Free Republic

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority PAC, a group that supports Democratic Senate candidates, is preparing a $3 million advertising campaign against Charles G. Koch and David H. Koch, the libertarian-minded billionaire brothers who support conservative causes and have already poured millions of dollars into the 2014 midterm elections. The group’s effort will last for roughly two weeks and span five states — Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan and North Carolina. In an attempt to combat the Koch brothers’ influence, the $3 million buy will nearly match what Senate Majority PAC has spent on all of its other television ads so far this...

LITTLE ROCK -- When a retrospective of Carroll Cloar's works opened here, I asked a local art dealer how he would explain Carroll Cloar's appeal. "Appeal or success?" he wanted to know. Appeal. Success comes and goes. Like popularity. Or any other fad. Success is the thing that does not stay. It is an unworthy consideration. If it is based only on the desire for success and nothing more. Appeal stays. It may even endure -- if it is Carroll Cloar's kind of appeal. Even grow. As his appeal does. Because it expands to something far beyond success. That is...

If former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is going to run for president in 2016, his campaign is going to have to run through the Forza coffee shop in Parkland, Wash. That’s where one of Huckabee’s many parolees, Maurice Clemmons, assassinated four Lakewood police officers in 2009, depriving nine children of a parent and setting a national perception that Huckabee abused his powers of clemency. Huckabee told The New York Times’ Jonathan Martin (the other Jonathan Martin) that he views a 2016 presidential bid as “a real opportunity for me.” The Washington Post quickly called Huckabee “a long shot” because he...

Among the thousands of pages of documents released by the Clinton Library recently, two had this tantalizing notation at the top: “Tape One, Side One.” That stamp appeared on transcripts of two conversations Bill Clinton had behind closed doors with aides inside the Oval Office. They included the president’s ribald remarks on race, frank talk about gays, and even how to prepare for Y2K. And they were captured on cassette tapes. All of which raises the question: Could there be “Clinton Tapes” — in the tradition of Nixon, Kennedy and LBJ? Might we hear Clinton in his famous Arkansas twang...

LITTLE ROCK -- Mark Pryor (Very D-Ark.) is this state's senior senator, and he should be thanked for making the choice in this fall's election for the U.S. Senate here in Arkansas more than crystal clear. Talk about the halogen spotlight of public attention, the senator's comments last week on MSNBC, the perfect partisan forum for them, cast a blinding light not just on his idea of what his race for the Senate is all about, but his idea what the U.S. Senate and indeed political life in general is about. It wasn't just that Sen. Pryor discounted the relevance...

A jury convicted former Arkansas Treasurer Martha Shoffner of federal bribery and extortion charges Tuesday, saying her acceptance of $36,000 from a bond trader who did business with the state was a felony rather than just a lapse in ethical judgment. Shoffner wept quietly at the defense table before the jurors, who deliberated for about three hours, returned to the courtroom. But the former Democratic official regained her composure and showed no reaction as U.S. District Judge J. Leon Holmes read the 14 consecutive guilty verdicts. Shoffner was arrested in May when FBI agents raided her home in Newport,...

Democratic control of the U.S. Senate – already tenuous as a result of retirements and stiff Republican challenges – has become even more perilous as a result of recent events in Colorado. In what amounts to a game of trading places, Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck, a Republican who intended to challenge incumbent Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) in the November election, dropped out of the race to run for the congressional seat currently held by Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.). Gardner, in turn, jumped into the Senate race, providing Colorado Republicans with a significantly better chance of capturing Udall’s seat....

Republican Rep. Tom Cotton leads Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor in the race for Arkansas senator, according to a new poll released Monday by Hickman Analytics Inc. U.S. News reports: A poll released Monday by Hickman Analytics Inc. shows Cotton with 51 percent support compared to 42 percent for Pryor among voters most likely to turn out in November. Though Pryor has used the firm for polling in the past, he is not currently a client, according to his campaign. Among a broader swath of voters, including those less likely to turnout, Pryor closes the gap with Cotton, with the candidates...

This was the flag of slave holding states in the United States that seceded in 1861, causing Civil War. Today the symbol is used by the Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazi groups, and other organizations who are hostile to African-Americans. For the last several decades, protests have continued, demanding that this flag not be displayed in public places. Many people were greatly disturbed to see that the Confederate Flag is now being displayed, not in the United States, but in Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine. Larry Holmes, a civil rights activist in New York City, explained why the flag is...

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...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Former Arkansas treasurer Martha Shoffner pleaded not guilty Thursday to mail fraud charges alleging that she misspent campaign funds — counts that won't be part of her upcoming bribery and extortion trial. Shoffner, a Democrat, didn't speak during her arraignment in federal court on the new charges, 10 counts of mail fraud. The charges allege that she misspent $9,800 in campaign funds on clothing, cosmetics and other personal items. The judge set a March 31 trial date. Shoffner is scheduled to stand trial Monday on the bribery and extortion charges. In that case, she is...

