Free Republic

DES MOINES, Iowa - Heated? For sure. Intense? Of course. Yet the Iowa caucus campaign nearly now coming to a close has been a surprisingly civilized affair, four years after caucus-goers appeared to punish two presidential hopefuls for playing too rough. This time, the exception illustrates the rule. "If I believed half of that stuff, I wouldn't vote for myself," Republican Mike Huckabee told reporters on Saturday. The object of his unhappiness? An ad aired by the campaign of rival Mitt Romney that said he had "granted 1,033 pardons and commutations, including 12 convicted murderers ... more clemencies than the...

LOS ANGELES – Last year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger backed a federal plan to build a stretch of border fence between San Diego and Tijuana. This week, he said walling off hundreds of miles of the California-Mexico border is a strategy from the Stone Age. It's not the only example of his complex – and sometimes shifting – views on illegal immigration, an issue that has given rise to a national movement during his time in office. California's governor certainly should have a role in the debate over leaky borders and the not-so-invisible illegal labor economy. The state has more illegal...