Free Republic

With just eight days left before Election Day, it’s time to sprint through the finish line. Here are more commonsense conservative candidates who are determined to get our country back on track. Dick Muri for Washington’s 9th Congressional District I met Dick Muri recently and am proud to endorse his campaign for Congress. Dick is a proven leader. He’s a devoted member of his community and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who first earned his navigator wings in 1976. Dick will be an fresh, independent voice in Congress, unlike his opponent who votes with Speaker Pelosi and other Democrat...

A leading tea party activist broke ranks Monday to endorse Democratic Rep. Mike McIntyre of North Carolina, expressing concern about a Republican challenger who was once charged with murder in connection with his military service in Iraq. Deborah Johns said it appears that voters are ignoring Republican candidate Ilario Pantano's past.

Raleigh, N.C. – The battle for North Carolina’s 7th Congressional district seat between Republican candidate Ilario Pantano and Democratic Rep. Mike McIntyre is virtually tied, according to a new SurveyUSA poll released today by the Civitas Institute. According to the poll of 450 registered voters in that district, 46 percent of voters said they would vote for Pantano if the election for United States House of Representatives were held today. Forty-five percent said they would vote for McIntyre, and nine percent of voters said they are undecided. However, when looking at those who are most likely to vote in 2010,...

The National Republican Congressional Committee is set to go up with new ads this week against a pair of incumbents who had previously been considered lower tier targets this fall, providing further proof the House playing field still very fluid with 49 days to go before the elections. According to a GOP strategist who tracks ad buys, the NRCC has placed an $82,000 buy against Rep. Rick Boucher (D) in Virginia's 9th district as well as a $45,000 buy against Rep. Mike McIntyre (D) in North Carolina's 7th district. The ad buys are for the week of Sept. 17-23. Neither...

Tune in to see Ilario Pantano on a discussion panel with Bob Beckel and Monica Crowley on the Sean Hannity show. Fox News Channel, 9 pm.

WILMINGTON, N.C. – As the political season intensifies, the once safe 7th Congressional District long represented by Mike McIntyre has become a serious battleground. New poll results released by the Pantano campaign indicate the race is close with the challenger, Ilario Pantano, leading incumbent Congressman Mike McIntyre among voters identified as highly likely to vote. Public Opinion Strategies conducted the live interview poll on August 31 and September 2 with 400 interviews and a margin of error of 4.9%. In summary, Public Opinion Strategies stated, “A combination of a worsening political environment for Democrats and Mike McIntyre’s bad voting record...

Ilario Pantano is a Warlord. That was the name of his U.S. Marines unit when he served during the Iraqi War. It was his second tour of duty after serving previously in the Gulf War. He had returned to civilian life during the 1990s and was working on Wall Street when the attacks of September 11th rocked his office in lower Manhattan. The first thing he did after the attacks was to go to his barber to get a military-style haircut. He knew right away that he was going back to war. Some of you may remember Ilario Pantano from...

For the past 14 years, North Carolina’s Seventh Congressional District has been held by Democrat Mike McIntyre, who, lacking any significant challengers, has managed to maintain his grip on this culturally conservative district. But this fall McIntyre faces his first serious threat when he battles top-tier Republican candidate Ilario Pantano. A decidedly Republican district with a strong conservative base, the Cook Partisan Voting Index for the Seventh District is R+5. Located in the southeastern corner of North Carolina, this district stretches from Sampson and Duplin counties to Columbus and Brunswick in the south, covering nine counties in total. It includes...

Kelsey Grammer, the five-time Emmy award winner, is scheduled to be the star attraction at a fundraiser next week for Ilario Pantano, the Republican who is challenging Democratic Rep. Mike McIntyre. Grammer is best known for playing the psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane in the sitcom "Cheers" and later starred in the spinoff "Frasier," Rob Christensen reports. He is a Republican who campaigned for Sen. John McCain in 2008 and has said he may run for Congress one day. Grammer will appear at a private fund raiser on Monday, August 2nd at the Lumberton home of Linda and Don Metzger.

Political handicappers at The Cook Political Report have changed their assessment of North Carolina’s Seventh Congressional District from “Solid Democrat” to “Likely Democrat.” That’s a positive sign for the Ilario Pantano camp, who faces incumbent Democrat Rep. Mike McIntyre in the November election. Here’s a comment from National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Jon Thompson, who sent out an email about the switch: It’s no surprise political analysts are starting to take notice of Ilario Pantano’s strong challenge to Mike McIntyre. After all, he already has, as evidenced by his unusually early TV ads. After recently being outraised by Ilario by...

