Free Republic

Republican Gov. Rick Scott is already getting ready for the 2014 election. So are the Democrats who hope to challenge him. The state Republican Party is buying television ads to promote Scott's policy successes in hopes of reversing voters' negative impressions. The governor and party are also raising money for his re-election.

If Democrats are concerned about the lopsided Senate playing field this cycle, just wait until 2014. An early scan of next cycle’s Senate landscape paints a favorable picture for the GOP, which will defend 13 seats to Democrats’ 20. There is a noticeable dearth of competitive Republican seats, while several Democrats will be automatic targets based on geography.

A promotional campaign linked to the 2014 Winter Olympics is stirring debate in Russia because of its use of allegedly "fascist" imagery. The campaign employs images of blue-eyed, blond sportsmen and women which have been described by critics as "neo-Hitlerite" and "like something from a Leni Riefenstahl film". Images of an Aryan-looking snowboarder and an ice-skater gazing into the middle distance dominate giant billboards in Moscow and feature on the cover of brochures to advertise Gorky Gorod, an elite housing complex being built at Krasnaya Polyana near Sochi on Russia's Black Sea coast. The complex is a private-public partnership which...

Health bill would allow waivers in 2014NEAL P. GOSWAMI, Staff Writer Posted: 01/18/2011 11:07:33 PM EST BENNINGTON - Vermont's congressional delegation joined Gov. Peter Shumlin Tuesday to announce legislation that would allow states to seek federal health care waivers in 2014, and the flexibility to craft their own state-level health care plans. Landmark health care reform legislation signed into law last year by President Barack Obama provides states the option of seeking a federal waiver to opt out of some requirements of the bill as long as certain standards are maintained. That provision was sought by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders,...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Despite uneven progress in Afghanistan, Vice President Joe Biden said next summer's planned withdrawal would be more than a token reduction and that the U.S. would be out of the country by 2014 "come hell or high water." Biden's prediction appeared to go further than statements by his boss, President Barack Obama, who just last month said there would be a reduced U.S. footprint in Afghanistan by 2014 but that the number of troops that would remain was still in question. Obama has discussed maintaining a counterterrorism capability in Afghanistan after 2014. As recently as Dec. 16,...

KABUL, Afghanistan – Message to the Taliban: Forget July 2011, the date that President Barack Obama set to begin withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan. The more important date is 2014 when the international coalition hopes Afghan soldiers and policemen will be ready to take the lead in securing the nation. That date will be the focus of discussions later this month at a NATO summit in Lisbon, Portugal, the third and largest international meeting on Afghanistan this year. Heads of state and other officials there will talk about how to assess security and other conditions so that government security forces...

Two years ago, Barack Obama and congressional Democrats rode a wave of voter disenchantment into power. Many Republicans, even in some traditional strongholds, were swept aside. U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, was an exception. She didn’t defeat Democrat Tom Allen. She trounced him, 61-39 percent of the vote, a landslide victory political analysts attributed to Collins’ popularity with moderates, a standing shared by her Maine colleague, U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, also a Republican. Two years later, the same moderate image that protected Collins from the blue wave could make Snowe vulnerable to the red one advanced by the tea party....

Not looking past 2010 by any means, but looking at this match, I see many conservative opportunities. Chances to retire some RINO's and many possible pick ups, if we are playing long game.

Why Wait Until 2014? Demand All Obamacare Provisions Right NowMarch 23, 2010 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: I'm thinking about that Politico piece here from Carrie Budoff Brown in which she says: Oh, the Democrats are really smart here, because they have timed a lot of the goodies to kick in -- not all of them by any means -- right before the November elections but all of the pain and poison pills don't kick in until after the 2012 election. This is said to be something that will harm Republican reelection chances in our effort to take over the House and...

<p>U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, New Jersey’s 86-year-old senior senator, was diagnosed with treatable stomach cancer in the last 24 hours and will begin chemotherapy today.</p> <p>The Democrat still plans to finish out his current term – his fifth in the Senate – and seek re-election in 2014.</p>

The Nov. 12 story about Sen. Lindsey Graham found on Page 4A belonged on the front page in my opinion. ("Charleston County GOP censures U.S. Sen. Graham") Graham does not represent the policies of the Republican Party. He is a RINO, Republican In Name Only, who should exit the party like Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. I have written and called the senator often regarding his opinions and his voting record, but of course received no response. He doesn't seem to care what his constituents think or believe. Why I voted for this man I'll never know. He doesn't deserve to...

