Free Republic

"By March 23 many of our largest cities & hospitals are on course to be overrun with cases."

(11-14) 16:23 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- President Obama's mea culpa and proposals to fix his health care overhaul Thursday didn't mollify California Democrats furious over the administration's botched rollout of its signature law, which they fear could dash their hopes of retaking the House and jeopardize the party in competitive races in the state. "This is Obama's Katrina," said Democratic strategist Garry South, referring to the 2005 hurricane that inundated New Orleans and robbed then-President George W. Bush of much of his second-term credibility when his administration bungled the disaster response. "If you're a Democrat running in an endangered seat...

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. — A recent day in May began in crisis mode for Steve Levy, the Suffolk County executive, over an allegation that a police crackdown on unlicensed drivers amounted to the ethnic profiling of illegal immigrants.Soon, he was preparing a response to accusations by 30 state legislators, fellow Democrats all, that his policies in this Long Island county of 1.4 million “instigate divisiveness, hatred and intolerant behavior toward immigrants.” By 2 p.m., Mr. Levy seemed relieved to turn from “the whole illegal immigration thing,” as he calls it, to a topic confined to his 631 area code: a health...

Freewheeling spending in the Los Angeles mayor's race by a wide range of interests that have something to gain has swamped the city's ethics-reform efforts and heightened concerns that City Hall is for sale, political experts said Wednesday. Companies, unions, individuals and other special interests locally and across the country have contributed millions of dollars to candidates in the primary and runoff elections and spent millions more as independent expenditures in an effort to sway voters. The opening of the floodgates has resulted in more than $2.6 million being spent outside the campaigns on behalf of Mayor James Hahn and...