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Former Mississippi Senate candidate Chris McDaniel (R) on Tuesday accused Republican leaders of enforcing a double standard in their response to the revelation that House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) spoke to a white supremacist group in 2002. ADVERTISEMENTMcDaniel nearly took out Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) in the this year's GOP Senate primary. He was the target of attacks from the National Republican Senatorial Committee and some in the state GOP who said he should withdraw from the race because he had booked a speaking engagement at a conservative rally alongside a white nationalist. McDaniel ultimately withdrew from the rally....

With the big Fox News debate tonight, and as we begin to pick our favored candidates for the upcoming presidential campaign, it is noteworthy to point out that, as we announced yesterday, Senator Ted Cruz will be coming to Mississippi next week to campaign and Senator McDaniel will be with him, and that Donald Trump threw his support behind Senator McDaniel last year against Thad Cochran.(TWEET-AT-LINK)

Chris McDaniel, onthe blatantly unethical and illegal tactics employed by Thad Cochran and Haley Barbour in the Mississippi GOP runoff Tuesday… “McDaniel: I am a two-term state senator, I have fought for this party my entire life, I’ve given money…I’ve done everything they’ve asked me to do– and last night, they pulled over 35,000 Democrats into a Republican primary to defeat me…we feel betrayed. … Hannity: Do you foresee any circumstance under which you would support this guy? Because I don’t think I could do it. McDaniel: I prayed about it last night…my core principle is gonna have a hard...

1 Rand Paul defeated the Washington machine by comparing opponents of amnesty to Nazis… (SNIP) 2 Then he defeated the Washington machine by sucking up to psychotic liberal Kirsten Gillibrand… (SNIP) 5 Then he defeated the Washington machine by endorsing Mitch McConnell even after McConnell pledged to “crush” conservatives… (SNIP) 6 Then he defeated the Washington machine by ditching Steve King… (SNIP) 8 Then he defeated the Washington Machine by telling conservatives to “get over” Thad Cochran election fraud… (SNIP) 12 Then he defeated the Washington machine by sucking up to black supremacist Al Sharpton…

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a potential 2016 presidential contender, declined to support tea party critics of Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran's efforts to mobilize non-GOP voters to win the Republican nomination."I'm for more people voting, not less people voting," Paul told reporters Wednesday.Paul, an original tea party icon for his 2010 GOP primary win over the establishment, has worked assiduously the past year on broadening his party's appeal to minority voters, including negotiating with Democrats on efforts to rewrite the Voting Rights Act.Cochran's vote total grew by almost 40,000 votes from the initial June 3 primary to Tuesday's runoff against state...

The U.S. Senate voted 58-41 Tuesday to confirm former Nebraska senator Chuck Hagel as America’s new defense secretary, but not without a little controversy. Four Republican senators backed Hagels’ confirmation: Sens. Thad Cochran (Miss.), Mike Johanns (Neb.), Richard Shelby (Ala.), and Rand Paul (Ky.), as noted yesterday on TheBlaze. Understandably, Sen. Paul’s vote took some by surprise. After all, didn’t the Kentucky senator vote against cloture before voting for Hagel’s confirmation (answer: Yes). In an attempt to figure out this apparent contradiction, Fox News Channel’s Bill Hemmer on Wednesday asked the senator about his “aye” vote. “You helped lead the...

The precinct level returns in Hinds County bolster the theory that a surge in black, Democratic turnout allowed Senator Thad Cochran to defeat Chris McDaniel, a Tea Party-backed state senator, in last month’s Republican primary runoff in Mississippi. Mr. Cochran won by 7,667 votes. Nearly half — a net 3,532 votes — came from the most Democratic precincts in Jackson’s Hinds County, where President Obama won a combined 97.8 percent of the vote in 2012, according to figures released Tuesday night by the Mississippi secretary of state. The surge in turnout was clearest in overwhelmingly black precincts; turnout sometimes increased...

Senator Rand Paul To Headline Mississippi Republican Party Victory Event ON:5 December 2014 BY:Admin IN: Media Advisory WASHINGTON, DC – Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) will join Governor Phil Bryant and the Mississippi Republican Party in Jackson, Mississippi on Monday, December 8 for a fundraising event benefiting the state party. MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2014 WHAT: Mississippi Republican Party Victory Lunch TIME: 11:30 am (CST) WHO: Senator Rand Paul & Governor Phil Bryant WHERE: The Old Capitol Inn 226 North State Street, Jackson MS 39201

Democratic-leaning black voters in Mississippi are being asked to rescue the Republican establishment from another defeat by the Tea Party on Tuesday, in the final chapter of one of the most bizarre races of the Senate primary season. The Mississippi Republican primary was forced into a run-off earlier this month after Chris McDaniel, a former talk radio host and Tea Party conservative, narrowly triumphed over , the incumbent senator who has occupied the same seat for four decades. In the closing stages of the Mississippi race, 76-year-old Cochran, the epitome of a southern, Republican appropriator, has taken the unusual step...