GOOSE CREEK -- U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham escaped another censure Monday after his chief of staff promised a meeting with disgruntled Berkeley County Republicans. The Charleston County Republican Party's executive committee passed a resolution last week censuring Graham for departing from their values. They were unhappy that Graham is siding with Democrats who believe in global warming for an energy bill, that he supported the federal bank bailout and that he favors granting amnesty for illegal aliens and that he called those who disagree with him on the issue bigots. Berkeley County Republicans showed up at their executive committee meeting...

CLEMSON — While political supporters of Sen. Lindsey Graham continue to be widespread, the criticism he’s facing now may only get worse down the line, especially in 2014 when he’s up for re-election. David Woodard, a political scientist at Clemson University, said times now are different, and voters aren’t crazy about moderates. “Moderates generally don’t do well in S.C.,” Woodard said. “The electorate here likes people who are more ideological and willing to ‘take a stand.’ Look at Jim DeMint, he is waltzing to re-election without any opponent, and is likely to win overwhelmingly. He is perceived as ‘strong’ while...

HOUSE RACE: Maine senator attends rally to support Scozzafava. BY MARTHA ELLEN CANTON — More than 50 supporters of Republican Dierdre K. Scozzafava's campaign for the 23rd Congressional District turned out Saturday at Phoebe's Restaurant to hear U.S. Sen. Susan K. Collins, R-Maine, and Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Fla., tell them she was the best candidate.

More than 4,000 people are facing eviction to make room for the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, according to campaigners, who say that many will receive little or no compensation. “My family has lived on this land for five generations,” said Dmitry Drofichev, a farmer. “We are being offered a fraction of what the land is worth. They’ll have to bulldoze me and the house to make me move.” The authorities have already begun forcibly removing people from areas where Olympic facilities are to be built. Fifteen families of refugees from a war in the...

The Russian resort city Sochi will host 2014 Winter Olympic Games, as the head of the International Olympic Committee Jacques Rogge has reported. In the final round Sochi beat Pyeongchang of South Korea by 4 votes with 51 votes going to Russia and 47 – to South Korea.

Breaking News - The city of Sochi, Russia, is awarded the 2014 Olympic Winter Games beating Salzburg, Austria and Pyeongchong, South Korea.

At last I have cover art. It's better than I expected, worse than I hoped. But it'll serve. Let's see if I can cut and paste it, shall we? Here goes...nothing. As soon as I've got the website built, I'll post a link or a URL, or whatever the Freep software allows. Mean time, here's an excerpt.

<p>A giant asteroid is heading for Earth and could hit in 2014, U.S. astronomers have warned British space monitors.</p> <p>But for those fearing Armageddon, don't be alarmed -- the chances of a catastrophic collision are just one in 909,000.</p> <p>Asteroid "2003 QQ47" will be closely monitored over the next two months. Its potential strike date is March 21, 2014, but astronomers say that any risk of impact is likely to decrease as further data is gathered.</p>

<p>A newly discovered asteroid has zero chance of colliding with Earth in 11 years, although preliminary data had suggested such a doomsday scenario was possible, astronomers said this week.</p> <p>New data allowed a more refined projection of the orbit of the space rock, dubbed 2003 QQ47 -- ruling out more than a dozen possible strike dates, according to the Near Earth Objects Information Center.</p>

Scientists monitoring an asteroid have warned it could collide with Earth in just over a decade. The newly discovered asteroid, known as 2003 QQ47, is around two-thirds of a mile wide and has been classified as "an event meriting careful monitoring" by astronomers. It is around one tenth fo the size of the meteor that is thought to have wiped out dinosaurs on Earth 65 million years ago. In the event of it hitting the Earth, the rock would have the force of 350,000 mega tonnes - around eight million times more powerful than the bomb dropped at Hiroshima at...

The British agency responsible for identifying potentially hazardous asteroids says US astronomers are warning of a possible collision in 2014. The UK Government's Near Earth Object Centre says American astronomers have discovered a large, fast-approaching asteroid that could hit the earth on 21 March, 2014. But they add the chances of it doing so are just 1 in 909,000. What is more, any risk of an impact is likely to decrease as further data is gathered, they say. Credible threat The BBC's science correspondent Christine McGourty says that, although the chances this asteroid will hit the Earth are slim, it...