of any party since Dwight Eisenhower was president. Others are saying not so fast: The Democrats have shown an ability to turn out the vote under Obama in a way that has permanently altered the political landscape. While acknowledging that a GOP victory is likely, they argue that it will be closer than some think, with fewer pickups by Republicans than the massive...

With projections of a GOP win growing daily, nervousness in Senate committee offices has turned to panic as an army of Democratic staffers braces to be fired, replaced by a Republican majority and their aides. The spoils of political war? Estimates are that 300-600 Democratic committee and personal staff jobs would be on the chopping block if the Republicans pull off the expected victory. “There will be a mass exodus of Senate Democrat staff from committees,” said one insider. And Republicans will get to hire hundreds more aides. A loss on Tuesday that keeps the Democrats in charge of the...

As you may have heard, we’re now only four days away from the 2014 midterms and gubernatorial races mercifully coming to an end, save for a likely runoff in Louisiana. And as you’ve also heard lately, race–for all the wrong reasons–has become a central theme for the party in blue. Speaking of the Bayou State, its likely-to-be-unemployed-after-said-runoff and current senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) had this to say to Chuck Todd (a good get via hustle by the new MTP moderator, by the way) regarding the reason behind her not inviting President Obama for help on the campaign trail: “The South...

Republican challenger Dan Sullivan has pulled to his biggest lead yet over Democratic incumbent Mark Begich in the final Rasmussen Reports survey of Alaska’s U.S. Senate race.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/10/23/why_is_mary_landrieu_in_so_much_trouble_124397.html

In the tight race between incumbent Republican Pat Roberts and "independent" candidate Greg Orman in Kansas, the Democrats are implicitly pro-Orman. The two-way race between Orman and Roberts has been close ever since Democrats pressured the official Democratic candidate to drop out of the race. But now, the Kansas Republican Party has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against the Kansas Democratic Party for illegal "in-kind" contributions to the Orman campaign. Kansas Democrats have hung pro-Orman signs at official Democratic Party offices which, according to the GOP's complaint, is illegal: Parties have traditionally used the volunteer exemption for...

Edging closer to his lifelong dream of leading a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate, Sen. Mitch McConnell has been largely quiet about what specific agenda his potential new majority would pursue. "This is not the time to lay out an agenda," McConnell told reporters Friday after an event in Lexington. "But I will say this: Divided government in the past has been pretty effective." "It's never a good idea to tell the other side what the first play is going to be, but I think it's safe to say we'll have a very different direction for the country," McConnell...

Kay Hagan, long viewed as perhaps the Senate’s most endangered Democrat, is still hanging in there in the closing days of North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race. The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely North Carolina Voters shows Hagan with 47% of the vote to Republican challenger Thom Tillis’ 46%. Three percent (3%) like another candidate in the race, and another three percent (3%) are still undecided.

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee for president in 2012 and a supporter of former Sen. Scott Brown’s campaign, decried an effort by the liberal media to falsely smear Brown during last night’s final New Hampshire Senate debate against incumbent Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH). “You know I think it’s unfortunate but in some cases moderators hope to become part of the story,” Romney said on Laura Ingraham’s radio program. “Obviously that furthers their career and makes a lot of people talk about them. And people who are on their side are very pleased about it and...

Fox News Poll: 1-Point Margin in Iowa, Kansas and North Carolina Senate Races By Dana Blanton October 31, 2014 “It all comes down to turnout.” That’s one of the biggest clichés in politics. It’s also true in one-point races. Welcome to Iowa, Kansas and North Carolina. According to the latest round of Fox News Senate battleground polls, none of the front-runners in those states hits the 50 percent mark. That means these races will be decided by late-deciding voters -- and campaigns competing furiously to get their voters to the polls. One thing that is baked into the cake: President...

Take responsibility for however you decide to mark your ballot, but don’t lay the results at God’s feet when you had a deliberate choice to make, be it for right or wrong Observing the chaotic politics surrounding practically every issue on and off the ballot is one of the advantages of a missionary’s life being posted in sundry locales around this nation. And it is Mississippi that has collared me for more than a year – a state of endless hospitality, conservative ethics and Southern tenacity. In the face of injustice, Mississippians will stand their ground and rightfully so. This...

