Free Republic

AE has reportedly raised more than $22 million so far and has already been certified to be placed on the ballot in 12 states now, including California. To getting on state ballots, AE evidenced mass organizing skills. The group says it collected over 2 million signatures nationwide in its effort to get on state ballots. KleinOnline found that two of AE’s board members, Kellen Arno and Michael Arno, were paid by the group for helping to run the massive signature gathering drive via their firm, Arno Political Consultants. Michael Arno is senior adviser to the Podesta Group lobbying and public...

Mayor Bloomberg has just given new meaning to the "D" after the names of White House hopefuls such as Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards. It usually stands for Democrat - but now might just as well mean disaster. That's because all across Washington yesterday, Republican officials, consultants and candidates themselves were becoming increasingly convinced that: A) Bloomberg may indeed jump into the 2008 race, and B) If he does, the mayor is going to pull far more votes from the eventual Democratic nominee than the GOP standard-bearer. Republican sources confidently dismissed earlier polls finding Bloomberg stealing votes...

Mayor Michael Bloonberg has announced that he is leaving the Republican Party, and will continue his Mayoralty as an Independent.

I was a passionate McCainiac in 1999/2000. (Now, however, he is one of my most disliked politicians.) The man I met then is not the man running today. On radio and TV he appears resigned and tired - but also very calm. Too calm. I also have to wonder why a Republican would buddy up with Teddy Kennedy during a close primary.Here is my theory and I would like to read Freeper thoughts.I think McCain has already decided on a third party run. There is a fairly well-organized group of moderates called UNITY 08 that would snatch McCain up in...

Fred Thompson isn't the only 'Law and Order' character eyeing the 2008 presidential campaign. Inside Sam Waterston’s efforts to help promote a third-party ticket. The actor Sam Waterston, who plays the hard-hitting assistant D.A. in “Law and Order,” has a confession to make. “I’m a moderate,” he declared in a speech at the National Press Club. “You’re looking at a bird rarely seen in Washington, even in springtime.” Waterston was in town to promote Unity ’08, an Internet scheme to launch a third-party ticket, made up of a Republican and a Democrat, to run together against the two major party...

Actor Sam Waterston praised the personal attributes of "Law and Order" co-star Fred Thompson but warned that if the former Senator enters the Republican presidential field he will be forced to run the "gauntlet" of conservative interest groups to win the nomination. "Everyone is obliged to trim their answers," to please the party's base, said Waterston, a leader of Unity08, a third-party movement... Former Gov. Angus King (I-Maine), another leader of the new group, said the current Republican campaign underscores the negative impact of this sort of base politics, noting that candidates including John McCain and Mitt Romney have had...

Anyone Republican interested in a proposal by Unity08 for a bipartisan ticket should consider the disaster that befell the country when the GOP did nominate a bipartisan presidential ticket.  In 1864, President Lincon's running mate was a Democrat, Tennessee's Andrew Johnson.  Though anti-Confederate, Johnson proved to be a racist buffoon and an alcoholic and a true Democrat.  Thanks to John Wilkes Booth, choosing Andrew Johnson was the biggest mistake of Abraham Lincoln's life. On this day in 1868, Republicans began the Senate trial of impeached President Andrew Johnson.  Among the seven U.S. Representatives serving as impeachment managers were anti-slavery crusader...

A new political organization wants millions of online voters to pick a bipartisan ticket to challenge the Republican and Democratic candidates in the 2008 presidential election. Unity08, the brainchild of former GOP consultant Doug Bailey and Democrats Hamilton Jordan and Gerald Rafshoon, onetime aides to President Jimmy Carter, is reaching out to voters discouraged by the partisan gridlock in Washington and offering them a chance to take part in a high-tech experiment organizers hope will change the nation's political landscape. "We had the notion of combining two thoughts that many people call radical but are really as old as the...

WASHINGTON - Somewhere in America, there are 35,000 people who are looking at the preliminaries to the 2008 presidential race from a different perspective than millions of their fellow citizens. They are the people who have signed up so far to participate in Unity08, the effort to launch a bipartisan third-party campaign with the first Internet nominating convention in history. I wrote about this unusual venture when it was launched last year by Hamilton Jordan and Jerry Rafshoon, both formerly of Jimmy Carter's White House; Angus King, the former independent governor of Maine; and Douglas Bailey, a veteran Republican consultant...

Unity08 is an online community with the stated purpose of nominating a bi-partisan presidential ticket. The twist is ANY registered voter can be a delegate to their convention! FR folks need to get there and register and have their voice heard (but don't donate money!). Their closely held board includes Lindsay "Valentine" Ullman, also a key mover in the non-partisan but very leftist "Roosevelt Institituion". Also on the website is a wide open Blog- "Shoutbox" where the progressives currently rule. Get involved on the ground floor! You also can get a free bumper sticker for your collection.

NEWSWEEK: Independent Online Political Party Unity08 to Launch This Week; Plans '08 Internet Primary to Vote on Centrist Platform, Bi-Partisan Ticket Sunday May 28, 10:25 am ET Key Carter and Ford Staffers Starting Unity08 to Recruit a Large, Diverse Base Online: 'The Worst Thing That Could Happen Would Be For a Bunch of Old White Guys Like Us to Run This,' says One NEW YORK, May 28 /PRNewswire/ -- A bipartisan group of political organizers will open shop this week at Unity08.com in an effort to redesign our current system for nominating presidential candidates, reports Senior Editor Jonathan Alter in...