Thad Cochran won a primary runoff by turning out the black vote. Now they are asking — what are you going to do for us? Already the members of the Congressional Black Caucus are talking about what they want Cochran to do. The wish list is filling up with ideas like maintaining funding for food stamps, beefing up programs that help poor blacks in Mississippi and even supporting the Voting Rights Act. Continue Reading Text Size -+reset Latest on POLITICO Big cyber hack of health records is "only a matter of time" Clark Hill adds 2 in public affairs Hobby...

Nothing in life is free. And now that Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) was able to narrowly beat his Tea Party rival, due to thousands of black Democrats who crossed party lines to vote in the GOP primary runoff, his new constituency is looking to cash in on their influence. In their minds, Cochran, who is in line to chair the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee if Republicans take back the Senate, is now a part of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC)--and should vote like a CBC member. According to Politico, "Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are talking about what they...

Thad Cochran's camp batted down rumors last year of a romance between the senator and longtime aide Kay Webber, the New York Times reports, amid criticism that Webber had joined Cochran on 28 taxpayer-funded trips to 45 countries costing more than $150,000. Now, in a one-sentence statement, his office confirms that Cochran, 77, put a ring on it on Saturday during a private family ceremony in Gulfport, Miss., the Clarion-Ledger reports. Cochran's wife of 50 years—photographed by an anti-Cochran blogger in a nursing home last year—died in December at 73 after suffering from dementia, the Washington Post reports. A Cochran...

A senate, a house of representatives, majority and minority caucuses and partisanship leadership structures — these are some of the common features of state legislatures across the country. (SNIP) Candidates for the Legislature run in open primaries without party affiliations listed on the ballot. Legislative officers and committee chairs are elected by members themselves instead of appointed by partisan caucus leaders, and minority party members still do get elected to serve as committee chairs. O’Donnell says that policy debates frequently tend to be less partisan in tone because of the unique nature of the Nebraska Unicameral and that final decisions...

The Mississippi senator’s previous wife died in December.Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran married his longtime executive assistant, Kay Webber, over the holiday weekend, according to a report from the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss. The 77-year-old Republican wed Webber, who has worked for him since 1981, in a private ceremony in Gulfport, Mississippi, on Saturday. Cochran’s staff, which had denied any knowledge of an impending wedding as recently as last week, released the news in a one-sentence statement. Webber is also 77. Story Continued Below Cochran’s previous wife of 50 years, Rose Cochran, died last December. She spent the final 13 years...

U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., has married longtime aide Kay Webber. In a statement released Monday, Cochran's office said the marriage took place privately Saturday in Gulfport. Spokesman Chris Gallegos says Webber, Cochran's executive assistant, has worked for him since 1981. The 77-year-old senator's former wife, Rose Cochran, died in December at age 73 from dementia after living in a nursing home for 13 years.

The former governor of Florida, John (or as he prefers to be called, Juan) Ellis Bush, doesn't appear to have a lot of support among Republicans, as opposed to Republicans in Name Only (RINOs), who absolutely adore him. But Juan isn't sweating it. He's rolling in dough, and more importantly, he's rolling in opponents. Have you ever heard of a "straw" candidate? When you have a weak front-runner that can't reach 50 percent, often a third, or a fourth, or even a fifth candidate suddenly jumps into the race. If he has a name similar to that of the strongest...

This morning on radio, Glenn gave some hints from an important phone call he received before going on the air. While Glenn was unable to release any of the details about who called or exactly what it was about, he did share a snippet of content concerning the GOP. Courtesy of Glenn, we do know that there were “big names involved” and Glenn was “encouraged by who it came from.”Glenn did provide some of the message from the mystery caller, saying“Just please tell Glenn to continue to put the heat on. Because the party is split. And half of...

WASHINGTON — A U.S. Senate staffer is facing a federal charge after court documents say he bought drugs from China with the intent to exchange them for sexual favors. Senate staffer Fred W. Pagan is facing the federal charge of possession with intent to distribute after court documents say he shipped drugs in from China. Pagan is a staffer for Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Mississippi.

GOP power broker Haley Barbour’s lobby shop, BGR Group, represents a Russian bank that has financed a company that helped build Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant, according to corporate documents and lobbying disclosure records. The bank is owned by a secretive oligarch, Mikhail Fridman, who has met at least twice with White House officials in the last few years, according to visitor logs.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Wednesday praised the Republican senators who declined to sign a controversial open letter to Iran. "I'm heartened ... that a few Republicans, seven to be exact, didn't sign the letter. That's nice. Seven out of 54, certainly seven better than nothing," Reid said from the Senate floor. The open letter, signed by 47 Senate Republicans, states that any deal reached on Iran's nuclear program could be overturned “with the stroke of a pen” after President Obama leaves the White House in 2017. Republican Sens. Bob Corker (Tenn.), Susan Collins (Maine), Jeff Flake (Ariz.),...