By Ilario Pantano, Republican Candidate for Congress, NC-07 June 17, 2010 Also published at The Daily Caller and Military.com. Reprinted with permission. “Cordoba Center” sounds comfortably Latino and almost familiar in a multi-ethnic city like New York. The name’s Spanish origin has a little bit of history too: the Cordoba Mosque in Spain symbolized a gateway to Muslim conquest of Western Europe – a conquest that today is unfolding in real time. But as disturbing as the sharia invasion of the European Union might be, my concern is the new $100 million mosque that will sit smugly just 600 feet...

~SNIP~ My name is Ilario Pantano, and I'm a combat veteran of two wars that has succeeded in small business and authored a best-selling book. I'm a constitutional conservative and I'm running for Congress (NC DIST.7. I'm confident that I can win this race if I have your support behind me. But before I tell you why, I want to share with you my story. I enlisted in the United States Marine Corps at 17. I fought in the first Persian Gulf War and I became a Marine Sniper and trained with militaries around the world. I left the Marines...

Readers of this column are familiar with the inspiring story of Ilario Pantano. The New Yorker rejoined the Marine Corps to defend his nation after the September 11 attacks. He eventually found himself in dangerous Anbar province, Iraq, in winter 2004, leading his platoon in do-or-die counterinsurgency missions. One April evening, he fatally shot two insurgents. Rather than a pat on the back, Mr. Pantano found himself charged with murder by the Corps. Last year, he sat in a Camp Lejeune, N.C., courtroom fighting for his good name — and his freedom. On Monday, Mr. Pantano will tell his own...

The book we've all been waiting for, right? I was provided with the below exclusive tidbit today via email. Marine officer 2LT Ilario Pantano has written a book about the ordeal he went through earlier this year when he was charged with murder after shooting two insurgents in a combat zone. He was exonerated, of course, due in part to information published on Euphoric Reality that came out during the Article 32 hearing, but mainly due to the fact that he was completely innocent of the charges in the first place. As it's been all along, Euphoric Reality is the...

The defense is under no restriction about what it can say about Coburn in the way of character assassination, while he has to shut up and take it or risk a mistrial. So anyways. That's the law. I hope bloggers are keeping it in mind when they co-operate with the Pantano defense team's plan. Seriously, I hope that justice is done. And I hope Pantano is acquitted. But I don't think that public opinion will be a factor one way or the other. It's important that our warriors know their moves won't be second-guessed in the heat of battle, but...

THE U.S. military values some lives more than others. That’s the only conclusion you could draw from the trials of two U.S. soldiers--one accused of killing two American officers, the other of executing two Iraqi civilians. Last week, Sgt. Hasan Akbar was sentenced to death for using grenades and his rifle at a base camp in Kuwait to kill two officers and injure 14 other soldiers shortly after the March 2003 invasion of Iraq. The chief prosecutor at the military trial, Lt. Col. Michael Mulligan, said that “[Akbar] is a hate-filled, ideologically driven murderer.” But Akbar’s military attorney never presented...

Apr. 28, 2005 - Marines testifying on behalf of a comrade accused of murdering two Iraqi detainees praised him Thursday as a model leader who showed compassion for Iraqi citizens. Six defense witnesses spoke glowingly of 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano at a military pretrial hearing at one point moving him to tears after the prosecution closed its case with two Marines who described Pantano as sometimes overzealous or rough in his handling of prisoners. "He's a great Marine," testified former Marine Martin McPherson, who served under Pantano in Iraq. "He had the attention to detail you need to bring back...

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — A key witness in the case against a Marine officer accused of murdering two Iraqi civilians was abruptly taken off the stand Wednesday, accused of giving interviews. Marine Sgt. Daniel Coburn was testifying at a hearing against 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano when the investigating officer, Maj. Mark E. Winn, read Coburn his rights and told him he was suspected of violating orders from superior officers. Defense attorneys had cross-examined Coburn about interviews he has given. Coburn said he had been told he was allowed to defend his character. The focus on Coburn brought to a temporary...

- A Marine testified that a fellow soldier accused of killing two Iraqis left a sign near their bodies bearing an "inappropriate" Marine slogan. Second Lt. Ilario Pantano, 33, has admitted to shooting the men during an April 2004 search in Mahmudiyah, Iraq. He has claimed the slayings were in self-defense. Fellow Marines testified Tuesday that Pantano shot the men in the back and put a sign near the bodies bearing a Marine slogan: "No better friend, no worse enemy." First Lt. Samuel Cunningham testified that after being told of the sign, he told Pantano to remove it, then called...

In the press reporting on case of Marine 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano, one oft-repeated version has been that the car he and his men stopped on April 15 did not carry weapons. That's not totally true. The Marines have charged Lt. Pantano with two counts of premeditated murder. He says he fatally shot two Iraqi insurgents after he thought they may have armed themselves while conducting a forced search of the vehicle. Turns out, according to a source close to the investigation, that the car's two seats, front and back, were not bolted down. This is an insurgent tactic for...