The GOP’s probability of taking over the United States Senate increased dramatically Wednesday with the entry of Rep. Cory Gardner into the race against incumbent Obamacare enthusiast Senator Mark Udall in Colorado. 1. West Virginia: Rep. Shelley Moore Capito v. no one. Jay Rockefeller quit after Capito got into the race. She will win, going away. 2. South Dakota: Former Governor Mike Rounds in South Dakota v. no one in South Dakota This is a mortal lock for the popular Rounds. 3. Arkansas: Rep. Tom Cotton v. the hapless legacy senator Mark Pryor in Ark Pryor won his seat because...

A trove of Clinton White House records long processed for release remains hidden from public view at the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock — even though the legal basis initially used to withhold them expired more than a year ago. The papers contain confidential advice given to or sought by President Bill Clinton, including communications with then-first lady Hillary Clinton, and records about people considered for appointments to federal office. About 33,000 pages of documents are involved, according to the National Archives, which runs the library. Under the Presidential Records Act, such records can be withheld for up to...

A South Carolina state House committee has a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks based on scientific evidence showing unborn children feel pain. Currently the state allows abortions up to 24 weeks of pregnancy unless the life of the mother is at risk. A National Right to Life Committee poll found that 63 percent of Americans, and 70 percent of women, support a ban on post-fetal pain abortion in Washington, D.C. The same poll also found that American women, by an overwhelming majority of 62-27 percent, would be more likely to vote for lawmakers who support this bill....

**SNIP** Midterm elections are often a reflection of the approval rating of the incumbent president and now President Obama stands at 42.8%. And elections in the 6th year of a PresidentÂ’s term are usually not good for the incumbentÂ’s party. To make things even worse for Democrats, the issues of a weak economy and Obamacare make November look bleak for Harry Reid and his Senate Democratic cohorts. â—¾Alaska, Mark Begich â—¾Arkansas, Mark Pryor â—¾Louisiana, Mary Landrieu â—¾Michigan, Open Seat (liberal Democrat Carl Levin retiring) â—¾Montana, John Walsh â—¾North Carolina, Kay Hagan â—¾South Dakota, being vacated by retiring Democrat Tim Johnson...

[snip] The Wisconsin National Guard responded Tuesday by announcing that it had suspended the soldier who apparently posted the photograph online from her honor guard duties. The photograph was taken at a guard training facility in Arkansas and included soldiers from other units. The National Guard also was taking steps to protect the soldier after she received death threats. The photograph originally posted on Instagram shows about a dozen soldiers around a casket. Several hug playfully. One flashes a peace sign. Another has his back turned and is pointing off in the distance. The caption reads, "We put the FUN...

Funding for The Arkansas Private Option, a state version of the Obamacare Healthcare Exchange Program, was debated before the Arkansas Legislator on 02/18/14.This is footage of the Arkansas House of Representatives where the Private Option Funding failed by 5 votes. At least 75 votes are needed for funding to pass. More attempts to pass funding for the Private Option will take place. Several Representatives spoke out against the Private Option earlier today. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xqkSBWwZlUhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHidRgs8ofQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xVdO2CZQpY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SrtqVmEYjoView, like, and share this footage to bypass the media bias on this issue.

In Arkansas, an alternative to the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion uses federal dollars to purchase private health plans for low-income residents who fall in a coverage gap. But now, as other states consider following suit, the Arkansas law, known as the “private option,” could end unless it is renewed by state lawmakers. Hari Sreenivasan reports.

An Arkansas man shot and killed a 15-year-old girl this weekend after she and other pranksters egged a car outside his house, police said. Willie Noble, 48, of Little Rock has been charged with murder in connection with the fatal shooting of Adrian Broadway, according to Little Rock Police Lt. Sidney Allen. Noble and Broadway are African American. Noble allegedly ran out of his house and opened fire just before 1 a.m. Saturday, Allen told The Times. Broadway and a half dozen other teens had dumped a mix of eggs, mayonnaise and leaves on a car outside his home in...

An extensive collection of papers related to Bill and Hillary Clinton’s years in the Arkansas governor’s mansion remains under tight control at a public library in Little Rock, with access restricted by the Clinton Foundation. President Bill Clinton donated his papers from his tenure as Arkansas governor to the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) in 2003, and they are housed at the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies in Little Rock. The documents could provide new insight into the early chapter of the Clintons’ political careers, as reporters take a second look at Hillary Clinton’s past in light of the information...