Free Republic

As Katie noted last week, President Obama gave little indication that he’s going to alter course regarding his agenda that sunk his party in the 2014 midterms. "To everyone who voted I want you to know I hear you, to the two thirds of Americans chose not to participate, I hear you too,” said Obama in a less than subtle dig at Republicans by telling the they have no mandate. As Dan wrote earlier this week, there was low voter turnout during this cycle–and it’s being used by liberals to diminish the impact of this Republican wave; a wave that led to Democrats...

Whether liberals would like to admit it or not; 2014 was a historic moment for women, especially Republican women. Besides it being a wave election, Republicans elected the first female senators from Iowa and West Virginia, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, and the first black Republican woman–Mia Love–in Utah. Yet, these were Republican women; they’re a horrid subset of the human species beholden to their patriarchal masters according to feminists. Well, it all comes down to abortion–again–and this super-secret conspiracy to make life for American women–and women around the world–miserable (via the Guardian) [emphasis mine]: In a way, female...

Dear President Obama, It’s not us; it’s you. It’s all you. In the election in which you sought and gained ballot access while repeatedly disregarding pleas of the actual Democrat candidates- candidates who wanted nothing to do with you-- and just wanted you to sit down and shut up, you got beat. And now Democrats know how Chicago feels. Just like you did with your “hometown,” you used the Democrats to build a legacy for yourself. And then left them to burn and rot. How’s this for a legacy? In addition to losing Libya, Egypt (only for a time), Iraq,...

If you’re in the Joni Ernst camp, then yesterday was probably a very exciting one given that the Des Moines Register’s  latest poll showed the GOP senate hopeful 7 points ahead of her Democratic opponent Rep. Bruce Braley [emphasis mine]: Joni Ernst has charged to achieve a 7-point lead over Democrat Bruce Braley in a new Iowa Poll, which buoys the GOP's hope that an Iowa victory will be the tipping point to a Republican takeover of the U.S. Senate. … Braley has lost vote share since an early October Iowa Poll (he dropped from 46 percent to 44 percent) while...

Come for his answer on Common Core ("yes"), stay for his avert-your-eyes inability to answer lighthearted softball questions about books and music -- via John Ekdahl: 10 Questions for Sen. Mark Udall He's got most of the policy stuff nailed: Keep Obamacare? Check. Gun control? Check. Path to citizenship? Check. Opposition to the death penalty? Check. Opposition to the 'personhood' amendment? Check. More regulations on fracking? Check. Was his answer on Common Core an endorsement of the program, or a rejection of it?  Yes. Keep in mind that this is a man running for re-election in a purple state who's still trying...

Republican Joni Ernst and Democrat Bruce Braley locked horns in their final Iowa Senate debate last night. Katie already posted video of Ernst's terrific rejoinder to Braley's lecturing on Iraq, and Conn is keeping tabs on auspicious-looking early voting trends. Two more clips for you. The first features Ernst pushing back against Braley's revisionism on Obamacare, which he's now claiming is flawed and in need of fixing. The Republican reminded her  opponent -- to whom Nancy Pelosi assigned the task of delivering one of the 'closing arguments' for the law -- that he's boasted in the recent past of having read every last word of...

As Ebola’s arrival in America becomes a more pervasive story, some candidates in the 2014 election are weighing in on the subject. Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan of North Carolina took some time to say that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is “giving us great guidance, but we've got to make sure the implementation is perfect.” Hagan Praises CDC's Handling of Ebola These remarks come after a second nurse caring for Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian citizen who became the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, had become infected with the virus. The nurse, Amber Vinson, was...

In what might be the strangest attempted 'opposition research' dump of the election cycle, the sports blog Deadspin published an item Wednesday evening accusing Colorado Republican Senate nominee of lying about having played high school football. The report, which was quickly exposed as absolutely false, didn't even attempt to conceal its authors' political agenda (content warning):

Earlier this week we looked at how one poll does not a game changer make when it comes to the Kentucky Senate race. But the lackluster performance by Alison Lundergan Grimes has left a lot of Democrat strategists scratching their heads. Surely a stodgy old Republican white man should be getting his clock cleaned in the women’s vote, right? What about the War on Women? Matt Lewis, writing at The Week, breaks down the numbers. In two Bluegrass Polls, conducted in July and August, respectively, by SurveyUSA, Grimes led among women by a single measly percent. This was corroborated by...

I woke up this morning to a seeming tidal wave of polling news for the midterm elections, all of which is bad for Republicans if the cable talking heads are to be believed. At the top of the list of trumpeted GOP disasters in the making was a new poll out of Kentucky which suddenly showed Alison Lundergan Grimes with a two point lead over Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. After two polls in his favor, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has slipped behind Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes in his re-election bid, according to the latest Bluegrass Poll.Grimes, Kentucky’s...

