Free Republic

Mitt Romney won the Family Research Council Values Voters' Summit straw poll in Washington Saturday, barely beating out Mike Huckabee with just 30 more votes. Romney garnered 1595 votes to Huckabee's 1565 in the poll of conservative activists. Ron Paul was third with 865 and Fred Thompson was fourth with 564 votes. No vote count has been announced for Rudy Giuliani. Romney spoke at the summit Friday and called for ending the "marriage penalty" and decreasing out-of-wedlock birth. In a veiled hit at his rival, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and his more liberal positions on gay rights and...

The Note: Waiting for Fred What an actor needs to learn about timing By RICK KLEIN July 31, 2007 Lessons learned in the two months that former senator Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., has been "testing the waters": 1. Having a campaign shake-up does not require having a campaign (though having a meddlesome spouse helps). 2. Folksy observations do not answer questions about lobbying work on behalf of abortion-rights groups (and the flies called "opposition research" buzz really loudly come fall). 3. No one politician can possibly fix all the things that plague the GOP (even if that politician plays a problem-solver...

In the last six months or so, when my Democrat friends have engaged me in discussions about Hillary Clinton, at some point I usually ask them a simple question to gage their support, knowledge, and level of commitment to their candidate. The question is, “What has Senator Clinton accomplished in her life, in her career to qualify her to be President of the United States?”. And of course they know who I support and they generally know his amazing credentials and experience, so when I press them for answers to, “What has she actually done that sets her apart?”, I...

DATA FROM THE AIR FORCE RESERVE RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT INDICATE THAT THE DEPRESSION HAS NOT STRENGTHENED. INDEED...THEY HAVE YET TO FIND ANY FLIGHT-LEVEL WINDS HIGHER THAN 31 KT...WHICH ONLY SUPPORTS 25 KT AT THE SURFACE. IN THE INTEREST OF CONTINUITY HOWEVER...I WILL ASSUME THAT SLIGHTLY HIGHER WINDS EXIST SOMEWHERE THE AIRCRAFT HASN'T YET SAMPLED. WHILE CONDITIONS ALOFT AND AT THE SURFACE ARE VERY FAVORABLE FOR DEVELOPMENT...THE CONVECTIVE PATTERN REMAINS DOMINATED BY OUTER BANDS WITH RELATIVELY LITTLE ACTIVITY NEAR THE CORE. FURTHERMORE...WATER VAPOR IMAGERY INDICATES DRY MID-LEVEL AIR HAS BEEN PUSHING SOUTHWARD TOWARD THE CENTER ALONG THE EASTERN SIDE OF HIGH PRESSURE...