Alaska Senate Race Becomes Most Expensive Campaign In State's History By MARIA L. LA GANGA With $39 million in outside spending to sway half a million voters, Alaska Senate race is priciest per capita Both candidates in Alaska Senate contest condemn outside money, but it keeps rolling in The local official introducing the candidate eventually got around to the point — Sen. Mark Begich, standing up for Alaskans, get out the vote — but first he lit into the Koch brothers and what he described as money's power to warp politics. "They're literally spending hundreds of millions of dollars to...

There's a time-honored cliche that political pundits tend to trot out whenever they're asked, usually on cable TV, to prognosticate about a race they aren't particularly familiar with: "It's going to come down to the ground game." Most of the time, this isn't really true. Fundamentals such as party registration numbers and the state of the economy usually play a larger part in election outcomes than the campaigns' respective efforts to ensure that their voters actually vote. But suddenly there's reason to believe that the ground game is going to matter more in this year's Alaska Senate contest between Democratic...

Things must be going even worse for the Democrats than the polls suggest. The campaign of incumbent Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., for example, has hit rock bottom. How else to explain her lame attempt to blame her electoral peril on racism and sexism? Modern illiberals are incapable of thinking their record or their ideas could lead to misfortune.

In comments sure to cascade into regional races across the South, embattled Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) told NBC's Chuck Todd on Thursday that Southern racism is to blame for President Barack Obama's unpopularity. "Why does President Obama have a hard time in Louisiana?" asked Todd. “Let me be very, very honest with you," said Landrieu. "The South has not always been the friendliest place for African-Americans. It's been a difficult time for the president to present himself in a very positive light as a leader." Landrieu added: “It has not always been a good place for women, to be...

Can this be? Can we be a little optimistic here? Might this happen? I mean, let's not stay home. These are tight, but could this be? What do you think? I'm seeing wins in the following races: Alaska Pick up Arkansas Pick up Colorado Pick up Georgia Run off election that we win Iowa Pick up Kansas Roberts beats the liberal in sheep's clothing by 2 pts Kentucky Big win for Mac Louisiana Pick up New Hampshire Pick up by a squeaker North Carolina Pick up Final tally REpublicans have 55 seats in senate Dems 45

Two new polls show Republican Ed Gillespie closing in on Democratic incumbent Mark Warner in the Virginia Senate race. Christopher Newport University, which had Warner up 12 points earlier in the month in its survey, now has Warner's lead down to 7. More provocatively, The Daily Caller reports on a new poll from Vox Populi that has Gillespie down only 4 points.

Georgia's tight Senate race could be headed for the courtroom after voters head to the ballot box. A state judge ruled earlier this week against civil rights groups seeking to force the Georgia secretary of State to account for roughly 40,000 voter registrations that were filed but allegedly haven't shown up on the voting rolls. Those voters could have a big impact on the tight open seat contest between Democrat Michelle Nunn and Republican David Perdue. That initial ruling raises the possibility of further post-election legal action — and is likely to increase the number of potential provisional ballots, the...

In comments sure to cascade into regional races across the South, embattled Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) told NBC's Chuck Todd on Thursday that Southern racism is to blame for President Barack Obama's unpopularity. "Why does President Obama have a hard time in Louisiana?" asked Todd. “Let me be very, very honest with you," said Landrieu. "The South has not always been the friendliest place for African-Americans. It's been a difficult time for the president to present himself in a very positive light as a leader." Landrieu added: “It has not always been a good place for women, to be...

The media’s sense of entitlement is really something to behold whenever they feel like they aren’t getting their due. The most recent example of this phenomenon has been the media’s reaction to Joni Ernst’s decision to skip meetings with three editorial board meetings, including one with the Des Moines Register, last week. The media, predictably, is up in arms over the gall of Ernst in skipping their gatekeeping function, leading the media to declare that Ernst is unfit for office. Predictably, Ernst has responded that she sees no value added in wasting her time kowtowing to people who aren’t going...