Yesterday, Sen. Mitch McConnell’s Democratic challenger, Alison Lundergan Grimes, blasted him for returning to work in Washington D.C. Grimes is starting to fall behind in the polls, with the New York Times basically saying that McConnell’s re-election is the most probable outcome come Election Day. Nevertheless, it’s beyond desperate that Grimes is attacking McConnell, who is part of the GOP leadership (he sort of has to come back), for returning to D.C. to work, while she also heads off to raise money…in D.C. The new web ad blasting McConnell for doing his job labeled the Senate Minority Leader as scandal-ridden, which alludes to...

Remember the good old days when political campaigns and the general hysteria they kicked off didn't begin to mount till after Labor Day? It wasn't just customary, it was almost official -- like the beginning of football season or the college term. Or even an astronomical fact, like the autumnal equinox. There were some parts of the good old days that were actually good, like waiting till the official end of summer to turn up the political heat. But that time passed sometime in the last century before the year-round, 24/7 campaign arrived, and with it the campaign war rooms...

Is Alaskan Sen. Mark Begich sorry for his “pants on fire” ad against Republican Dan Sullivan? Apparently, he’s not. The ad insinuated that Dan Sullivan, who at the time was Alaska’s Attorney General, shares some of the blame in a brutal 2013 murder, where an elderly couple was killed, along with the sexual assault of their 2-year-old granddaughter and the girl’s 91-year-old great-grandmother. Where was Sullivan at fault? He gave out light sentences to sex offenders, one of which committed the horrific crime. The ad was pulled after the victims’ family voiced their outrage at not being consulted. Additionally, the...

In 1988, Republicans slammed Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis over Willie Horton, a convicted murderer who attacked a man and sexually assaulted a woman compliments of Massachusetts’ weekend furlough program. This was used to paint Dukakis as soft on crime. Willie Horton 1988 Attack AdIt was a particularly nasty ad (I mean that in a good way)–and Democrats seem to be trying to do the same thing to Republicans in some of the 2014 elections. Trying to spin legal decisions in a way that portrays them as incompetent, soft on crime, and, at times; engaging in a war on women....

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is simply living in an alternate universe. While yelling into the clouds over the Koch Brothers’ evil plot to destroy America, he said today that Democrats “are doing really well in Montana.” And is optimistic that they'll maintain control of the Senate (via the Hill): Reid predicted Democrats would lose a seat in South Dakota, but was optimistic about Montana despite Sen. John Walsh's (D-Mt.) recent decision to drop out of the race after a plagiarism scandal. We are doing really well in Montana," Reid told reporters on Monday. … If the election were held today, we'd...

Well, it seems “Papergate” just ensnared Montana Democratic Senator John Walsh. Mr. Walsh was appointed by Gov. Steve Bullock to replace outgoing Sen. Max Baucus, who decided to become the Obama administration’s Ambassador to China. Walsh is described by the New York Times as having something the Democrats lack in their political ranks: a seasoned military record. Walsh is a decorated Iraq War veteran, but his reputation might be marred by a final term paper he wrote in obtaining his master’s degree, where a substantial portion was written without crediting anyone (via NYT): An examination of the final paper required...

The Senate, often thought of as the softer, slower, less-exciting body of the legislative branch, is in the spotlight this year. The Republicans in the House are expected to retain the majority and pick up seats. The Democratic Senate might very well become a Republican-led Senate this fall. President Obama is not up for reelection, but his approval/ disapproval ratings will have an effect on those running on the Democratic ticket. The numbers are encouraging: Based on Real Clear Politics rankings, there are 40 safe (or not up) Democratic seats, 41 safe (or not up) Republican seats, five seats that...

My father, Newt Gingrich, ran for congress in rural, west, middle Georgia in 1974. At the time, Georgia was dominated by the Democratic Party, there were few Republicans in the state and Watergate was in full swing. Somehow, against this headwind, he managed to garner 49 percent of the vote. He never stopped running, waking up the day after the election to shake hands at the Ford Factory as their shift changed. In spring of 1976, when former Georgia Jimmy Carter swung ahead in the Democratic Presidential Primary polls, my father knew that this would make his race tight. Working...

My father, Newt Gingrich, ran for congress in rural, west, middle Georgia in 1974. At the time, Georgia was dominated by the Democratic Party, there were few Republicans in the state and Watergate was in full swing. Somehow, against this headwind, he managed to garner 49 percent of the vote. He never stopped running, waking up the day after the election to shake hands at the Ford Factory as their shift changed. In spring of 1976, when former Georgia Jimmy Carter swung ahead in the Democratic Presidential Primary polls, my father knew that this would make his race tight. Working...

The familiar Washington narrative on the scrum for the U.S. Senate has been rinsed, recycled and delivered once again: Republicans are primed to pick up the six seats necessary to capture control of the upper chamber. The midterm atmosphere sure looks ripe, the polling appears favorable but, as it did in 2010 and 2012, the most competitive batch of races will likely come down to candidate quality. It’s the key component that stifled GOP chances before, and could very well again. .... .... A closer look at the most competitive contests demonstrates why a Senate majority in 2014 is again...